L AL E U Q R TO ECEM ISSUE 85 D
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BER 2010
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Chairman’s Chat TIPEC (0845 602 0052) www.tipec.net All Torque is published bi-monthly by TIPEC (The Independent Porsche Enthusiasts Club) Text & images are © their authors/photographers. Front cover image: Nick Snook’s Cobalt Blue Cayman S photographed by Nick, looking across Llyn Padarn after descending the Llanberis Pass. All Torque is based entirely on submissions from TIPEC members. This is your magazine and we need your involvement! Please submit via email, or on CD/DVD (or paper!) to the address below. Submissions for issue 86 (February) must be in before Thursday 6th January 2011. Editor & designer: Tony Blow tony@typescape.com Flat 1/1, 47 Greendyke Street, Glasgow G1 5PX Printed by: The Lavenham Press Ltd, Suffolk (01787 247 436) Advertising in All Torque is managed by: TIPEC club office, 10 Whitecroft Gdns, Woodford Halse NN11 3PY (0845 602 0052) TIPEC Chairman: Sean Smallman (07500 332 790) sean.smallman@tipec.net Vice Chairman: Jim Hearnden (07930 353 232) tr7v8@phaetonconsulting.co.uk Treasurer: Brian Rowledge mymerak@aol.com Advertising & Club Liason: Clive Gosling (07791 480 999) clive.gosling@tipec.net Membership Secretary: Steve Potter (01295 810 223) membership@tipec.net TIPEC Membership, 32 Blenheim Rise Banbury OX17 3QX Gruppe North Director: Paul Bird (01922 428 409) paulpsb928@yahoo.co.uk Gruppe Central Director: Eric Finley (07971 594 211) eric.finley@tipec.net Gruppe South Director: Derek Flanagan (07767 254 820) derek.flanagan@btconnect.com All Torque & TIPEC are entirely independent of Dr. Ing. H.c.F. Porsche AG, Porsche Cars GB Ltd and its dealers. All registered Trade Marks owned by Dr. Ing. H.c.F. Porsche AG, including the word ‘Porsche’, the Porsche Crest and Porsche Script are acknowledged as such and are their property. Whilst all due care is taken in the production of All Torque; neither TIPEC, its officers or the editor can accept responsibility for the advice, information or opinions expressed herein. Opinions contained in any article published herein are of the author or editor and do not reflect the official position of TIPEC, its management or membership, unless clearly stated by a club official.
The clocks have gone back and we have had the first frost. Before the onset of a damp cold winter, you had the Classic Car Show at the NEC to lift your spirits. The Central Region put on another fantastic display at this year’s event. Ian Heward (Porscheshop) lent us his 997 Cup Car re-creation which generated a lot of attention, several girlfriends were asked to pose in front of it. The cars were immaculately turned out, no mean feat given the wind and rain they had to drive in to get to the NEC. Thank you to Carol Hood, who kept us all going with an endless supply of cakes and chocolate treats. The show was as busy as ever and we spent the weekend answering questions and meeting fellow members. It was nice to see the gang from the South East whom had come by coach for the day. A very warm welcome to those that joined the club over the weekend, please visit your local region and introduce yourself. On the subject of shows next years annual event will be held at Hatton Country World near Warwick on Sunday 5th June and entry to the show will be free. This is a very different style of venue to Gaydon, with the emphasis very much family orientated. A petting farm and other entertainments for the children, a courtyard with over 20 shops, antiques centre and café/restaurants for the grown ups. Hatton Locks and other picturesque short country walks (maps provided) can also be enjoyed. We will share more information about the show in the next issue. Unfortunately the Club has not escaped the current economic crisis and the company who provided the Legal Assistance Scheme are no longer trading. There are several online firms who will do this on an individual basis for non fault accidents; type ‘free legal expenses insurance’ into Google. We are also looking for a new regalia supplier after Red Rocket told us that they were no longer providing clothing. We are speaking to several companies and hope to have this addressed in the New Year. Advance warning that the 2011 AGM will be held on Sunday 10th April at The British Heritage Museum, Gaydon. Haley and I wish you and you families a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
All Torque 84 page 3
Club news With few large scale events organised in the winter months, we’re taking the opportunity to tell you about what some of your fellow club members have been up to. Writing books and appearing on TV …
Diary dates Here are the first few confirmed major events for 2011—just to give you chance to get them in your diaries early 13–16th January: Autosport International (and Racing car) show at the NEC 30th June–3rd July: Goodwood FoS
TIPEC member on the telly Those of you who watch Fifth Gear on Channel 5 may remember seeing them racing a Porsche 944 at Snetterton. Did you know the car belonged to a TIPEC member? Congratulations to TIPEC member Ben Demetriou (and his Dad) who were featured on Channel 5’s Fifth Gear programme on 29 October. Ben, who owns Faze-1 Motorsport, loaned his race prepared 944 for Fifth Gear to enter the Trackday Trophy race at Snetterton. The Porsche was driven by Fifth Gear’s Jonny Smith and finished in fourth place overall and third in his class (B).
8–10th July: British F1 Grand Prix, Silverstone 22nd–24th July: Silverstone Classic 16–18th September: Goodwood Revival
Porsche author rejoins TIPEC A warm welcome back to Adrian Streather, ex-editor of All Torque Adrian Streather is a reknowned Porsche author and has recently rejoined TIPEC. Adrian used to be our All Torque editor and International/Swiss RO before the tragic death of his daughter Natalie approximately five years ago. Many of you will know Adrian from his Porsche Essential Companion books which have become bibles for the Porsche DIY enthusiasts. He has also recently published some Porsche Buyers Guides with Veloce and we have featured quite a few of his books right here in the magazine. Further details can be obtained from his website, www.adrianstreather.com
Porsche news A lot of people were hoping for Porsche to release a Cayman Club Sport, but alas it was not to be. We did still get a brand-new range topping Cayman though—the Cayman R.
New Porsche Cayman R The new range-topping Cayman R is essentially a counterpart to the Boxster Spyder; a lighter, more powerful, and slightly more focussed version of the existing car. The 20mm lower bodyshell shape hides a stiffened chassis, sports suspension and a tuned version of the 3.4 litre engine, producing 330bhp (up 10bhp from the standard model in the Cayman S). Lightweight wheels, a fixed spoiler and side stripe ‘Porsche’ graphics echo the design features of the Boxster Spyder, as does the stripped-down interior with fabric door pulls and few conveniences as standard. Whilst the Cayman R has been generally well received, there has been controversy over it’s name. Many people feel that the ‘R’ designation should be reserved for only the most special of Porsches, and what is essentially a slight tweak of the standard Cayman is undeserving. Looking back at the original 1967 911R, the most extreme 911 ever to wear numberplates, it’s an understandable argument.
Porsche enters the Race of Champions for 2011 The Race of Champions is held in a different country each year, featuring some of the world’s top racing drivers from across the racing disciplines. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula 1, WRC, NASCAR, sportscars and touring cars compete against each other, head-to-head in a variety of identical cars. For the last three years, the team event has been won by the German pairing of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, though neither has won the drivers’ event outright. For the first time ever, in Dusseldorf at the end of November 2011, Porsches will be amongst the cars for a selection of the Race of Champions events. The 911 GT3 Cup will be the weapon of choice for drivers invited from around the world. Whilst the full line up of drivers has yet to be announced, experienced Porsche pilot Jeroen Bleekemolen has confirmed his place. Bleekemolen won the GTC class at Le Mans this year, driving a 911 GT3 Cup, and is hoping that his experience in the car will give him some advantage against the top-class field, including WRC champion Sébastien Loeb and WTC champion Andy Priaulx.
All Torque 84 page 5
SYNN Region Weekend of the Year 2010 South Yourkshire & North Nottinghamshire Region spent their Weekend of the Year in Llangollen, Wales from the 24–26th September. ARO Mike Marot reports. Our chosen Hostelry for the visit was the White Water hotel just on the out skirts of Llangollen, with spectacular views and excellent food and wines.
On our last morning after a leisurely breakfast we all checked out.
The weather was absolutely fantastic for the whole weekend, with seven couples making up our group. A few of us arrived early in the afternoon, so after lunch we decided to take a drive out on some of the spectacular road network. We located the famous ‘Evo triangle’ which was situated approximately 15 miles away from our hotel. This driver’s road is much acclaimed as one of the very best in the country.
We had a team car photo shoot, and while Dave Warren was paying his hotel bill, Dean hid his 944 around the back of the hotel! Dave thought his pride and joy had been stolen … we just managed to let him in on the joke before he called the Police! It was all taken in good spirit.
The roads were virtually deserted so we had some fun with our cars. Brilliant! We all met up for evening dinner that night at the hotel and exchanged pleasantries. After breakfast the next morning we split into two groups, with sightseeing and driving on the agendas. Our group consisting of Dean, Mike, Dave & Rick, along with their better halves, decided to head for another driver’s section of North Wales and then onto Betws-Y-Coed for a walk around and a ‘nice cuppa’
We said our goodbyes to some of the group who had to leave, then as it was a glorious day ventured on with more exploring, visiting the famous canal aqueduct in Llangollen and a lovely drive down to lake Vyrnwy at Llanwddyn having a lovely lunch on the way. All in all a perfect ‘Weekend of the Year’.
After filling up with more 98 octane we explored some more, visiting Lake Bala on the route back to the Hotel for a ‘get together’ over dinner with our other group.
This is definitely a place for us to visit again—picturesque and with plenty of exploring to do. Nice!
Writing & photography by Mike Marot All Torque 84 page 6
Shackerstone Family Festival 2010 If you were to ask anyone from Birmingham, Coventry or Leicester where Shackerstone was I wouldn’t be at all surprised if no-one knew. If you asked people from North Warwickshire if they had ever heard of Shackerstone I would be surprised if many, if any had.
So if you asked the Red Arrows Display Team if they had ever heard of Shackerstone then it would be reasonable to expect that none of them had wouldn’t it? Well, surprise, surprise; everyone who has an involvement with the Red Arrows knows exactly where Shackerstone is and has heard of the Shackerstone Family Festival.
when night bombing raids were suspended indefinitely by Adolf Hitler) we felt that 2010 would be something special. We were not disappointed Saturday was reserved for a ‘Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’ by an RAF Supermarine Spitfire, a fabulous show and the sound of that Rolls Royce engine was awesome. The highlight on Sunday was a mind blowing display from the Red Arrows. They included a new manoeuvre in memory of the Battle of Britain in their carefully choreographed show, it was stunning.
How strange is life? I think I am correct in stating that Shackerstone is the only event in the UK that the Red Arrows demonstrate at which is held in civil aviation air space. This probably accounts for the fact that at Shackerstone they fly very, very, very low.
This show is unique in that it is a multi charity event, for local charities and the Air Ambulance Service. The validity of these charities was demonstrated on the Sunday when the Air Ambulance was called to give assistance at the show where it landed in the show ring, when a visitor suffered a suspected heart attack. This clearly brings home to me a valid reason for TIPEC Central Region supporting such events and sometimes at the expense of more traditional commercially based events. The visitor attractions are almost endless. Visitors can enjoy travelling on the preserved and renovated rail system. The railway system is known as ‘The Battlefield Line’ and runs from Shackerstone to Shenton near to Bosworth Fields which is alleged to be the site of the last Battle of the Roses at which Richard III lost the crown of England. One can even travel on canal barges. There were hundreds of barges moored up for the long weekend. There is even a separate tented village for young children, the ‘Shackiesaurus Club’. What a fine idea, parents and guardians can wander off and sample the attractions. There is even a separate village constructed purely for families travelling with camper vans, display dogs and display horses.
