Written on August 19th, 2009 at 10:20am by 993C4S
If a picture is worth 1000 words, how many words is a video worth? Not sure I know the answer, but I do know the teaser video from Porsche, on the all new 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, is best watched with the volume on high!!!
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Written on August 17th, 2009 at 12:55pm by 993C4S
As most of you know by now, the featured marque at this year’s Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races is Porsche, and it is fitting that two people so connected with the legacy of Porsche – the late Bob Carlson and Bob Snodgrass — were honored in a Porsche Race Car Parade. Carlson was the PR Director for Porsche North America for many years, while Snodgrass was a principal in Brumos Porsche.
As the Porsche race cars lined up on the front straight at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, David Donahue and Hurley Haywood took the front row in Brumos Porsches. (Donohue won the 2009 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in a Brumos Porsche and hopes to repeat the victory next year; Haywood, a Le Mans winner, is a Brumos teammate.) A third car, the Porsche 962 once driven by the late Bob Akin and handled today by Kees Nierop, joined them on the front row. For Porsche devotees, this was a touching moment; the sight of these three cars clearly brought back moments of triumph and brilliance.
Behind the trio were dozens of Porsches of every vintage, neatly lined up and waiting for the signal to set out and pay tribute to those who gave so much to the sport. As Haywood and Donohue completed their first lap, they were side-by-side in a Brumos salute to Snodgrass.
“It’s some of the personal stuff that means more than anything else at this time,” said Donohue, who was close to Snodgrass and, as a celebrity driver here, was honored by Rolex at a special dinner last evening after a full day of signing autographs.
When asked what he made of all the old cars here, Donohue, whose late father Mark Donohue is a racing legend, said: “For me, growing up with my Dad in his era, I have kind of an emotional attachment with a lot of these cars. And now to be able to get into a couple of them and have people know who I am — even though I am not to the scale of Hurley Haywood, Vic Elford or Derek Bell or so many of these other guys here – it’s great to be in their company”
Haywood had his own personal take on the sentiment. “It’s really wonderful to be in a position to look out on the paddock area and see some of the very cars I have raced in my career, which spans over forty years. And when I walk over to one of those cars it brings back wonderful memories. It makes me realize I have been doing this for such a long time and the cars bring flashbacks in time, but it seems like it was just yesterday when I was doing it.”
Haywood added that he had the opportunity yesterday to drive an early Porsche Formula 2 car. “It was a wonderful way of looking at a span from that car to the current Porsche prototypes and the technology that has gone on with the different formats that Porsche has developed — from formula cars to closed wheel cars, sports cars to prototypes,” said Haywood. “And with each and every venture they have tried, they have done it superbly and have managed to put cars in each of those categories in Victory lane.”
Racing for eight of 15 groups took place today, while special introductions for two new cars – the Devon GTX and the Fisker Plug-in Hybrid — rounded out the action. Spectators may have noticed Jay Leno walking the paddock area, and those in the know caught actor and accomplished driver Patrick Dempsey taking to the raceway in his 1992 Mazda RX792P. After wrapping up filming on his latest project, the actor drove to Monterey, arriving in the wee hours of the morning and registered last-minute.
“I had a blast, these cars are phenomenal,” said Dempsey, who finished fourth in his group. “This is the fastest car I have ever driven and it was exciting. I really appreciate the support from Mazda, as always, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to go racing.especially with the Grand Am and the experience I am getting there, I’m getting faster and faster, and one of these days I am going to win one.”
As for the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, Dempsey said, “It’s very moving when you see the cars that went out before us. You step back in time and you honor the drivers who have done this before as well as the designers and manufacturers. When you see them here collectively racing, its absolutely wonderful for the sport.”
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Written on August 17th, 2009 at 12:48pm by 993C4S
The #45 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR were not able to score their six straight American Le Mans Series GT2 victory at the Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase, but the team achieved its overall goal for the weekend by extending their championship points by finishing ahead of the Ferrari 430.
The Lizard Porsche started third on the grid behind the winning BMWs, and turned competitive lap times during the entire event, but lost a lap to the leaders in the first part of the race when the pace car picked up the BMWs ahead of the overall race leaders, and were given a lap advantage via the controversial pace car regulations. After that, the team had to refocus on their overall goal – winning the championship.
