Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 186 i Total 911

The subject of this month’s cover story was initially looking at the wider Porsche market. It’s no secret that values have fallen back quite substantially compared to just two years ago: the cars are the same, of course, but the numbers in their windows these days aren’t quite mimicking that of a telephone number. However, it was only after chatting to numerous specialists right around the industry that we realised this change in values might be a little less generalised. The Porsche Turbo, a staple of the 911 line-up since 1975, has clearly taken a big hit of late. Values have been on the slide over the last 12 months, with prices softening by up to 30 per cent. For a 964 3.6 creeping past the quarter of a million…

Works 991 RSR bows out of competition Mid-engined 911 race car retires after unprecedented WEC and IMSA success After three seasons, 13 wins, 34 podiums and titles in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, along with victories at Le Mans and Sebring, the 991 RSR has retired. It will go down in motorsport history as one of the most successful Porsche race cars of all time. In the 2019 IMSA competition the RSR scored six GTLM class wins, including a record string of five in a row. Included in those were the endurance races at Sebring and Watkins Glen, as well as the sprint races at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Virginia International Raceway, Mid-Ohio and the streets of Long Beach, California. Earlier in the season…

997.1 v 997.2 Dear Sir, Great to see you heap praise on the 997.1 last issue – however, I do think you’ve missed a trick. For all the great value the 997.1 offers over a 996, the second-generation 997 cars are even better. In switching to a completely new flat six with direct fuel injection, gone are any problems associated with the 997.1 such as scored bores or incompetent IMS componentry. In its place you’ve a pretty much bulletproof engine. Your manual v Tiptronic gearbox comparison was also interesting, as Porsche introduced a completely new automatic transmission for the 997.2: PDK. You might have heard of it, as it’s still available in the 911 today… As the 991 has come down in price, it’s knocked 997.2 prices down too, so…

A tough decision, or a foregone conclusion? I’ll admit, when I first started trawling the classifieds for a water-cooled 911 around £50,000, I thought a 997 would be the only option. There are enough of them out there, later Gen2 cars in particular, and with a bit of a stretch, a GTS is possible. However, as is always the case when browsing the classifieds, there’s scope for distraction, and with that budget the 991 represents exactly that. I remember its launch vividly. I covered it back in issue 83. Along that magazine’s spine is a quote from my first drive: “The 911 does feel like it’s entering the territory of the true GT car now.” The 991 ultimately represents something of a paradigm shift in the 911’s make-up. Even so,…

Solex was established in France in 1905 and made bicycle parts and automotive components such as starter motors, centrifugal radiators, sparking plugs and carburettors. Its founders’ abiding interest in two wheels led to the post-war development of a 45cc motor mounted on the front forks of a bicycle, the beginnings of the VeloSoleX moped, which in the 1960s and 1970s every other schoolchild in France seemed to be riding. The VeloSoleX was widely exported and probably unique in being the only front-wheel-drive motorcycle ever made. Solex’s carburettor business was sold to Matra in 1973. Weber was founded in 1923 by Edoardo Weber, a Fiat engineer. Initially tuning kits for Fiats, by the 1930s Weber was making double-barrel downdraught carburettors for racing Maseratis and Alfa Romeos, effectively a carburettor per cylinder…

Porsche has long boasted an enviable motorsport pedigree, and a large chunk of its success can be attributed to the 911. The car you see here has certainly played its part in the story, and we’ll return to that a little later, but first we should rewind to 1972 and the world of Group 4 racing. It was for that year’s season that the Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) announced a change in the rules, with engines of more than three litres banned from the World Championship of Makes. That spelt the end of the 917’s participation, but Porsche had the perfect answer in the form of the 911 2.7 RS. Given the option code M491, an RS transferred to the Werks 1 building would become a 2.8 RSR, the enlarged…

Data file Full specs, ratings and market values of every 911, including the early ‘0-series’ models, can be found beginning on page 92 Plus Showroom Looking for a new 911? The classifieds from our independent specialist partners are the first place you should start your search Servicing & tuning Get the very best from your Porsche 911 with the help of our selected performance and maintenance specialists Porsche lifestyle Helping you make the right lifestyle choices to complement you and your 911. Don’t just drive Porsche, live the brand Insurance & finance Get your Porsche covered with the best insurance deals for road and track to ensure happy, safe motoring…