Not bad for a show held at a village that few have ever heard of. Not bad for a show that is larger than the village itself. Not bad for a show that is organised by the village, the local railway preservation society and the local canal association. Not bad at all; if fact an absolutely brilliant show. Shackerstone Family Festival began in 1995 and has run on an annual basis ever since. It seems to grow year on year and after a very successful 2009 show, during which the Red Arrows attended. The show grew again in 2010 and was well attended by TIPEC members on 4th and 5th September. With 2010 being the 70th commemorative year of the Battle of Britain (the Battle of Britain began on 10th July 1940 and virtually concluded on 15th September 1940
One of the main attractions, especially for a few TIPEC members was the beer tent, which due to my judicious planning we were parked opposite. This was heaven for the traditional ale connoisseurs amongst us. Strong stuff some of these locally produced ales and ciders! Will we be there next year? You bet we will. See you there. ‘Hiccup!’ Writing & photography by Brian Rowledge All Torque 84 page 7
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17/11/2010 16:48
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Targa tales from Craig Moore
If you’re anything like me, cars have always held a special fascination. Some people are lucky—as well as enjoying the driving, they also have an aptitude for the mechanical side of things. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people. I would love to be able to wield a spanner with skill, but aside from some very routine maintenance tasks, I’m afraid I just don’t have it in me and dare not risk doing more. This has long been a source of some frustration. Before I even acquired a driving licence, I desperately wanted to be able to fix the family cars. A case in point: Some years ago my mum had a 1976 Renault 5 that was ultimately to become mine, but in the run-up to my ownership, I tried to ‘fix’ it and ‘improve’ it. But I’m afraid I failed. Really badly. After reading up on the subject, I decided to repair the nasty patch of rust that was bubbling on the rear wing above the nearside wheel arch. I acquired all the necessary tools and sundries: wet and dry paper, Isopon filler, tin snips, aerosol primer and paint etc, then set about smoothing the little rust bubbles and filling the holes. However, after a long, long weekend, and gruelling hours of sanding, scraping, snipping, nibbling, and dare I say it, hacksawing at the problem area, the pinholes and rust bubbles had become a gaping maw—a four inch by eight inch gash that gave an unfettered view of the inner wheel arch. Concerned that things seemed to be going slightly wrong, I decided to take advice. Not from a bodyshop, but from, I was subsequently to discover, equally clueless mates
whose claimed experience and bar-talk I prayed would get me out of a rapidly escalating mess. This would only prove to make matters worse, as the liberal application of newspaper packing, chicken wire, fibreglass and about 10 kilos of Isopon filler failed to provide the surface finish I was expecting. Nevertheless, I primed and painted this unsatisfactory grey scar, praying that three coats of red would miraculously improve the situation and somehow disguise/camouflage the horror beneath. However, it was frankly the mother of all losing battles to try to minimise the visual impact of my ‘work’. You may be alarmed to learn that it ended up resembling the side profile of a large, red-painted loaf of rustic wholemeal bread sticking out of the side of the car. It was a constant embarrassment. Mum was not pleased.
Now, I’m most definitely one who tries to learn from his mistakes, so I have never again attempted to do anything more challenging than occasionally touch in a few stone chips. I simply wouldn’t risk going anywhere near my Porsche with anything more abrasive than a polishing cloth. So it pays to get to know a good body man in order to keep my cars in good condition. Luckily I was introduced some years ago to Ty, at Excel Car Body Repair, who has repaired various bumps, scrapes and rusty bits over the years. He’s one of us—a Porsche enthusiast, having owned one or two, and worked on nearly every model and year of Porsche except the very latest Panamera (but that’s only a matter of time …) It’s always fun to drop by his workshop and see what’s getting his attention. He also does work for a number of different classic and sportscar specialists (including one or two from the Porsche world) and on a recent visit, the eclectic mix included a Morgan race car getting a thorough body restoration; a very rare Lancia Gamma that had been given a bit of life support with rust repairs, corrosion prevention and a rather lovely respray; a classic Minivan being re-assembled for a well-known Mini specialist after a bare metal repaint, as well as a Ferrari 550 Maranello awaiting collection following a bit of TLC after a traffic bump.
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What makes the difference for me is the level of enthusiasm and excitement about cars that only a fellow petrolhead would understand.
When I drop by, there is sometimes the opportunity to watch real skills in action. Last time, one of Ty’s skilled team was working with a hammer and dolly to re-shape and bend metal before my eyes, with each perfectly weighted tap of the hammer a subtle change to the profile, smoothing away high spots and indentations, making good the rough and scarred. Fascinating. Then there’s the paint. Wherever possible Ty will paint the cars himself. That way he retains control of the quality of the finish, which is always more involved a process than I expect. For example, last time he set to with one of my cars, he took great pains to match the old paint to his satisfaction.
My car had a coat of many colours and before this work I was beginning to think a complete respray was the only way forward, but Ty had it covered. Numerous colour tests were made to get the match right. Frankly, I pretended I too could see the differences (Emperor’s New Clothes syndrome …) but Ty’s keen eye could see that more green was needed. My car was blue—what the heck he needed green paint for was a bit of a mystery to me. After much deliberation. some kind of Star Trek analyser gadget was used to help compute the final mix, and the finished result was absolutely spot on and improved the overall impression no end. What makes the difference for me is the level of enthusiasm and excitement about cars that only a fellow petrolhead would understand. When I visit I’m always keen to see the latest projects, get the backstory of what led each car to be in the workshop, what came before and what’s coming soon—car-guy gossip, if you like!
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And when sometimes I get to see the finished product in the flesh, there’s no mistaking the pride in a job well done and making another customer happy. We all treat our cars differently, from simple, emotionally detached conveyance, to love-affair obsessive. I’m somewhere nearer the latter, and I prefer the guys who work on my cars to go some way to matching my enthusiasm. So Ty is my paint and body man because I know he enjoys my car too. He homes in on the things that need doing to make my car as beautiful as possible on my meagre budget, and it’s a joy to see the results when he’s been let loose. Next up, my 1974 911 2.7 Targa is due to have a few problems sorted out, and I’ll report back after the coming winter months. Overall the car is in good condition, and the aim is to keep it that way without having to spend a fortune, but some irritating flaws are letting it down so we have identified a programme of work over the winter to bring it back up to standard. Writing & photography by Craig Moore All Torque 84 page 11
The Nürburgring:
Wunderbar! So good, we visited twice It’s every petrolhead’s dream destination— the legendary Green Hell, 13 miles and over seventy corners of challenging but entertaining fast driving. Mike Marot and some of the other SYNN Region members have taken two trips to Germany and the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 2010. The first trip in May in their Porsches and again in September in, well, not Porsches, that’s for sure …
“
We entertained each other by driving on the unrestricted sections of road; the cars were sublime and both myself and Dean had large grins on our faces as we performed ‘high speed’ passes listening to the majestic engine notes …
”
Well, our first trip this year happened in May with just two cars in convoy, consisting of myself along with my wife Sue in our 997 GT3 and Dean & Joanne Lancashire in their lovely 996 Turbo. We decided on this trip to go on the overnight P&O ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge, so on Wednesday the 19th May we set sail at 7pm. The weather was absolutely stunning and after a sumptuous meal and a few drinks we decided to try out our luck in the ship’s casino before retiring to our cabins for the night. The next morning as the ship neared its destination we ate a ‘hearty breakfast’ before disembarking and starting the journey to our hotel at Auderath in the beautiful Eifel Forest some 20km south of the famous Nürburgring circuit. The weather again was perfect and we entertained each other by driving on the unrestricted sections of road; the cars were sublime and both myself and Dean had large grins on our faces as we performed ‘high speed’ passes listening to the majestic engine notes as we went by … Fantastic! We arrived mid afternoon, checked into our rooms and received a welcome drink from our host. As it was such a beautiful day we decided (tongue in cheek!) to show the ladies the wonderful countryside, and also where the famous ‘Grune Holle’ was situated.
On arrival, the track was just opening for public use and surprisingly enough virtually deserted. Both Dean and I had the same thought and decided to quickly buy some lap tickets and take advantage of the ‘quiet times’. We had three fast laps in our cars, complete with the ladies as co-pilots! Awesome! The next morning after a leisurely breakfast we went on a driving tour of the surrounding picturesque countryside, meandering down the lovely driving roads to the Mosel river, stopping off frequently for ‘refreshments’ and photography opportunities. The drive ended at the lovely bridge-gated town of Traben-Trarbach where we had lunch at a hotel on the sun-drenched shore beside the river. The day ended back at our hotel with fine wines and fantastic food – delicious!! We had a fun packed day on the Saturday at the Nürburgring race centre, where we had a guided tour of the Race track facilities and watched the practice sessions of the Carrera cup challenge that was on that weekend. We also looked around the new ‘Ring Werk’ museum complex and treated ourselves to some motorsport clothing!
All Torque 84 page 13
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After a few laps, our confidence grew and our lap times got quicker …
”
Dean and I wanted to achieve more of a driving experience on the Nordschleife circuit, but instead of taking our own cars on the track we decided to hire a race prepared vehicle from one of the many driving academies, this would ensure we were insured and protected for any eventualities! We went to ‘Rent-Racecar’ approximately 5km from the circuit. We met with the owner and his wife who gave us a guided tour of the facilities and cars on offer. These ranged from the Suzuki Swift sport right up to the new Porsche GT3! Theo, the owner, was a retired race driver and he advised in order to gain confidence of the circuit to initially go for a small car. We opted for the Suzuki Swift, a stripped out sports version with roll cage and uprated brakes and tyres, producing 130bhp. Theo took us both on a sighting trip around the 21km circuit informing us on the braking and turn in points on all the 33 left hand bends and 40 rights! Armed with all this information we took to the track, taking turns to drive and co-drive! After a few laps our confidence grew and our lap times got quicker, to the point that we were faster than many cars with twice the power we had! We raced the car some 200km before returning it unscathed and without mishap. What a wonderful experience and one we can highly recommend. We finally left our hostelry on the Monday morning and commenced the journey back to Belgium and to catch the overnight ferry back to Blighty … finally docking in Hull on the Tuesday morning, and unfortunately ‘back to work’. We all agreed this had been a fantastic week away, and without doubt was already looking forward to our next trip which was planned for September!
Our trip in September was on a slightly different theme. I had been tasked with organising something memorable as part of my son Richard’s pre-marriage celebration, and as I was to be his ‘best man’ took it upon myself to do just that. We were to take part in a Top Gear themed ‘Scum Run’ in budget vehicles and in teams, the idea being to drive approximately 2,000 miles across Europe in five days, visiting and driving on the famous Nordschleife, enduring other tasks on the way and visiting the Porsche museum and factory in Stuttgart too. 16 brave men consisting of teams of twos and threes would have to source their own cars in good mechanical order but on a purchase budget of £500! And then sell them on our return for at least the same price, with points being awarded to the team who overall spent the least. (In true Top Gear format) … A tall order? The cars were purchased, six in total: Toyota Celica, BMW 3 series, Saab 9000, Proton GTi, Fiat Coupe and a Mercedes E Class diesel! With the cars fully serviced and in ‘fine fettle’ with all the logos firmly applied, we set off; this time driving down to access France via the Eurotunnel where we all got stopped and searched at passport control: Surprise! Into France and Belgium where the weather deteriorated. No problems with the cars, however the rain was torrential! The weather brightened up just short of Spa, and for the rest of the trip was relatively dry, so the pace was conservatively increased!
