Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 133 i Total 911

Porsche wins at Petit Le Mans Three USCC titles for Porsche after 991 RSR victory at Road Atlanta Porsche wrapped up all three Tudor United SportsCar Championship GTLM class titles in emphatic fashion at the 18th annual Petit Le Mans as Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet guided the number 911 Porsche North America Racing 991 RSR to overall victory around Road Atlanta. The win – Weissach’s first outright success at PLM – secured Pilet the 2015 drivers’ title while allowing Porsche to successfully defend the manufacturers’ crown it won last season. Normally run over ten hours, this year’s Petit Le Mans was blighted by horrendous conditions across the weekend, meaning the race had to be red-flagged conclusively after just under eight hours of racing. However, Pilet and Tandy’s triumph was…

As the only rear-engined car still on the market, driving a Porsche 911 can be a daunting experience, especially for someone new to the neunelfer’s idiosyncratic dynamics. This is where Rob Colbourn steps in. Trained by Bernard Aubry (the man who set up driving tuition courses for UK Porsche importer, AFN) Colbourn is one of the men to go to if you want to know how to handle your Porsche 911 and improve your driving. Based in Berkshire, Colbourn runs both on-road courses and performance tuition (normally held at either Milbrook or Longcross) when he’s not found working at Porsche’s Silverstone Experience Centre. The aim of his on-road tuition isn’t to make you a faster driver but, instead, to make you safer and more efficient so you can get the…

GTS: three letters that, when siphoned together, evoke a strong yet wonderfully nostalgic sporting spirit in the Porsche world. As you’ll know, the legend started more than 50 years ago with the 904 Carrera GTS, a Targa Florio-winning car that gave rise to the infallible 917, and was reignited for the 911 production line in 2010 with the 997 Carrera GTS. A run-out special with high quality options appointed as standard to the specification, a 997 GTS is an exquisite Carrera with genuine sporting intentions. It’s a Total 911 favourite and, if that’s not reason enough for you to find similar endearment with it, just take a look at the classifieds to see its current value. Certainly, no other 997 outside of the GT2/3/RS lineup has enjoyed such refusal to…

It is quite possible to drive right past the premises of Beverly Hills Car Club without realising just what lies behind the unassuming exterior of its one-storey brick warehouse in Worth Street, East Los Angeles. However, let the tactfully positioned signage above a set of wide double-doors guide you inside and you’ll have unlocked a metaphorical key to an almighty Aladdin’s Cave of motoring treasure. If it’s not the sheer variety of classic 911s that takes you aback, it’ll be the scale of the operation before you – as Beverly Hills Car Club plays host to some 50,000-square feet of classic cars, all of them for sale at fiercely competitive prices. The availability of these cars on such a large scale presents an enviable proposition for buyers here, who can…

We're up north this month in one our favourite countries: Scotland. We're in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, driving the Duke's Pass. Strictly speaking, it connects the tourist stop-off of Aberfoyle with Kilmahog, 16 miles away towards Callender, but the section we're focusing on is the first six and a half miles from Aberfoyle to Loch Katrine. The route's origins stem from the Duke of Menteith wanting to get around his estate easier, leading to him building a pass in the 19th century. In the Twenties, local roads were reclassified. The A81 was decided as the main route from Callendar to Aberfoyle, and the A821 the quieter back road. Shortly after this, the Forestry Comission aquired the land, and it was opened to the general public after beefing…

Hot on the heels of the new 991.2 Carrera platform, Porsche has officially launched the Gen1 991 Carrera 4 range (including Targa 4/4S models). As with the 2016 model year C2s, the new Carrera 4 is powered by the twin-turbocharged, 3.0-litre flat six 9A2 engine developing 370hp in ‘Carrera’ trim. 4S models are boosted by a further 50hp thanks to a revised exhaust system, engine management and turbos. Like previous Carrera 4 generations, the 991.2 has a wider bodyshell than its C2 brethren, with the rear arches flared by 44mm. The classic, full-width rear light bar also returns, its design fitting seamlessly with the Gen2 991’s 3D effect brake lights. The additional girth means the new Carrera 4s carry an extra 50kg (the same weight penalty as seen on the…

A new Porsche 911 R is in the Zuffenhausen pipeline according to the latest rumours from Germany. Suggestions of a back-to-basics 991 model – possibly named the ‘GT’ – have abounded since the summer when Porsche trademarked the ‘GT5’ moniker. Now though, more details have emerged that, if true, suggest the rumoured 991 R will more than satisfy driving purists. Reviving the legendary 911R badge from 1967, the new car will, like its namesake, feature some weight saving, with speculation suggesting that the dry weight will be somewhere south of a 991 Carrera GTS as a minimum. The biggest news though is that the R will get its propulsion from the current 911 GT3’s high-revving 9A1 flat six. Some have suggested that the 4.0-litre version currently found in the RS…