Anatole Carl Lapine – known to many as Tony – was born in Riga on 23 May 1930, but as World War Two loomed things were about to get very difficult for him and his family. As refugees from Latvia they moved first to Poland and then to Germany. But, having shown a flair for design, 1950 would see Lapine working for Daimler-Benz, and just a few years later the family relocated to America and the state of Nebraska, where he ended up working on snow ploughs. The beginning of a glittering career was just around the corner. After working for General Motors in the US and Opel in Germany – involved with the Chevrolet Corvette and as head of the Opel Research Centre respectively – he would join Porsche…

The manual 992 is here! Porsche North America announces seven-speed gearbox is a no-cost 992 option A full year into 992 production, Porsche has finally revealed a manual transmission for its Carrera S and 4S models in both Coupe and Cabriolet body styles. The manual gearbox is – like the 991 generation before it – seven-speed, though it will be offered in the US as a no-cost option to the standard eight-speed PDK transmission. Other territories are yet to confirm price or availability. On the 991 generation manual transmission was standard, with PDK a £1,700 extra. The ‘stick shift’ will once again be paired with a mechanical limited-slip differential, including Porsche Torque Vectoring, as opposed to the electrically controlled differential allocated to the PDK unit. Development engineers have previously told…

PRIVATELY COMMISSIONED PAINTING OF YOUR 911 Price: POA For that tailored, personal gift, treat yourself or a cherished one to a privately commissioned, stunning painting of your/their 911 pride and joy, capturing its beauty forever. Artist Rob Hefferan is a Porsche enthusiast himself and creates stunning, bespoke automotive art to order.robhefferanautomotiveart.com TURBO 3.0 BOOK Price: €595 The exceptional Turbo 3.0 book takes the reader on a time-travelling journey back to the very roots of Porsche’s legendary Turbo. The first-generation 3.0-litre 930 is extensively detailed with hundreds of never-before-seen photographs and well-written prose explaining Porsche’s development of this special car. From the bright paint and interior colours of the 1970s, to the special one-off models, to coverage of Turbo RSR and 934 racing, Ryan Snodgrass’ book should be on every serious…

When Ferry Porsche first began building sports cars, virtually all the components came from Volkswagen. This included engines and running gear, but as the 356 developed, it rapidly outgrew VW parts – already by 1951 Porsche engines with twice the torque of the Beetle were overwhelming the VW gearbox and Porsche had to build its own. By the end of the decade the relatively sophisticated 356B shared very few major components with Wolfsburg. One component which did not change, however, was the Solex carburettor, made by the French builder of the ‘VéloSoleX’ moped. Solex had subsidiaries or licenced production in several countries, and in the post-war years was the biggest volume carburettor maker in Europe. As the Porsche flat-four production engines gained capacity and horsepower, they would simply use larger…

When it comes to brands and breaking America – and that means really breaking America – there’s usually some little-known individual who, if it weren’t for them, the house of cards and the millions that followed would never truly have been built. For the Beatles it was Sid Bernstein, a promoter who, having seen the Fab Four’s manager Brian Epstein deterred by low US record sales, decided to book two Carnegie Hall gigs in New York himself. He paid the band $6,500 to come over from England and perform in an event that followed a promotional TV appearance, reaching 73 million. For Porsche and its American enterprise there was no Ed Sullivan Show moment per se, but there was still that individual who is widely acknowledged with envisioning it all:…

Many 911 owners would already consider their car to be a piece of automotive art – we certainly do – and gazing over the curvaceous bodywork can give many hours of pleasure. But there’s more than one way to enjoy the stunning appearance, and having it committed to canvas would be special indeed. Which brings us to the work of renowned artist, Rob Hefferan. Fascinated with art since childhood, his first exhibition in 2003 showcasing his skills in figurative work and portraiture was a resounding success. It’s those skills along with an international reputation for quality and unrivalled attention to detail that has led to his work being commissioned by numerous celebrity clients, and it turns out that Rob has another passion; “I’ve been obsessed with cars since I was…