We stayed at our usual hotel, which is always a pleasure, and after dropping off our luggage proceeded straight over to the Nordschleife where everyone purchased their circuit tickets. All the cars along with their team drivers then had to endure a full lap each! Everything amazingly went very well and all returned back to the hotel for the evening in convoy with no mishaps, where we viewed the days racing downloaded from our in-car cameras. A great day ending with a large German beer or two! On the Friday we all left our hotel for the next stage of travel, down to Stuttgart where we visited the Porsche Museum. This was a fantastic experience with every example on show in pristine original condition, even our lunch in the museum restaurant was divine, where we feasted on their acclaimed ‘Boxster’ burgers. After parking our cars at our hotel for the night in central Stuttgart we freshened up and headed into town where we all had a great time. Up bright and early and after a refreshing breakfast we fuelled up and headed out of town and back towards Koblenz, eventually finishing at the Nürburgring circuit again for ‘one last blast’ That evening we feasted on good food and copious amounts of beer while reminiscing about the trip. Next morning we all checked our cars over, fuelled up and said our goodbyes before starting the return journey home. All the cars never missed a beat, sustained damage or broke down! What an amazing good fun motoring trip … now all that is left to do is sell the cars. Fantastic! All agreed, let’s do it again!
Writing & photography from Mike Marot All Torque 84 page 15
964/993 distributor belt change In keeping with Martin Whitelaw’s ‘fix it before it breaks’ maintenance policy he decided that his recently acquired 993 Coupe with 70k miles should have a new distributor drive belt. The following is how I did the job. Some mechanical aptitude is required but should be within a DIY capability. You will however need a vertical drill press, some wood clamps and basic screwdrivers and allen keys. Oh, you will also need a 4mm roll pin to secure the drive gear and a new belt, of course. As always there are preparatory stages where the adjacent blower ducting and motor needs to be removed, the engine turned by hand to TDC, the distributor caps removed and the rotor arms checked for correct alignment to marks on each distributor. Please note that the two rotor arms do not sit at the same angle but do align with their own casing marks at about twelve o’clock and two o’clock; secondary and main respectively, viewed from the top. (I have witnessed a 964 with the two rotors sitting at the same angle—the plug leads in this case moved around in one distributor cap to accommodate this non standard approach! Please check yours before removing the distributor from the engine.) With electrical and vent connections to the distributor removed, undo the 13mm securing nut and test whether the twin distributor body will pull out of the engine by hand. Mine didn’t and I resorted to a slide hammer hooked under the dizzy fixing arm. A couple of light strokes and the assembly slid out and was able to be lifted away to the garage.
Now, with the distributor on the bench you can assess what is needed to get the old belt out. A total strip is the only reply here as each of the following steps must be completed: 1. Remove the dowel pin holding the drive gear to the bottom of the main distributor shaft. 2. Remove the steel disc from the bottom of the secondary distributor housing. 3. Remove the electrical plug from the side of the main housing. 4. Remove the secondary distributor internal rotor assembly. 5. Remove the main distributor internal rotor assembly. 6. Split the distributor housing to remove the old drive belt. If you are still with me, I’ll explain in more detail how I tackled each of the above steps.
Drilling out drive gear dowel pin
1. Remove the dowel pin holding the drive gear to the bottom of the main distributor shaft. Firstly, holding the drive gear in the vice (with wooden strips to protect the gear) I carefully drilled though the pin holding the gear to the shaft until I was able to easily drift the pin out to release the gear. I also marked the position of the gear relative to the shaft before removal. Two important points here: firstly the dowel pin is flattened, or semi-riveted, at the factory and trying to drift it out without drilling might prove impossible or lead to damage of the gear or shaft. As a minimum one of the exposed ends of the pin should be ground down flush before brute force is applied. I took the engineering route and almost drilled out the whole pin, with a
Underside of secondary distributor—disc removal
(down the side of the main rotor at approx 120 degrees) and, folding the three male electrical pins into the housing, pull the main distributor shaft from the housing. Again watch for the shim washers at the gear end and plain and spring washers at the working end of the shaft. 6. Split the distributor housing to remove the old drive belt. Finally, remove five allen headed bolts and split the housings to remove the old belt. Have a cup of tea and reflect on why you ever started this job! With all the bits out you may wish to check the bearings or possibly lubricate them with fresh high melting point grease. (Of the three similar belt replacements I’ve undertaken I have had one rusty bearing and one where an inner bearing hub was seized to the secondary distributor shaft. No huge problems in themselves but possibly an unforeseen delay in re-assembly.)
Twin distributor with ‘old’ drive belt
succession of drill bits, before removing the remainder with a punch. The second point is that the gear and shaft are under tension from an internal circular spring washer and here a woodworker’s clamp came in useful to equalise the load on the gear to aid pin removal. When removing the gear, note the two shim washers which sit between the gear and housing—these tend to ‘stick’ to the bottom of the housing and, dropping off sometime later, can be missed on reassembly. 2. Remove the steel disc from the bottom of the secondary distributor housing. One hurdle over! Now go to the underside of the secondary housing and you will see a circular disc held in by three crimped lugs. I Dremeled these crimped locations until I could ease the disc out, but not before I had to drill a hole to assist the process. (see picture) 3. Remove the electrical plug from the side of the main housing. Things are looking up and the electrical connection on the side of the main housing are easily removed when the securing ‘U’ clip is prised out from within. The ‘then exposed’ white plastic connector has three
Electrical connections removed from connector
male pins—remove all three pins from the connector noting the colours and positions for re-assembly. 4. Remove the secondary distributor internal rotor assembly. Back to the secondary distributor and once again this assembly is under tension from an internal spring washer. The circlip (exposed in step 2) needs to be removed and if you wish to re-use this circlip you need to release the load on it. I upturned the housing and, with the secondary shaft top resting on the bench, I clamped the housing body down on the bench (see picture) thus compressing the internal spring washer and making the circlip easier to remove in one piece! Watch for two shim washers and lay these aside with the circlip. The secondary distributor assembly will now pull out of the top of the housing. Watch the location of cogged wheel, the plain and spring washer from this shaft. 5. Remove the main distributor internal rotor assembly. Almost there now! Remove the three cross headed screws from within the main housing
Compressing internal spring washer to remove circlip
As all the good books say; “reassembly is the reverse of disassembly”! Do, however, persevere with the distributor belt assembly such that the refitted rotor arms point again to their respective timing marks—near enough is not good enough! I assure you that with patience, and one or two tries, the rotor arms will line up precisely with their respective marks. The final assembly stage is to secure the drive gear to the main distributor shaft. Here I used a 4mm roll pin cut to length. With the gear aligned (and the woodworker’s clamp again compressing the internal spring washer) it is relatively easy to drive the new roll pin into the gear and shaft. (see picture) Finally, remember to check that the rotor arms again point to their respective timing marks when the twin distributor housing is entered into position and the drive gear meshes with it’s counterpart in the sump— the engine still being on TDC, of course. Job done! Now drive your Porsche and enjoy the peace of mind that a new distributor belt brings. Good luck, if you have any questions please ask the author.
Roll pin driven into drive gear/main shaft
Writing & photography by Martin Whitelaw All Torque 84 page 17
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924 oil pressure sender replacement Paul Greenfield found that Porsche were the cheapest source for an oil sender, after figuring out how to get the old one out! It’s been some time since my last article in All Torque. My 924 has worked perfectly and I work on the philosophy of leaving well alone. However over recent weeks the gremlins had started to emerge from the woodwork in the form of some strange intermittent electrical problems. The voltmeter had started to read lower than usual and on occasions the brake warning light would come on together with the oil pressure warning light even though the oil pressure was showing as good as ever and fluids were topped up. I disconnected the lead from the oil pressure sender (terminal WK) to stop the warning light blinking but needed to get to the root of the problem. The oil sender on a 924 is not in the most accessible position; at the back of the head below the distributor, up close to the bulkhead. It has a 17mm hex against the head with a much wider body preventing the use of conventional spanners and sockets, and virtually no room to manoeuvre. At the third attempt, I fabricated a special tool out of an old 17mm open ended spanner (see photo).
17mm jaw
17mm nut 3mm 5.5mm
Oil pressure sender spanner
Distributor
The Haines manual describes the two terminals as screw on but mine has a push on connector for the warning light, probably to prevent swapping the two. After carefully removing the lead to the gauge (terminal G), (a sheet of paper under the car will catch the nut and washer which is bound to end up on the floor), I fitted the tool and with a 17mm ring spanner, removed the sender unit. Reading off the part number I rang around for a replacement. The best quote was £75 +p&p; some suppliers failed to ring back! I contacted my local main dealer for price and availability. They could get one in one or two days. ‘Could I have club discount?’ – ‘Certainly sir’. It arrived on time at a total cost of £56. Well done Porsche! Fitting was much easier than removal. Don’t overtighten, just nip it up. Even so, on the last tighten, one of the welds on the tool broke, so I won’t be giving up the day job.
Oil pressure sender
Ignition coil
Oil pressure sender in situ from left-hand side
I have also replaced the alternator and fitted a new loom as it had been rather cooked around the starter motor where the cabling had no heat sheathing; but that’s another story.
I’m sad to say that this could well be my last article as I’m thinking of selling my 924. Any buyers for a well maintained example in Guards Red?
Oil pressure sender
Writing & photography by Paul Greenfield All Torque 84 page 19
Rare beast Is James Garrard’s 944 Turbo SE prototype the rarest 944 in the country? We think it might be.
Well, what can I say about my love affair with the second greatest love of my life? It all started one warm June night back in 2006, when I had my first date with my now wife (and no this isn’t a line from a Mills & Boon story!) We’d just had our first romantic meal together, and I did the gentlemanly thing of walking her back home.
And there she was, like a black shadow lurking on the driveway … the 944. “Hmm” I said, “you didn’t mention that you had that. Is it your Dad’s?” “Don’t be daft” she said, “It’s my next door neighbour’s. He just parks it there when he’s out at work”. And there she sat, a beautiful black 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo, just looking at me.
The car came with a very extensive history file, and all the original receipts, MOTs, service log book, tools and rare fully working Motorola 8500X mobile phone including chargers (brick phone). But that was only the start of what I would begin to find out about my lovely car.
At the time, I was ready to find myself a sports car, and I was looking at the first issue Audi TT coupe, or an old MK1 Golf GTI, but ever since I can remember, and certainly since my teenage years, I always wanted a Porsche, never dreaming I could actually afford one. After about two years of putting up with the previous owner, Mr Chris Drennan, whistling as he cleaned and polished the car every Sunday, and much pestering on my part for him to sell it to me, he finally gave in and on 4th May 2008, I was given the keys. And that’s when I think my life changed forever.
