Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 244 i Total 911

Is it just me, or are impact-bumper 911s looking better than ever? The first major revision to the 911’s appearance was made in 1973 for MY1974, incorporating those quirky, chunky bumpers with rubber side-bellows that could withstand impacts of up to 5mph. This change was made to satisfy new crash safety legislation in the US, an important market for Porsche which at the time hoovered up some 60 per cent of its sports car production. Much was made at the time of the new look, designed by Wolfgang Möbius (who would later pen the 928), which was undoubtedly more jarring than the sleek appearance of its predecessors now commonly known as pre-impact bumper 911s. The impact-bumper look would, however, become an icon among enthusiasts. For while the second-generation 911 enjoyed…

3.2 Carrera Clubsport driven Had I been a car journalist 36 years ago, I’d probably have sat on this same pinstriped seat. I would have travelled to Porsche GB’s new office in Calcot, near Reading – where its headquarters remains today – left my Austin Metro in the car park and wandered tentatively around to the press workshop. There, I’d have discovered a boxfresh 3.2 Carrera Clubsport, resplendent in Grand Prix white with ‘911 HUL’ registration plates: the very same car I’m driving today. No doubt a few famous names sat right here, too. Back in 1988, a scribbled note in my imaginary Filofax says I’m expected in north Wales that afternoon. So I glug down a cup of Gold Blend, slip on my Ray-Bans and hit the M4 westbound…

Exploring the island of Ireland If you had to choose a destination for one last, glorious driving adventure, where would you go? It’s an absorbing proposition that many will find tough to answer, but in the time such a topic will have raged through a WhatsApp chat or been discussed vehemently down the pub, I’d have already filled my car with fuel, booked my ferry ticket and headed off, en route to my favourite location for such an escapade: the island of Ireland. A left-field choice, you may think, but not to those who have previously been to this glorious part of the world in search of driving nirvana. I’ve been to Ireland plenty of times before (Mrs Sibs and I got married out here back in 2016), and so…

Theon Design reveals restomod Targa The Porsche specialist has debuted its first 911 Targa, which combines a carbon-fibre chassis with a 403bhp 4.0-litre flat six The latest bespoke Porsche 911 from Theon Design has been revealed. Based on a 964 Carrera 2 and codenamed GBR003, it was built at the company’s Oxfordshire facility and features an all-carbon body, 4.0-litre naturally aspirated air-cooled engine, and a 993 RS-specification, six-speed manual gearbox. Theon starts by stripping back the donor Targa model to bare metal. While the doors remain steel for side-impact protection purposes, the body is all carbon for added strength and rigidity. The use of carbon extends to an underfloor strengthening system, and carbon bracing is said to transform structural rigidity without adding weight. Using CAD modelling for a perfect fit…

After the giddy heights of the 1973 Carrera 2.7 RS, Porsche entered the following year on much shakier ground. The oil crisis was deepening, sales had plunged by 40 per cent, and the US had introduced stringent new safety and emissions legislation. However, Stuttgart makes a habit of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat – and so it proved with the ‘impact-bumper’ 911. The new US-compliant bumpers, introduced in 1974, had distinctive plastic bellows that could compress by 50mm to withstand a 5mph impact without any damage. Designed by Wolfgang Möbius, they were controversial at first, yet soon became a familiar part of the 911 silhouette, enduring for 15 years until the 964 debuted in 1989. Technically, the term ‘G-series’ refers only to 1974 model-year cars, but it’s widely…

Story of the SC RS “Wir planen den Bau von 20 Fahrzeugen des types 911 SC, 3.0 liter, in einer erleichten version die speziell für den rallye und Rennsport,” was the note a handful of favoured Porsche customers would have received in June 1983. Roughly translated, it reads, “We are planning to build 20 vehicles of the type 911 SC, 3.0 litre, in a lighter version that can be used specifically for rallying and racing.” The single sheet of paper was headlined “Porsche 911 SC RS – Gruppe B”. It went on to outline that the car would feature a 3.0-litre flat six, delivering 250PS for the street, or 270PS in rally specification, with a minimum weight of 960kg. The document also stated that the new car would be homologated…

Total 911: How did racing start for you? Brian Redman: It started because my maternal grandfather passed away and he had this mop-making business. Only two men worked in it, but we made mops for [chemical company] ICI Nobel in Birmingham. The mops were for its explosives division. The normal steel clip and plate on a mop would have caused sparks, so we made special versions for ICI with brass fittings. My grandad was a real character and a great car enthusiast. He had an MG MGA and a Triumph TR2. When I was 17, I passed my driving test but had never been above 40mph in my life. We were going to go to the Yorkshire east coast because he was a big shooting man. We were in this…

For the 12 Hours of Sebring in March 1970, the ranks of Porsche featured an entry from Solar Productions, co-driven by the man himself. Steve McQueen was reportedly using Sebring to acclimatise himself for his forthcoming film on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which would use real footage from the 1970 edition in June. Sports car and motorcycle fanatic McQueen had been prevented by his insurers from doing much of the stunt driving in Peter Yates’ Bullitt two years earlier. For his own production he was determined to play a more central role behind the wheel. At Sebring, McQueen’s partner in the Solar Productions 908/02 Spyder was Peter Revson, a top-flight racer both in sports cars and, as he later proved, in F1. It would become a race of…

Balancing Porsche wheels Dear Sir, I thought I’d write in and share something with you, because as time goes on things get forgotten. Your magazine is probably the best way to distribute this knowledge, so that it’s seen by as many relevant people as possible. I hope you can publish it. We’ve come across a few issues with people balancing wheels on some of the wider classic Porsche wheels. There’s often a problem caused by people not wanting to have balance weights on the visible flange on the outboard side of the wheel. The intention is to put all the balance weights inboard of the structure of the wheels, so the rim looks smooth and cool. However, dynamic balancing often doesn’t work on some classic Porsche wheels. The diagram shows…

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