As we discovered from our ‘15 years of 997.1’ special last issue, values of the first 997 generation have continued to come down ever so slightly in the last year, despite its perennial popularity among enthusiasts. This now means the 997.1 is right in the firing line of the once-unloved 996 generation, which conversely has witnessed a modest upturn in values over the same period. With plenty of options from either generation available on the market to choose from, the question on the minds of many is where will values of the 997.1 go from here? Will we see a hike in values to elevate the 997 above the 996 once more, or will the first water-cooled 911 usurp its successor? “What has happened is that good 996s have become…

The line on the graph in front of me isn’t quite as steep, but there’s a definite correlation between the plot of the 930’s torque curve and that of its value in recent years. A steep rise, then a relatively lengthy sustained high before a gentle dropping off. That’s true across the 911 marketplace, but the Turbo’s meteoric price rises have stalled, and they’ve started to adjust… downwards. Market forces at work, as with any rise there’s an inevitable drop, or at least a re-adjustment. Don’t fret though, Turbo prices have softened rather than fallen off a cliff, that arguably true across more than just Porsche’s forced-induction models. The reasons are as numerous as they can be complicated, some inevitably down to opportunistic sellers and unrealistic prices, though wider social…

An internal combustion engine running on petrol works by compressing and igniting the fuel-air mixture in the cylinder. At its simplest the carburettor – which dates from the beginning of motoring – is a device to combine these two elements and funnel them into the combustion chamber. Air is sucked into the carburettor through a filter by the downward stroke of the pistons and fuel is delivered by a pump usually running off the crankshaft, though eventually they would all become electric. The carburettor body, on modern retrofits often referred to as a throttle body, is a visually complex item with various external screws, its interior dominated by the float chamber and a honeycomb of smaller compartments, but the principle is straightforward. The main jet introduces petrol in direct proportion…

Le Mans. Not only is it the most famous endurance race, but surely a prime candidate for the most alluring road circuit on the planet. Comparable to what the TT is to bikers, Le Mans is simply the highlight of the motor-racing season. Winning it is considered the peak of any driver’s career; just being there to witness the action is enough for spectators young and old. For us Brits the middle weekend of June is all about that pilgrimage down to La Sarthe, where we’ll watch racing versions of our own 911 sports cars take on contemporary rivals. Yet if history had played out differently, we might not have had to go anywhere at all to watch a world-renowned endurance road race. These days the Peak District National Park…

Ian Harris Shoreham, UK @harrisclassics Model 997.1 GT3 RS Year 2007 Acquired AUGUST 2014 Model 2.4S Year 1972 Acquired JANUARY 2018 Model 964 CARRERA 2 Year 1993 Acquired MARCH 2019 Model 3.2 CARRERA SPORT Year 1989 Acquired OCTOBER 2019 My passion for cars started at 13 when I got my first car, a Ford Cortina, which I would race around the fields surrounding my family home in Sussex. Dad was always into cars and racing, and I – like so many young boys my age – had childhood visions of being the next Colin McRae! I started my first company in my early 20s, restoring classic Volkswagen campervans in my dad’s garage. It was this that really started to pave the way for my knowledge and complete love of restoring…

911s in the data file are organised in rows according to release date, beginning with the very first model in 1964. Many models were available in Coupe, Targa and Cabriolet forms, with the option of automatic transmission. Here, data has been provided from the Coupe variants unless stated. All data here has been compiled, where possible, from Porsche’s own figures. General valuations This reflects the general market trend for a model’s used value compared to the previous financial quarter. The review for 2020 Q1 will be January. The review for 2019 Q4 was October. Ratings Each model is rated out of five in our half-star system according to their performance, handling, appearance and desirability.…

The inherent problem of all air-cooled 911s is that heating relies on engine speed. Pre-impact bumper 911s used a basic mechanism to bring in air via the car’s heat exchangers to the cabin through the sills, manually regulated thanks to those stubby levers mounted between each front seat. This simple set-up wasn’t entirely effective because the temperature inside the cabin was governed by how hot the flat six was, and the engine’s cooling fan was left in sole charge of the ferocity of air pumped into the cabin. For the G-series in 1974, Porsche introduced that infamous bank of slider controls into the centre of the 911’s lower dashboard, and they’ve been bewildering occupants ever since. Not only is their effective operation hard to muster, their purpose is often misunderstood.…