As a new owner of any used car, the first thing I generally do is get the cambelt changed and give it a good service. The previous owner Chris had got it serviced for the past seven years by Tim Munford at Camtune in Godalming, where I live, but just after I got the car Camtune officially became part of Porsche UK and moved up to West Byfleet. Wanting to keep the same people looking after the Porsche, I took it to Byfleet for a cambelt and full four year service. That’s when things took a turn for the expensive side. After the service I got a long list of things which needed doing. These were mainly things that had to be done because of the age of the car, like drive belts, oil seals, and perished pipe work etc. The sort of things you can expect with an old car, but then it also said “Requires new turbo pipes due to corrosion” and that was the key to changing my whole outlook on the car. I decided to get all the work done. The car was in the garage for about three weeks. I also had the heat exchanger seals replaced as they were leaking antifreeze, along with two new front indicator units owing to poor contacts and cracked lenses. The total bill for all the work was £2,991.52. OUCH! After scooping my jaw from the floor, we started to go through the list of work done and why the car had been in for so long. It turns out that the replacement turbo pipes which were ordered were the wrong ones. They had ordered the 220bhp model pipes, and when they arrived they didn’t fit. It needed the 250bhp pipes to do the job. After a bit of head scratching, paying the bill and getting the keys to the just-valeted car, I headed home. Before the work was done the car suffered with turbo lag, which I thought to be the norm. I was heading down the A3 and decided to see what she could do, within the speed limits of course … when I realised that the turbo lag had gone, it went like a rocket!, before I knew it I was doing 70mph (ish)! I put the car back into storage, and then spent the next four weeks looking up on the internet about 944s, in particular the Turbos, and trying to figure out why the car went so fast. I kept in contact with Chris Drennan who had owned it for 14 years, and we started to piece together some of the history surrounding the car. Shortly after Chris purchased the car he had the brakes serviced, and one of the mechanics, who was a Ferrari specialist, said at the time “that’s not a normal 944 Turbo, it’s a special order issue”. Chris thought it was just a fast car with a bit of a kick and never pursued it further. However, it wasn’t until the summer of this year that the car’s history started to become a little clearer.
During a visit to London Mayfair, I took the opportunity to walk to the Porsche showroom at Berkley Square, which was near where the car was originally purchased. Charles Follett of Mayfair, the original supplier of the car, had sadly gone the way of many businesses during the early ’90s and had been taken over by MG Rover group. However, Porsche opened a new showroom just along Berkley street, and then in 2006 moved to Berkley Square. Most of the sales documentation for the cars sold was lost during the Follett/MG Rover takeover, but, as fortune would have it, one of the original sales staff from Charles Follett was working at the Berkley Square Porsche showroom. He remembered the sale of the exact car, as well as the circumstances surrounding the purchase. It was after this meeting that I subsequently came across the original sales purchase order and specification for the car as ordered by Andrew Sharpe back in 1986. And sure enough there it was in black and white: Porsche 944 Turbo SE, Project 951/952 prototype, with full black leather interior. And it turns out it is one of only two such cars supplied to the UK. I couldn’t believe my luck. I then went back to Chris with the results of my findings. He was overjoyed and promptly came out with another humdinger. As it happens, he still does the gardening for the very first owner of the car, which was how he become to be in possession of it in the first place! I’ve heard of tracing your family’s roots, but never your car as well! It was so bizarre. I could now trace the whole history of my car and speak to both of the previous owners as well. Fantastic! Chris arranged a meeting with Stephen Jackson this September at his home in Richmond. I also took Chris along as well. Stephens first reaction to seeing the car was “Bloody hell, it looks as good as the day I bought it!” We had quite a long chat, and over a cup of tea in his conservatory, I explained my quest to find out more about my car, and this is what he came up with. The Car was ordered by an Andrew Sharpe of Charles Follett, Mayfair. It was for a businessman by the name of Michael Lake, who had agreed on the specification with Andrew during early 1986. He had secured the deal with a £1,000.00 deposit, but he changed his mind and went for a 911 instead. Stephen Jackson knew Michael through his business, Games Workshop, and had told Michael he would be interested in looking for a basic 220bhp 944 Turbo of the same colour. Leaving the 944 on order, Michael introduced Stephen to Andrew Sharpe and struck a deal to buy the car for £29,995.00 +VAT (it was £27,842.00 inc.VAT for the standard 220bhp Turbo at the time). It would start life as the company car, but when Stephen sold his business, one of the conditions of the contract was that he’d kept the 944 Turbo. He kept it for a few years, and with regular servicing at Charles Ivey Specialist cars Ltd in Fulham, ran the car as his daily user. He even had fitted child seat straps in the rear seat to take his daughters around in it. (The straps are still there to this day). He subsequently changed his 944 for a blue 911 a few years later, and sold the 944 to Chris Drennan for a mere £6,000.00 in early 1997.
The Porsche 944 Turbo SE represents what most authorities consider to be the highest performance version of the highly successful 944 product line. The Turbo SE was introduced in 1988 officially, as a limited production run, fitted in the same manner as the Turbo Cup race car. In the following year (1989), the 944 Turbo maintained all of the performance characteristics of the 1988 Turbo SE, but dropped the ‘SE’ designation. 1989 was to be the last year that Porsche imported the 944 Turbo into North America in any significant numbers. Initially, the Turbo SE was only available in a ‘Silver Rose Limited Edition’ form. In total only a mere 1,635 limited edition Turbo SEs and in the US ‘Turbo S’ rolled off the production line between 1988–89, mainly of ‘Silver Rose’ colour with a garish pink tartan interior (yuk!) 718 cars ended up in the states, 717 remained in Europe and out of all them, 12 in total were made as prototypes in 1986 for both markets, like mine. With only two of those destined for the UK market. To this day this black shadow, nicknamed ‘Black Betty’ is believed to be the only one in the UK still on the road. If you fancy owning your own a piece of Porsche limited edition history, ropey 250,000 mile cast offs can still be bought on eBay for between £5K and 10K. A good example, with a reasonable 100K+ mileage will set you back around £12-14K, with the best examples which are usually the non-silver rose colours with full leather interiors and mileage levels between 60 and a 100,000 will go to £18–20K and beyond. But if your serious and don’t mind waiting, be patient and sure enough you could find yourself a little gem at a fair price. The big question is, would I sell it? I have had various offers from private parties and the trade. A recent enquiry made to The Hare Pin Company in Wiltshire estimated a value on such a rare car as this at £30–35K. I would have to think seriously before I sold this car, knowing not only the full history, but the fact it was there when I met my wife on our first date. I guess it’s become a part of me. Many thanks to RO Derek Flanagan, for all his support with a new member. Big thanks to Chris Drennan (second owner), and Stephen Jackson (first owner) for one hell of a car. Tim Munford at Porsche Service Centre West Byfleet for putting up with stupid requests from me and giving first class service, and finally all at Porsche Berkley Square, Mayfair, London and Sven Klapputh, Classic Customer Consultant at Stuttgart, Germany for your information about the car. Reference material for the 1988–89 944 Turbo SE can be found in GT Purely Porsche May 2003 edition. (And also from RO Derek Flanagan and the Internet!)
To this day, ‘Black Betty’ is believed to be the only Turbo SE prototype on the road in the UK.
Since buying the car I have learnt so much, not only about my car, but 944s in general. It is hard to believe that an estimated 60,000 of these cars were made, but only 25,245 were Turbos. Even though a 944 Turbo could match a 3.2 911 off the mark, and this limited edition would be even quicker, the mid ’80s yuppies would choose the 911 over the 944, as much for price as performance, and it would seem that this would be the final nail in the coffin for the 944. Production ceased in 1992 with the 944 S2 and Turbo. Writing by James Garrard. Photography by James Garrard & Derek Flanagan All Torque 84 page 23
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All Torque needs YOU! This magazine is all about our club, produced entirely by TIPEC members for each other to enjoy. Please consider submitting an article of your own. It doesn’t need to be professional, it just needs to be about our club or the Porsche cars we all love. Maybe you have been on an interesting day out with other TIPEC members,or maybe you have found a brilliant driving road. Maybe you have undertaken some DIY spannering and want to share what you learned in the process, or even just want to share your Porsche and it’s history with the rest of the club. Please put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and send a brief article to our editor, Tony Blow. You don’t have to do it all by yourself, your fellow local club members may be able to help take photos or proofread your efforts. It’s a great way to get involved more with TIPEC and give a little back to the club. Tony Blow, All Torque, Flat 1/1, 47 Greendyke Street, Glasgow G1 5PX. Email tony@typescape.com
All Torque 84 page 27
Gruppe North North East RO wanted! ARO Andy Blythe 01642 809 031 ac.blythe@mbro.ac.uk Meetings are held first Sunday of every month 7:30pm at The Sporting Lodge, Low Lane, Stainton Village, Cleveland, TS17 9LW, just off the A19. In June and July we are meeting on the SECOND Sunday of the month. As another season of car shows comes to an end the members of the North East retire their cars for the winter. I find the drop in my workload has allowed me to attend some of the last events of the season. My 944 has been tucked up for the winter so I was privileged to get a lift to the Darlington pump station classic car show from member John Armstrong in his 924S. During the weekend the 1900 steam beam engine is in steam along with the twin cylinder gas engine used to supply the town with drinking water from a local reservoir. All manner of classic cars, small stand engines and fire engines attended the event. The highlight of the day for me was an invitation to go home in a C-Type Lynx Jaguar. The Lynx C-Type was built from original Jaguar parts when the Jag factory stopped production. Lynx bought the wooden body forms and all C-Type spare parts and put together three complete cars. The cars are reregistered as XK 120 Jags with body type C, as per the original C-Type Jag. The three cars can not be called replicas but are not originals. In the past one of the cars was sold at auction and was called a continuation of the original production run. The car sold for over a quarter of a million pounds! A lot of car for your money but a lot less than the million plus of the originals. The particular car I was to sit in was first owned by the managing director of Aston Martin. Climbing in from the driver’s side because they don’t have passenger doors, I was conscious not to put so much as a finger print on the pristine alloy skin body work which had been lovingly covered in a deep dark blue. With its original Moss box and high gearing the C-Type was capable of over 180mph before using its disc brakes at the end of the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans. As our convoy set off Mike took the lead in his 355 Ferrari followed by Brian, his dad. Then John’s 924S
Andy’s 924S on the lifts at Malton
The awesome C-Type Lynx Jaguar
gave us the Porsche club connection as rear gunner. Having often followed the 355 with my windows open I have enjoyed the howls of the V12 but on this occasion I was sat just above the side pipes of the C-Type and all I could hear was the roar of the big cat’s engine. The noise from the induction alone was like the sound of a Spitfire passing directly over head. As we hit the dual carriageway she purred along at 60 mph and with the overdrive engaged I noticed the revs were 1,500rpm. At this point the 355 did its party piece and the sound from its de-cat Tubey exhaust system made its way to my ears but not for long ... Brian selected 3rd gear in the crash box with out so much as a chink and floored the loud pedal thrusting me back in to the leather seat. The wind was now trying to remove my scalp! I slid my self down into the seat below the wind flowing over the flyscreen in front of me. The manoeuvre was achieved easily in the C as there are no restrictive seat belts to hinder my movements. Thankfully I could not see the speedo but we were now pulling 6,000 rpm and hovering up the road at an alarming rate. To add to the exhilarating experience
The latest GT3RS at Specialist Cars of Malton
all of the above is achieved on period Dunlop rubber making roundabouts very interesting and often requiring opposite lock. All too soon we reached the end of the journey. I was to be dropped off at the home of the 355 and continued my voyage home in the 924. On the drive home John commented on how impressive the Jag looked attacking the roundabouts and accelerating down the carriageway. To get a passenger ride in such a special car is a fantastic experience, to be sat in one driven so well, and as it was meant to be driven, I am thankful to my pilot Brian who it has been said (like myself) does not know what the middle pedal is for. I once chased him down a twisty country lane in his E-Type. I was in my 944 with John. When we got to the car show I told Brian his brake lights were not working, which I thought was strange as his cars are always impeccably maintained by himself. Brian replied “They will be working, I just don’t use the brakes”. As he spoke he open the door and stabbed the brake pedal with a foot and on they came. The North East boys were invited to the Supercar Sunday event at Specialist Cars of Malton by the local PistonHeads lads. With my 944S already away for the winter I relied on my trusty friend John for a lift in the 924S. John took some convincing that a day had two 7:00s and we were meeting at the am one. We were joined by Mike in the 355. Mike has threatened that he will buy a 993 but not before I get one. He may have a long wait. I’ve told him to get one and give me a go and I would be happy. We were joined by an old school friend of Mike’s who will be joining the club soon he was driving a fine 928 with a manual box. The convoy set off from Wolverstone services and headed down to York ring road before cutting back toward Pickering and into Malton.