From its introduction in 2004 until the time the last variant rolled off the Zuffenhausen production line nine years later, Porsche had built nearly 200,000 997-type 911s, making it the most popular neunelfer generation of all time. Admittedly, the proliferation of various versions (from the standard 997.1 Carrera to the hugely potent GT2 RS) aided these figures; no fewer than 37 flavours of 997 were available across its lifespan, up from the 12 variants of 996 that preceded it. However, to look at it that way would be for the tail to wag the dog. Without considerable consumer demand for the 997, catering for every 911 niche just wouldn’t have been financially viable for Zuffenhausen. The fact that Porsche fans clamoured to get their hands on a 997 is the…

Model 993 RS Year 1995-1996 Engine Capacity 3,746cc Compression ratio 11.5:1 Maximum power 300bhp @ 6,000rpm Maximum torque 355Nm @ 5,400rpm Transmission Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Suspension Front MacPherson struts with coil springs; anti-roll bar Rear Multi-link with telescopic dampers; coil springs; anti-roll bar Wheels & tyres Front 8x18-inch; 225/40/ZR18 Rear 10x18-inch; 265/35/ZR18 Dimensions Length 4,245mm Width 1,735mm Weight 1,279kg Performance 0-62mph 5.0 secs Top speed 172 mph It was back in Issue 119 that we last got behind the wheel of the 993 RS and we were mightily impressed by the combination of rawness and purity on offer. That shouldn’t really come as any surprise as this last of the air-cooled Rennsport cars is a special model indeed, and that makes it incredibly sought after today. Launched in 1995,…

Model 3.2 SSE Year 1986 Engine Capacity 3,164cc Compression ratio 10.3:1 Maximum power 231bhp @ 5,900rpm Maximum torque 283Nm @ 4,800rpm Transmission Five-speed manual (G50 gearbox) Suspension Front Independent suspension with wishbones and MacPherson struts; single longitudinal torsion bar per wheel; dual-tube gas-filled shock absorbers; anti-roll bar Rear Independent suspension with light alloy semi-trailing arms; single transverse torsion bar per wheel; dual-tube gas-filled shock absorbers; anti-roll bar Wheels & tyres Front 7x16-inch Fuchs; 205/55/VR16 Rear 8x16-inch Fuchs; 225/50/VR16 Dimensions Length 4,291mm Width 1,775mm Weight 1,210kg Performance 0-62mph 6.1 secs Top speed 152 mph The concept of supply and demand is far from new. In the automotive industry, Porsche in particular has long been versed in keenly pricing premium models of their darling 911 to attract only the most elite of…

It had been four years since the last Rennsport Reunion, so it should, perhaps, have been no surprise that over 50,000 people turned up to Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California for Rennsport Reunion V. The record crowd was treated to the largest gathering of Porsches in the world, providing a three-day feast for even the most discerning Porschephiles. On track, there were races for every form of Porsche sports car, from the earliest 356s to the 2007-08 America Le Mans Series dominating RS Spyders, with the Porsche GT3 Cup USA (the American Carrera Cup equivalent) also racing twice to decide the fate of the 2015 title; Elliot Skeer took the crown after victory in the first encounter. In the other events, a number of famous faces found themselves behind…

No need to panic Dear Sir, There we have it. The new turbocharged Porsche 911 Carrera has arrived and the world still hasn’t ended. Leading up to the launch, some people’s comments would have led you to believe the apocalypse was near, rather than the addition of two turbochargers to the bottom-of-the-range 911. Now we’ve all had time to digest the details though, I think we can agree that Porsche’s latest creation looks fantastic, doesn’t it? Sure, no one outside of Zuffenhausen has had a chance to drive it yet but, judging by the video on the Total 911 website, the flat six sound hasn’t been murdered from inside the cockpit. Even I’ll reserve judgement on the throttle response but Porsche seems to have had its cake and eaten it,…

Of the 200,000 aforementioned examples of 997-generation Porsche 911s, the majority filled all the usual segments of the range from Coupés, Cabriolets and Targa models, rear or all-wheel drive to, of course, the Turbo and Turbo S. These were the volume models, but Zuffenhausen also built smaller quantities of its GT3 and GT2 911s. For owners keen to take their GT3s to the track, there were lightened and aerodynamically more sophisticated RS versions, the final edition coming in the shape of the revered 4.0 litre RS. To mark the end of production of its turbocharged GT2, Porsche applied much of its expensive RS methodology to a final run to create the unprecedented GT2 RS which, if nothing else, will surely take the prize as the fastest manual transmission production supercar…

The GT3 and RS models are meant to represent the pinnacle of the Porsche 911 line up. However, some customers will always want more. Luckily for them, there are a number of companies willing to modify GT3 and RSs to extract ever greater performance from these flagship models. In recent years though, since the introduction of the PDK-equipped 991 GT3, prices of the venerable 996 and 997 examples have rocketed. Has this had a knock-on effect on the tuning companies? “What were once fun track cars are starting to get parked back in the garage,” explains SharkWerks founder, Alex Ross. He agrees that there may even be a time in the near future when people won’t want their GT3 modified at all, “especially a 3.8 RS in rare colours”. Paul…