The range of supercars was fantastic: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Noble, Zonda and TVR to name a few. Specialist Cars of Malton run the event for the Great North East Air Ambulance all proceeds from their breakfast bun stall goes to the cause. However that is not where the hospitality of Specialist Cars ended. We were approached by one of the Corvette drivers telling us that the 924 was leaking fuel. Having worked on many 944s and 924s, I suggested it would be the pipes over the torsion tube on the NSR. Specialist Cars have their workshop open to show the level of service and were only to happy to put the car on a ramp, give us some fuel pipe and allow us to effect a temporary repair. I must say a big thanks to them. With the car repaired and my wife informed we were setting off. We took a more inspired drive home and for the second time in two weeks I was a passenger in a spirited drive home although this time the Ferrari followed in the Porsche sandwich with the 928 in the rear. The Christmas curry has become a bit of a tradition for the North East Region, I will see you at the club meet to discuss details. The North East still needs a RO. There is a lot of fun to be had up north it’s not so grim!
Yorkshire RO John Oakes 01132 827 512 john.oakes3@btinternet.com ARO Ben Rodrigues 07906 491 168 (mobile) ben.rodrigues@tiscali.co.uk
A spotless yellow 914 spotted at Cars in the Park
Strasse Leeds The visit to Strasse was cancelled due to lack of interest. In the end, three of us went along on Saturday 18th September. Many thanks to Dave of Strasse for having us along anyway. He looked over Karl’s 968 & Andy’s 911 3.2 Carrera. I also ended up with an invite to a charity golf day from Dave. December’s Christmas Quiz For December’s meeting, we will be having a quiz again with prizes for the winners and a food buffet. If you fancy coming along, please let us know. Ben’s Words
Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month 7:00–7:30pm at The Windmill Inn, Hull Road, Dunnington, York, YO19 5LP. John’s Words I would like to thank everyone for coming along to this year’s meetings held at the Windmill. This year has gone very quickly and I cannot believe that Christmas is only a month away. I hope to also see you all next year. Please note that there will be NO club meeting in January. We welcome two new members into our region, Jeff with a 944S2 Cab and Kieran with a 964. Jeff joined us at the October meeting with his wife. Also there was John (944S2), Eddie (944S2 Cab) and Ben.
12th September (Sunday) Cars In The Park, Harewood House We were blessed with good weather again for this popular event. It was nice to see several TIPEC regions in attendance and catch up with friends. There was a different variety of Porsche’s as well as other marques. It was nice to see a Ferrari 458 Italia had managed to make the journey to Harewood House without spontaneously combusting! Car of the day for me was an immaculate Guards Red 911 3.3 Turbo. The owner had only had it four days! 19th September (Sunday) Bupa Great North Run I just want to take this opportunity to thank all the TIPEC members that sponsored me. The half marathon (13.1 miles) from Gateshead to South Shields took me one hour, 59 minutes and 58 seconds. Just under the two hour target I set for myself. I’ve managed to raise £247.10 for the Get Kids Going! charity. Finally, I can’t believe that the year is coming to a close. It’s certainly been an eventful year for me. I hope we’ll see plenty of you for the Christmas quiz and hopefully see you all on the other side in 2011. For members who have haven’t yet made it along, please come and join us at any meeting or events.
An immaculate 3.3 Turbo at Cars in the Park
7th December (Tuesday) Christmas quiz at our regular club night
North West RO Andrew Lane 01772 740 625 07949 167 698 (mobile) andrewclane@btopenworld.com ARO Brenda Marginson 01254 831 766 brenda.marginson@sky.com Meetings are held first Monday of every month from 8pm at The Dressers Arms, near Wheelton, Chorley PR6 8HD. When this falls on a Bank Holiday, we meet on the second Monday instead. The winter months are now upon us, so things are starting to slow down now as far as outside activities are concerned. However we have still managed a few outings over the recent weeks. As I mentioned in my last report we had a trip over to Porsh-Apart for an open evening at Simon Butterworth’s premises. Around eight or nine members ventured out and were also joined by PCGB North West. We had an extensive tour of the facilities where a whole host of Porsche parts could be found. This ranged from 944 all the way through to brand new parts for the latest 997 Turbo. Excellent food was laid on (with a German theme of course) and both Alcoholic and soft drinks were available. We were also shown the new workshop area where they are now offering servicing. This area was taken up by a gorgeous Speed Yellow 964 Turbo 3.6. I think most would agree that it’s a bit of a treat to see one of those these days. The evening was finished off by a raffle with proceeds going to charity. Pete Anderson from our region was especially lucky with three of his tickets being drawn out! The prizes ranged from a £200 oil change voucher to an exquisite 1:18 model of a 908/3 and all sorts in between. We had a particular eye on the set of six espresso cups but it wasn’t to be! Those who couldn’t make it missed a good evening.
All Torque 84 page 29
October came and went with not much going on really as a region. However a number of us accompanied Brenda Marginson our ARO to a show she had been wanting to see for a while at Blackpool’s North Pier. The show was a charity event and included loads of well known acts that had been performing there throughout the year including Frank Carson, Billy Pearce, Duncan Norville and Joe Longthorn. Brenda met up with Joe at the end of the show which finished off the night nicely for her. In Early November we had our annual quiz with yours truly as the quiz master. I tried to put something in there for everybody, but I think the answer of the night was to the question “Who won the 1970 Targa Florio in a 908/3? Answer: “The Stig!” Hmm. The offenders shall remain nameless. Simon Butterworth from Porsh-Apart very kindly donated some lovely Porsche models and key rings for prizes and also one of our members managed to bag a couple of Porsche T-shirts from Jasmine Porsche. In the end everyone had a good laugh and no one went home empty handed. Unfortunately we’ve had to cancel the Christmas Party at the Viking Hotel as there has been a shortage of numbers at the deadline, however we are still meeting for a Christmas meal on the 6th December which is our monthly meeting night. We have our usual room reserved from 7:30pm so have a think about it and share a bit of festive Porsche cheer! By the time you read this we will have enjoyed a last run on Sunday the 21st November, to the Lakeland Motor Museum. We have decided to look at doing the rolling road in January or February as it’s getting
John’s 3.2 on the track at Aintree in early October
close to Christmas shopping time and people’s weekends are getting booked up. The ‘Chippy Teas’ will resume once we start getting some light nights next year. Another new thing we are discussing for next year is a weekend camp at one of the Carrera Cup race meetings or something of that ilk, so watch this space and keep an eye out for my emails. So that’s it from me for now. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed stepping into the role of RO this year and look forward to being of service next year. It would be great to see as many of our North West members at the December meeting, but if you can’t make it have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! December 6th (Monday) Monthly Meeting and Christmas meal. All welcome January/February 2011 (TBC) Rolling Road event and Carrera Cup or similar race meeting and camping when season starts
Cheshire & Staffs RO Steve Taylor 07774 912 069 (mobile) stephen_taylor@datascope.com ARO Dave Watson 07889 804 598 (mobile) watson_david@btinternet.com Meetings are held third Tuesday of every month 8pm at The Whipping Stocks, Stocks Lane, Over Peover, Knutsford, WA16 9EX.
I can hardly believe we are at the end of yet another year. It doesn’t seem five minutes since we where planning our summer holiday, which is now just a distant memory. On the subject of planning, some of you may or may not be aware that our region now has an events committee. Barry Stenhouse, Terry Murphy and Dave Mercer have joined Dave Watson and Myself to help organise a varied calendar of events throughout the year. We held a committee meeting a few weeks back to get some ideas down on paper for 2011 and we are planning to meet on a quarterly basis going forward. Already Barry is looking into another trip to Stuttgart and several suggestions for drive outs have been made. One member has suggested a drive out which ends at his house followed by a BBQ in the summer months. Terry has also been talking to John Holland at Unit Eleven and plans are in place to hold an open evening where members can use Unit Elevens facilities to undertake minor jobs on their own cars with their assistance. I would like to urge all members to support as many activities as possible, the committee is going to be working very hard to develop the region over the coming months so your support would be gratefully appreciated. Just to catch up with what has been going on, we attended a track day on the 2nd October at Aintree Circuit organised by the Liverpool Motor Club. For those who don’t know, Aintree Circuit lies within the famous Grand National Circuit and is an old Formula One Circuit from the days of Sterling Moss. The circuit is now privately owned. Six of our members took part and several more turned up to spectate. From the
feedback from those who took part, it seems they enjoyed it immensely. We hope to go back again in the spring when the Motor Club holds another trackday. Our thanks to John Biddulph for his help organising this event for us.
forward to our Christmas Party Night on the 11th December at the Oban Bay Hotel with 38 members attending and all the Scottish Membership receiving, for the first time ever, a free copy of the SVVF yearbook through the region joining the SVVF.
I would like to end by wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. I look forward to catching up with you all in 2011.
We would like to thank all our members for the support you have given to the Scottish Region. By that we mean those who have joined the region, for those who have rejoined the region after a spell away and to those members who have renewed, along with their input, chat, web contributions, suggestions, attendance at monthly meetings, shows and outings ... and mainly our thanks just for being a member.
Scotland RO Stewart Gordon 01698 841 692 (evenings) 07974 808 342 (mobile) flashgordon944@blueyonder.co.uk ARO Alan Neilson 01324 871 543 07793 234 096 (mobile) alz1933@alanneilson.fsnet.co.uk ARO Neil Fraser 0131 660 0143 07946 616 782 (mobile) neil@fraser72.freeserve.co.uk
to give us the convoy escort that was so badly missed this year and that we can pull off another great Fun Day Out for the kids at Cclasp. We would like to thank Brian Miller of Brian Miller Motors Edinburgh for his continued support by sponsoring the Region’s Annual Concours Trophies and also thank Neil Fraser for Sponsoring the Visitors Choice Trophy. We will be running our Winter Sunday outings/ Meetings as below, weather permitting: January—Peebles/Moffat February—Brunston Castle March—Blair Atholl
Reflecting on all that we managed to put together for the diary of events for the year we were on one hand disappointed at losing some of our regular shows (Callander Classic and Culzean Castle Classic have disappeared) but on the other hand, although we are not a charity fund raising club, we did take on the task of organizing the Cclasp Fun Day Out back in August and amazed ourselves by raising a massive £5,860 for them.
Meetings are held first Wednesday of every month 8pm for an 8:30pm start in the 007 bar at Bo’Ness Motor Museum, Bridgeness Road, Bo’Ness EH51 9JR. www.motor-museum.bo-ness.org.uk As we are once again heading back into the dark nights and cold, wet and windy days of winter, it doesn’t seem that long since we were putting the 2009 round up together. We can however look
It remains to wish all our members and their families a very merry Christmas and a great New Year. All the very best from, Stewart, Alan & Neil, your team.
Lincolnshire RO Gordon Collins 07783 103 327
We also donated £360 that we raised from our Christmas card donations from 2009, that we presented to Chas back in April 2010.
Joint meetings with the local PCGB are held on the second Sunday of every month from 1:30pm at The Dovecote, Newark Road, Swinderby LN6 9HN.
Two great days out and both for good causes. We have decided to run with the Cclasp Fun Day Out again in 2011, this time it will not clash with the Festival. With the proposed cuts ahead of us, we can only hope that Lothian & Borders Police will manage
We meet at half-past one. If you wish to eat you can of course arrive earlier or later, it’s just an informal gathering of Porsche fans to kick a few wheels and talk Pork. Hope to see you there.
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Gruppe Central South Yorkshire & North Notts. RO Ray Waite 07831 106 086 (mobile) waite696@aol.com ARO Mike Marot 07787 122 654 (mobile) mike.marot@btopenworld.com Meetings are held first Sunday of every month 5–5:30pm (meeting proper begins 7pm) at Ye Olde Bell Hotel, Barnby Moor, Retford, Notts, DN22 8QS First of all, congratulations to Richard & Sarah Marot, our young members who finally tied the knot on the 10th October 2010. Doncaster College for the Deaf Another change around on the display field, we seem to be getting further away from the bar every year. Twelve member cars with one or two additions made for another great SYNN display, as always lots to see and do here with lots of prizes to be awarded, and it’s all for worthwhile charities organised by The Rotary Club and The Traditional Car Club of Doncaster. Annual SYNN Pride of Ownership This event gets better every year, once again at the Olde Bell who let us use the field at the back for our display and what a display it was with nineteen cars to make our choice from. Pictures on the website. 3rd place went to Jeff with his superb gold 911 SC, 2nd place went to Dave with his 944 and the Paul & Judy memorial plate went to Dean with his 996 Turbo, well done to them. Thoresby Classic Once again at Thoresby Park we had twelve cars lining up and putting on a good display and most stayed
Cheers!
SYNN members’ cars lined up on the Weekend of the Year trip
until the prize giving, again lots of classic cars and motorbikes to talk about.
dinner at the hotel and enthused about the day we had had.
Cars in the Park, Harewood This is another show which gets bigger every time we go and what a great setting. Our line of Porsches was started by the organiser Chris and his Boxster and by the time the line had run out of space there were around thirty Porsches (all in one long line) as usual SYNN accounted for quite a few of those.
Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny again with clear blue skies, so after another filling breakfast the group again split up with some setting off for Snowdon and the ones who had already been opted for a ride on the Llangollen steam railway after which the men went for a mooch around the engine sheds (all the signs said Keep Out but we didn’t get caught and it has to be said the volunteers there are doing a fantastic job restoring the old engines and rolling stock) whilst the ladies did a spot of shopping. Llangollen Motor Museum (once we found it) was the last port of call; a very interesting collection of cars; motorcycles and all sorts of motoring memorabilia, it was from here we started the long drive home. I have to say all that speed camera money has been well spent as I don’t think we encountered any pot holes or damaged roads on any of our drives, not until we got back into England anyway.
Ginetta visit Quite a good turnout for this weekday evening visit to the Ginetta factory in Leeds, these guided tours get better every time we go as there is so much in development and production. Those of us that went last year have seen the electric car come off the drawing board and onto the road (even if it just a one off) also the evolution of the Ginetta road car and the new racecar. All the staff at Ginetta appear to really enjoy their jobs and the enthusiasm for ‘their car’ rubs off, every time I go I want one. SYNN WotY, Llangollen, Wales, 24–26th September Two reports from the WOTY, read the text and all will become clear. Rays report Seven Porsches set off at various times to drive to Llangollen. Eventually everyone arrived in time for dinner at the White Waters Hotel. The early birds had already taken advantage of the winding roads with a blast around the Evo triangle several times. The glorious sunshine on Saturday morning inspired some of the ‘older’ folks to drive through the Llanberis pass to Betws-y-Coed and on to Snowdon, where we took the train to the summit. The views from the top are spectacular and well worth the £25 train fare (must be good for a Yorkshireman to say that) the rest of the group went for another blast around the winding roads and mountain passes. We all met up again for
All in all a great time in lovely surroundings made even better by fantastic weather, good company and some great driving roads, all the ingredients for the perfect WotY. Katharine is already finding excuses for going back. Mikes report Our chosen Hostelry was the White Water hotel just on the out skirts of Llangollen, With spectacular views and excellent food and wines. The weather was absolutely fantastic for the whole weekend, with Seven couples making up the group. A few of us arrived early in the afternoon, so after lunch we decided to take a drive out on some of the spectacular road network. We located the famous ‘Evo triangle’ which was situated approximately 15 miles away from our hotel. This drivers road is much acclaimed as one of the best in the country. The roads were virtually deserted so we had some
First place in the SYNN regional concours went to Dean
Sarah & Richard Marot in front of Lincoln Cathedral
fun with our cars. Brilliant! We all met up for evening dinner that night at the hotel and exchanged pleasantries. After breakfast the next morning we split into two groups, with sight seeing and driving on the agendas. Our group consisting of Dean, Mike, Dave & Rick along with their better halves decided to head for another drivers section of North Wales and then onto Betws -Y-Coed for a walk around and a ‘Nice Cuppa’. After filling up with more 98 octane we explored some more, visiting Lake Bala on the route back to the Hotel for a ‘get together’ over dinner with our other group. On our last morning after a leisurely breakfast we all checked out. We had a team car photo shoot, and while Dave Warren was paying his hotel bill, Dean hid his 944 around the back of the hotel! Dave thought his pride and joy had been stolen! we just managed to let him in on the joke before he called the Police and it was all taken in good spirit. We said our goodbyes to some of the group who had to leave, then as it was a glorious day ventured on with more exploring, visiting the famous canal aqueduct in Llangollen and a lovely drive down to lake Vyrnwy at Llanwddyn having a lovely lunch on the way. All in all a perfect ‘Weekend of the Year’. This is definitely a place for us to visit again. Picturesque and plenty of exploring! Nice! The Last Blast Only a small contingent of SYNN here as it clashed with the WotY but yet another well organised event by Alan and the guys at the Capri Club. See Red at Donington Only a few SYNN turned out to watch some great racing from the VSCC. Yorkshire Big Breakfast Once again hosted by Specialist Cars of Malton, this event gets bigger and bigger with a more diverse array of motoring hardware every time. Followed by the obligatory tour of the Yorkshire Wolds and fish & chips in Scarborough. 18th December (Saturday) SYNN Christmas dinner/dance Once again at the Olde Bell . A deposit of ten pounds per meal will be required as soon as possible as places are limited at this busy time of the year. We have eight rooms reserved for the Friday night, if you want to book one please ring the hotel and pay your ten pound deposit quoting the TIPEC Porsche club, you can pay the meal deposit at the same time, if you can’t get to a meeting. Still to Come Go-karting Chinese evening NEC Classic Motor show + MPH 14th November SYNN Christmas Dinner/Disco Prescott Hill Climb Open Classic Car Event Sat/Sun 14th/15th May Wonderland Classic car show, Southwell Racecourse, Sat/Sun 28th/29th May More details of all our region’s upcoming events are available on the SYNN website at www.synd.org.uk where we maintain an up to date calendar.
Central RO Paul Bird 01922 428 409 07831 877 983 (mobile) paulpsb928@yahoo.co.uk ARO Brian Rowledge MyMerak@aol.com Meetings are held second Monday of every month 7:30pm onwards at Westmead Hotel, Redditch Road, Hopwood, Birmingham B48 7AT. Well folks another year has come and gone, the clocks have gone back and we have a few months of dark evenings and cold weather ahead. That said, our first club night in the new venue at Westmead Hotel went down well with a good attendance and with the benefit of the facilities on offer we shall be putting on various entertainments over the next few months to keep our club night interesting. With the transfer of our ‘base’ to the Westmead we are entering a new phase for the region. We’ve been forced to say goodbye to the Red Lion after the internal refurbishment left us without a function room and it was a tough decision. The venue has served us well for the last four years and nobody likes change so it’s bound to feel a little odd until we settle properly into the new pad. To be honest the level of facilities at the Westmead are far superior and once we get used to it I think we’ll have a lot of fun. The private function room will enable us to have our quiz nights and the large screen TV mean we can enjoy Playstation and Wii gaming sessions together with DVD screenings so before you all know it Spring will be back and we can tyre kick to our hearts’ content outdoors. Perhaps more than anything else in the regional calendar, our monthly meet night is a key element of events as it gives us a chance to catch up with friends and enjoy a beer. More than this it can often be a casual chat at club night that sows the seeds for a future event and so it’s the pulse of the club in more ways than one! I’m planning a sports evening on the Nintendo Wii and also a retro video games evening (remember Space Invaders, Galaxian and Pacman?) as well as a quiz night over the next few months so make sure you come along and join us for a bit of fun. During 2010 the region has held and/or attended 33 events (including club nights) and hopefully there was something in the calendar that appealed to everyone. This is the third year in a row we have exceeded thirty events and it’s only your continued support that makes it worthwhile. Planning for 2011 has been underway for some time but if you have an idea for an event please get in touch—sometimes a fresh approach can provide a real boost. Brian and I will finalise the events list for 2011 over Christmas so any ideas will be most welcome. Since the last regional report we attended a new event, Shackerstone Festival, over the first weekend of September. This is a really different show to many of those that the club attends and is situated so that
the car and transport show is next to the railway for steam railway trips and also alongside a canal so boat trips are possible too. A period funfair and various traders make for interesting distractions and the horse, dog and falconry displays keep the animal lovers amongst us happy. With a very large beer tent, complete with Austrian oompah band, and an aerial display from the Red Arrows at the close of the show this is one that I suspect will remain on the events list in future. Well worth putting in the diary for 2011! The first weekend of October saw us head off to the Lake District for our Weekend of the Year (WotY) and we had returned to the hotel we used back in 2007. The Abbey House in Barrow-in-Furness provides a great base for touring the southern part of the lakes and has always been a lovely place to chill out. I had a particularly awful journey to the hotel on the Friday evening after leaving home later than planned and then hitting horrendous queues all the way to the M62, but then the traffic thinned out and the 928 made up ground in the way only a Porsche can—very quickly—so we were not as late arriving as I had first feared. Graham Waller had spoken with the hotel and dinner had been pushed back to give us time for a change of clothes and a freshen up and the nightmare trip was soon forgotten over a fair few beers and a splendid dinner with a great bunch of friends. Saturday’s agenda consisted of two suggested driving routes to take in some of the sights and enjoy some great driving roads. Sadly Paul & Jill Foster made an early departure as Paul had been taken ill during the night and we bade them a safe journey home. Carol & Graham Waller tagged along behind us and we headed off beyond Windermere, Kirkstone Pass and as far north as Keswick to enjoy a few hours poking around the town. Saturday evening we dined again in the Great Hall and swapped tales from our various day’s exploits and then a lazy breakfast on Sunday morning before departing the hotel for our final destination. The Lakeland Motor Museum is now housed in a purpose built centre and the exhibits are presented in a much better fashion than the old buildings at Holker Hall. We all spent a few hours around the museum before meeting up again in the café for a cuppa and a piece of cake and then saying our goodbyes before heading home. I say every year that WotY is one of the highlights for myself and Andrea and 2010 was no different. A great setting, good food and great company so we couldn’t ask for more. Loved it! The end of October saw us take in our usual trip to Vakas Balti and everyone had a fun evening chatting over a curry and trying to figure out some card tricks performed by Adrian Langford! Brian and I hope you all have a very happy Christmas and a prosperous 2011 and we hope to see you all ‘out and about’ with the region next year. 13th December (Monday) Christmas dinner, venue TBC
All Torque 84 page 33
East Midlands RO Graham Waller graham.waller@polypipe.com ARO Alan Fuller susancarolfuller@googlemail.com Meetings are held third Tuesday of every month 7pm for food (meeting proper begins 8:00pm) at The Field Head Hotel, Markfield Lane, Markfield, Leicestershire LE67 9PS. Well, here we are—end of the season and December is almost up on us, or it will be by the time you read this. I am currently contemplating next year’s calendar, so if you have any burning ambitions for us as a club to attend, make them known to me. It’s your club, and if you don’t tell me what you want, then I can’t include them. After all, I am here to ensure everyone gets what they want out of it (within reason), so no reasonable suggestion refused. Recently, we as a region have still been rather busy. PCGB invited us on to their Autumn Drive in September. A jaunt around the Staffordshire countryside starting off with the obligatory bacon butties. A chance to stretch those Porsche legs. The main event that we attended though was our WotY on the first weekend in October. A joint Central/East Midlands event which saw us off to he Lakes, and staying at The Abbey, a hotel we stayed in in 2007, such was our impression of it. The weekend started with a very wet drive up to the Lakes with issues on the M6. Once there, we had a lovely meal in our own room (and I mean in our own room, as a group!) and shared beers with some great company. The Saturday saw us go our own ways, with Paul and I choosing route B up through Kirkstone Pass to Keswick and visiting Cars of the Stars. We dropped back into Windermere where there was enough time to pacify the WAGS with a
spot of shopping. What beautiful scenery and warm enough to have the roof down all the way. Yup—no rain either. Got back to the hotel in time to change for dinner, have a few more beers (tough work this), and another lovely meal. On the Sunday the weather wasn’t as kind to us, but no matter, we headed off to the Lakeland Motor Museum which has moved now from Holker Hall to its own purpose-built facility. Obviously we took in as much Campbell as we could here too. After this, we shared a final coffee and headed out on our separate ways. Yet another fantastic weekend, with a vote of thanks going to Paul Bird for his organisation. On the 28th October, I attended a very well organised track day by Opentrack. This was an open pit lane event at Cadwell Park, and plenty of drivers had a great day. If anyone gets the chance to attend an event like this to put your car through its paces in a controlled environment for less than a ton, then my advice is just do it. You’ll have a blast. By the time this goes to press, the NEC classic on the weekend of 12–14th November will be a distant memory. All I can say here is that if previous years are anything to go by, it will be another great show with many thousands of classic (and new) cars on show with the adjoining MPH show. We are having our annual RO/ARO vote on our November club night (16th) so maybe, just maybe, someone else will be penning this in the next issue. Watch this space. OPC Nottingham have extended an invite to their open evening on 24th November with a chance to dribble over the brand new stuff, meet/chat with like-minded people, and eat/drink for free. Also coming up is our Christmas social at our club venue. Again, this has always proved popular in the past, and with live entertainment, should be so again. See you there—party hats/streamers compulsory (maybe).
Campbell’s ... a lovely motor!
Paul Bird’s bird: pigeon!
Campbell’s again ... another lovely motor!
On Monday 27th December, we will be having our very popular ‘Not the Boxing Day drive’. This is being organised by Kathy & Kerry (thank you), with Chris & Kathy hosting the after-drive nibbles (thank you too). Events listed on the horizon for next year are the Slot car racing (always popular), and invites will be extended to Central and PCGB R8, Spring drive out, a visit to Criche and the possibility of visiting the Porsche Experience Centre. Please remember that you can renew your membership online at www.tipec.net Please also let me know if you have changed/are changing you e-mail address or your residence. This is essential to keep the database up to date, and to ensure continuity in the delivery of your All Torque magazines. You can let me know, or direct to Steve Potter (our membership secretary on membership@tipec.net). 4th December (Saturday) East Midlands Region Christmas Social Field Head Hotel, Markfield 27th December (Monday) Not the Boxing Day Drive The rolling hills of the East Midlands If anyone wants any more information about the events, then please contact your RO/ARO.
North London & Herts Informal meetings are held first Sunday of every month around noon at The Goat Inn, Vicarage Causeway, Hertford Heath (Nr. Hertford), Hertfordshire SG13 7RT. RO and ARO required, to host monthly meetings at a local pub/hotel with support from the members and the committee and to attend/organise local events.
South Central Joint ROs Clive & Jo Gosling 01604 863 666 clive.gosling@tipec.net Meetings are held fourth Monday of every month at The Green Man, Brackley Hatch, on the A43 (Eastbound) near Towcester.
and should be sending that out early in Jan. If you have any ideas and dates for inclusion let me know. Otherwise you end up with what I think is a good idea, when maybe it’s not! All that remains is to wish everyone in TIPEC and especially those South Central members and their families a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. Having done the RO job for just one year now, I look forward to 2011, repeating the good stuff and learning from the numerous mistakes I have made already!
kindly and efficiently organised by Sue. At the time of writing, we already have 21 names so it's looking like it’ll be a nice end to the year. Looking ahead to 2011, it's early days but a karting evening is still being talked about (I need someone to volunteer to organise it, hint, hint), a Sunday drive, a trackday, and we really ought to continue our tradition of having a weekend away in Europe (France, Germany, Belgium?), so if you have any thoughts or preferences, come along to a monthly meeting and let me know ... We still meet on the first Tuesday of the month at The Fox in Easter Compton (now under new management) between 8ish and 10ish, so I hope to see you there.
Well the winter nights are well and truly here, but October club night was well attended following my regional e-moan letter about attendance at the September night. I should have thought about the fact that Oct was one night I was going to miss owing to business requirements.
Bristol RO Paul Harrison 07884 116 971 (mobile) paul@harrison167.freeserve.co.uk
Anglia
Any case the highlight of the last few months was definitely the TIPEC South Central photoshoot. A lovely sunny morning in Oct saw several of us head up to the Pistonheads Sunday Service held at the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone (about 700 petrolheads and their cars gathered around the track was a sight to behold) followed by a quick trip up to Stowe house for the shoot where 13 cars were in attendance. Mark, our trusty ARO had arranged for sole use of the Stowe school grounds to aid the quality of the pictures. A huge thank you has to go to Pierre, our trusty snapper, who had the patience of a saint whilst we juggled cars to and fro. I intend to find 12 great pics of the cars and create a 2011 calendar which will be available at just the price of printing. All that still needs to be worked out, but for now there are some great pictures ‘in the can’ as I think they say. When I can work out how, I will also post up the 200 or so best ones to a website for everyone to have a look and download the ones they want.
Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month 8pm at The Fox, Easter Compton, B35 5RA, one mile West of M5 J17 (Cribbs Causeway).
RO Trevor Read 01473 684 876 trevor.read@malcolmandrew.com ARO Colin Clarke 01284 706 247
As I write this we are now 90% booked up for our karting night which replaces Nov club night and it looks like Nick Short will be there to defend his crown again. Reports to come in the 2011 first edition of All Torque. If I beat my 8th place last time, then I will be delighted. I fully expect to now of course, having trained in the 996 TT for a few months already.
We have a trackday organised at Castle Combe next Friday (long gone by the time you read this) so I shall report on it in a future issue. The last event of the year is of course the Christmas lunch on the 19th, very
As we near the end of the year, I guess it's time to start thinking about 2011 ... Having said that, there's still been a few things going on in the Autumn. In October, we had a fantastic Sunday drive and pub lunch in Wales. I was really pleased that we managed 12 cars (although I confess that there were a couple of non-Porsches tagging along!). Tony in his BMW did the honours regarding leading the convoy—he used his motorbike experience to pick out a superb route which was challenging and interesting enough for everyone. Perhaps he ought to bring his bike next time to save holding us all up in that sluggish Beemer, but it was still fun. Lunch in Talybont was very good and we managed to fill the car park completely! People were waxing lyrical about the day afterwards and I shall certainly be organising another one next year.
Meetings are held fourth Tuesday of each month 7pm at The Bunbury Arms, Ixworth Road, Great Barton, Suffolk IP31 2NX. www.nextnorth.com/bunbury/findus.htm Anglia Region continues to be well supported with an average of 20 people turning up to our monthly meetings. A hardy and resilient bunch we are turning out to be with seven cars and 12 people making our trip to southwold. In complete contrast to the previous year it was cold wet and windy, not that this dampened peoples spirits by the sounds of it. 22 of us are looking forward to our Christmas lunch on the 5th of December. A few spaces still remain. We are currently looking at venues for weekend away in May/June 2011. Any ideas would be welcome preferably within two to three hours’ drive from us. Also we are looking at possibly hooking up with another Car club in our region. Watch this space!
Our Xmas meal night is on Fri the 17th Dec at the Old Crown in Ashton, once again we are close to fully booked as I write with 16 people coming along. With luck you should be reading this before the big night out so it’s not too late to come along. As mentioned before, we will be dividing the regional dividend out to all members that turn up, so with luck a good proportion of the evening will be covered by the club ... not too shabby really is it? I will soon be working on the 2011 calendar of events
Geoff Booth’s Speedster
Pete Garrett’s 944 on the TIPEC Soth Central photoshoot
All Torque 84 page 35
Gruppe South South East RO Derek Flanagan 01342 717 754 07767 254 820 (mobile) derek.flanagan@btconnect.com Meetings are held second Wednesday of every month 8pm at The Bolney Stage, London Road, Bolney RH17 5RL, just off the A23, 10 miles south of Crawley. For those who haven’t made it along to a monthly meet yet, we always welcome new members and prospective members. Come and see if you like us, we’re a friendly bunch no matter what model of Porker you own or desire and you will be guaranteed to receive a hearty welcome. You also have the opportunity of winning our own regional lotto with all SE Region members going into the hat each month, but you have to be at the meeting to win. Our events calendar continues to expand and our Regional monthly meetings are becoming a real buzz of activity with details of our numerous regional and national events, general Porsche news and members’ stories as well as holding the monthly lotto. See our regional section on the website for the 2010 calendar of events and links to the applicable event websites. SE Region members and their cars The virgin Porsche owner, by George Fridlington Late September Chris,my wife and I decided to give our newly acquired Boxster S a trip up to the North Yorkshire Moors and Northumberland . We were driving really well up the A34 just south of Oxford when a
warning came up on the dash ‘KARANGA! What is this?’ I thought, so I asked Chris to check the Boxster’s manual whilst I was looking for a layby to pull in. The manual produced nothing, I was scratching my head for some distant past in my knowledge of the German language but nothing came to light. We stopped in the layby, I got out of the car and looked around, tires okay, no sign of oil, no water leaking so what is wrong with the car? Fortunately on the key ring was the telephone number for Harbour Cars (from whom we purchased the car) and Rob the owner answered the phone, I explained the warning sign. He was baffled like I was “Never heard of that warning, I’ll go outside and speak with the boys and see if they have any knowledge.” When he came back he was laughing and said that I might have picked up a radio station. “What?” I said, “the radio was turned down.” It turned out that KARANGA! is a radio station on 106.9 FM. The internet says that it plays music that “fuses reggae,dub,downbeat,lounge,soul and funk”—at best the Boxster was not about to blow up! The rest of our holiday was superb, good weather, rag top down,pure pleasure. We are both now Boxster enthusiasts and glad to rid ourselves of Porsche virginity! Congratulations to Lindsay Dobson who has picked up numerous prestigious photographic awards in several categories from the BPPA (British Professional Photographers Association). Lindsay has a Cayman looking 986 Boxster (called ‘Bambi’) which has a beautiful Zeintec hard top that provides that extra wow factor transforming the car making it very elegant.
The F1 simulators at Pure Tech Racing
George & Chris Fridlington witht heir Boxster
Lindsay Dobson and ‘Bambi’, her Zeintec hard topped Boxster
October Club Night and Scalextric tournament We had a lively October meeting which included our first Scalextric tournament thanks to the pub, who kindly reserved two dedicated areas for us: one for our normal meeting and the other so that we could set up the Scalextric track. Special thanks to Robin Pettifer who provided all the track and cars and Rachel who used her organisational skills to run the event. We had 16 very competitive participants. Dan Engledow was the winner with John second and Robin Pettifer third. F1 racing simulator at Pure Tech Racing Centre, Horley A group of 10 members participated in our first F1 simulator session in October. This is a professional F1 simulator with full car motion G-force effects and NOT an arcade style game. The cost is normally £35 but we have a special offer of £30 for our group. The event includes qualifying and race sessions with a total of 30 minutes in the car plus pre and post race briefings, printed telemetary results and instructor tips. This was fantastic fun; very difficult and strenuous but very addictive and adrenalin pumping with all the effects of real racing including motion and G-forces. We are arranging another session ASAP. Dan Engledow seems to be winning everything he enters at present and was the fastest member with Dion Heskett coming second. See www.puretechracing.com for further details. 8th December (Wednesday) Club Night and Christmas meal 18th December (Saturday) Christmas Party at The Copthorne Hotel, £32 per person. This is selling well so please book asap if you don’t want to miss out. A £10 per person deposit is required.
One of the very many Porsche cars at the Classic Le Mans
Porsche buddies at Spa
Thames Valley RO Craig Moore 07748 733 000 (mobile) craigwmoore@btinternet.com ARO Jason Gibson 07958 459 725 (mobile) jasongibson@blueyonder.co.uk Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month 7:00pm at The Novello, Bath Rd, Littlewick Green, Maidenhead, SL6 3RX. Leaving our November monthly meet at the Novello, I was flagged down by ARO Jason Gibson who pointed out that my car was somewhat depleted in the rear and brake lighting departments. I must admit I hadn’t checked them recently and it was a bit of a lesson to make sure I do so more regularly. Please think about checking yours too, for safety’s sake and to avoid a fine for a silly reason. As is my way with these things, I proceeded to make matters worse the next day, by fumbling the removal of a rear light lens and seeing it break clean in half on my driveway. Ker-ching: £82 for a replacement part from Porsche Reading. Still, that then led to me finding all the crud thrown up into the area behind the rear lights, which needs to be cleaned out thoroughly. Another job to add to the list for the winter while the car is off the road. Looking back, I’ve really enjoyed 2010 and I reckon it’s been my best motoring year so far. I’ve ticked a lot of events off my personal must-do list. Unfortunately most of them go right back on for the next opportunity to do them again! Thanks to all of you who I have had the chance to experience some of these events with; it’s all the more enjoyable to do these things with good company.
A quick run at Prescott
My personal top three have been, in reverse order: 3rd: Prescott Hillclimb Open 2nd: Nurburgring and Spa track weekend 1st: Classic Le Mans If you love your Porsche (or any other thoroughbred for that matter), these have to be three of the very best things you can experience in yours, and I can’t see how I will tire of doing them over and over again given the opportunity. 2011 presents another bumper year of event opportunites and I will be putting together a calendar which I will post on the forum as usual. We are greatly priviledged to own these superb cars, and it’s such a shame not to take every opportunity to use and enjoy them to the full. Merry Christmas everyone, and a very Happy New Year!
South East London & North Kent RO Jim Hearnden 01634 308 062 07930 353 232 (mobile) tr7v8@phaetonconsulting.co.uk ARO Paul Greer 07799 412 870 (mobile) prgreer@blueyonder.co.uk
The latest calendar is now out and should be in your inbox for those with a valid email address. It is in Excel format and you can download a viewer from the Microsoft site. Please advise if you are interested in any events so Paul and I can advise the venues. There are two or three members that I don’t have email addresses for. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please contact me on tr7v8@phaetonconsulting.co.uk That also applies to people in adjacent areas who would like a copy of our calendar. Please also ensure that you update address, car and email details when you renew. October After the September meeting, where we really struggled in the Crownpoint, Paul and I decided the search for a new venue was critical. Rachel found a pub called the Woodman which is the other side of Sevenoaks, so not an ideal location but with the benefit of a free meeting room. A dummy run including testing the food menu found it to be an ideal venue. Therefore the September meeting was our first at the Woodman. Fantastic venue, staff and food, so had a thumbs up from all. Unfortunately the rain was terrible, with an accident on the M20. We managed a turnout of 13 which, given the weather, was not a bad show.
Meetings are held first Friday of every month 8:00pm at The Woodman, Goathurst Common, Ide Hill, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN14 6BU. 01732 750 296
November Our second meet at the Woodman. Unfortunately this meeting fell on Guy Fawkes night which may have accounted for the turn-out of nine!
If you have not been along to a meeting please come along. Partners are more than welcome and it is not all car chat. The venue does good, reasonably priced food so if you do not want to cook, you can have a meal before the meeting starts.
December The calendar is now fairly quiet with the next event being the Christmas dinner on the 4th December. If you wish to come to this then let me have your name, a £10 deposit per person and your menu choices.
All Torque 84 page 37
Southern
The region made a second visit to the Fox at Anstey which was organised by Jim.
7th December (Tuesday) Southern Region Christmas Meal
RO Nick Snook 07929 113 390 (mobile) nicksnook@gmail.com ARO Jim Tarrant 01202 601 886 jim.tarrant@hotblack944.fsnet.co.uk
I missed the first one and was therefore pleased to have this opportunity to sample the excellent carvery. Great food, company, roads and weather says it all.
4th January (Tuesday) Quiz Night
Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month from 7:30pm at The Angel, 188 Ringwood Rd, Ferndown, Dorset, BH22 9AP
In October we visited Parc Ferme for a talk and demo about the various stages in preparing a car’s paint surface. Plenty of tips on clay bars, HD cleanse and the waxes to achieve a high standard. Many questions on the care of wheels, interiors, trim and fabric hoods were all answered with expert advice.
Wessex RO Pete Blackler 07779 203 278 (mobile) peter@blackler7827.fsnet.co.uk Meetings are held fourth Tuesday of every month 8pm at The Wheatsheaf Inn, Braishfield Road, Braishfield, Romsey, Hampshire, SO51 0QE. 10th December (Friday) Christmas meal at The Hunters Inn, Swanmore, with TR Drivers Club (7:30pm)
Cornwall & Devon Meetings are held third Sunday of every month 12:00–2:30pm at The Winds of Change, South Petherwin, Near Launceston, Cornwall, PL15 7LP. RO and ARO required, to host monthly meetings at a local pub/hotel with support from the members and the committee and to attend/organise local events. Southern Region members at Parc Ferme
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www.TIPEC.net You can use the TIPEC website to register or renew your club membership, advertise cars and parts for free, download old issues of All Torque, and keep up-to-date with events in your region. If you look to the bottom-left of the homepage, you will find a link to TIPEC’s online discussion forum. This is the place to trade banter with fellow club members on a day-to-day basis, ask questions and share knowledge, up and down the UK (and worldwide!) Here’s a recent, seasonal, example. Forum: General; Discussion area; Do you winter store? Lee 944: How many people take their car off the road for the winter? I run my 924 and 944 through the winter, but I was going to take the 928 off the road. I can’t do it. The thought of her out there and not driving her would be torture. Maybe if the 944 was still on the road, I might do it? What are other people’s thoughts? J.J.: I’ve never winter stored until this year. Hoping to have a garage in a couple of weeks but anything could happen. I just spent too much on the beast to have it rust away. Still clean as a whistle underneath. The cost of petrol is a part of the decision. But sell it I can’t. Drove it last Sunday morning and it’s just incredible that a 24 year old car can go and handle so well. It is just massive fun, like a Seven but safe and practical. Lee 944: Good point J.J. Money is getting tight. My wife can’t work anymore and has never recieved a penny from the low flying Vectra episode three years ago. I put in the petrol I can afford and use it until it runs out. I imagine the weather is going to get
pretty bad up here this winter, so the traction control on the Insignia should come in handy. Maybe I’ll be forced to stop using her. Red Rider: Mine is garaged up at the moment, but missing driving it around. Seriously thinking of putting the tax back on and going for a spin on any available dry days. Tri-Man: Mine’s in the garage for the first time. My intention was to leave it there until next spring, so it's been in there two weeks tomorrow—which I now realise is two weeks too long … hence the ‘withdrawal symptoms’. Modern garages are too small, and because I have a bench at one end, with the tumble dryer and beer fridge underneath it, getting the Porsche in is a squeeze. The nose is right up to the garage front door, and there’s only just enough room to get the beer fridge door open … so I guess that’s enough then! The Porsche is still taxed and MOTd, so next week I’ll look at getting it insured. Wafting around in a 525i automatic estate just isn’t the same. Nice for a winter runabout though, and very useful. I won’t be getting rid of either car. Red Rider: Is it a good idea to run the engine once a week while stored?
ben944: Yes. If it’s not been done recently, it’s also an idea to replace the oil and filter. Check all fluid levels are topped up as well. If you can’t get the car off the ground with axle stands, it’s worth putting two to three PSI more in the tyres and moving the car’s position in the garage periodically, if possible, to prevent flat spotting the tyres. If you’ve got electricity in the garage, might be worth buying a trickle charger to keep the battery at it’s optimum. Ideally if you haven’t SORNed the car, if you get a good dry day and not to much salt has been put down, take it for a good drive and get it up to operating temperature. fullchat: I have a 1981 924 which I use all year round. It’s ok in bad weather, not too much power and relatively skinny tyres. Last winter, it was the only car to drive right up to the front door at work, everybody else got stuck at the bottom of the car park. Mind you, that could be to do with driving styles (takes a modest bow). I give it a thorough clean in the spring to get all the salt and grime off the underside. The value of my car is really low and it is worth more to me to be able to use it to get to work than to keep it in a garage.
All Torque 84 page 39
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