“The crew did phenomenal work in the pits. In a race with so many cautions, strategy and pit work can make a critical difference and we saw that today. When there were situations to take a chance or play it safe, we were able to keep our championship goal in mind,” said Bergmeister.
Patrick Long, who passed the Ferrari on the next-to-last lap to achieve his fourth-place finish (the Ferrari finished fifth), credited the crew for his achievement.
“We achieved our objectives today and extended our championship lead. Our chief strategist Thomas Blam made a great call for new tires on the last yellow that helped me get by the Ferrari for position and extend our championship point lead,” said Long.
On the last lap, Patrick got by the O’Connell/Magnussen Corvette to move into third place, but could not hold off the V8 Corvette, finishing four-hundreths of a second from a podium position.
The #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, which qualified sixth, but within a second of the pole, ran as high as fourth place during the race, with Wolf Henzler turning the second-fastest GT2 lap of the race after Bryce Miller had run a strong opening stint. But a problem with the right rear suspension with only eight laps to go put an end to their efforts.
In the LMP2 class, Greg Pickett and Klaus Graf again showed everyone why the Porsche RS Spyder has been the American Le Mans Series class champion since 2006 by finishing a strong third place – and fifth overall – only 1.3-seconds out of second. And in the ALMS Challenge class, Martin and Melanie Snow survived that dreaded pace car wave-by for their nearest competitor – Nick Parker and Don Pickering – to score another win, their third in four events, to close in on that championship in their Snow Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
Martin Snow had a comfortable lead when Pickering got the wave-by, gaining a full lap on the leaders without making up the time on the track. Still, Martin and Melanie won by a full lap over their rivals.
The next race for the American Le Mans Series will be at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on Sunday, August 30.
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Written on August 14th, 2009 at 12:58pm by 993C4S
Okay, so maybe not the exact lyrics of the song, but you get the idea? How many of you are headed to the Monterey Peninsula (or are already there) for this week’s Porsche festivities? A portion of the PorschePurist.com team was planning on attending the event starting this Thursday (yours truly). We had everything scheduled and planned out including some time behind the wheel of a new Panamera and a full week with a Boxster S driving the PCH. In addition to driving some great Porsches, we had planned on documenting and photographing all the Porsche goodness at The Quail, Laguna Seca, Pebble Beach, etc. Basically, anywhere we found Porsches (which will be all over the Peninsula) we were going to be there with our cameras. Unfortunately, a member of the team (Lucy, one of our dogs) became very sick and we have to cancel our trip.
So, here’s my question to you. Would any of you attending be willing to send me pictures as you have the time? I’m specifically interested in pictures of the Porsche Zentrum (the picture above is of the Zentrum being prepared for the event), any of the numerous famous racing Porsches featured at Laguna Seca and anything else of interest. I will post the pictures in the new Porsche Purist flickr account and will use them in a future post as well (proper credit and links to be provided of course). If interested, let me know by commenting below or using the contact page to get in touch.
The Zentrum is a specially built facility based on aspects of the new Porsche museum and the flagship dealerships from around the world. This free-standing building is built prominently on the grounds of the Quail Lodge and will showcase the new Panamera and much of the new technology to be found in today’s Porsche sports cars. Here’s a picture I was sent today of the Zentrum being made ready for prime time.
As the featured marque of this year’s event, Porsche is expecting more than 450 historic race cars to be in attendance, racing and on display. In addition to these privately owned cars, four historicaly significant Porsche race cars will be on display from the Museum including:
The Porsche GT1 98LM, which helped Porsche finish 1-2 at the 1998 24-hours of Le Mans event.
Porsche is displaying the Panamera at the legendary Lodge at Pebble Beach and for the second time in the history of the Concours, organizers have created a Porsche class to include racing legends from the 1950s through the 1980s on display at the famed 18th fairway at the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Notable Porsches to be on display at Pebble Beach to include:
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Written on August 13th, 2009 at 3:38pm by 993C4S
In an announcement today that surprised few and confused many, Porsche and Volkswagen made news by releasing information about their ongoing merger madness that requires an advanced degree in finance to make heads or tails of the various components. After a number of reads and a bit of research I think things distill down like this:
Okay, let’s take a breather for a second. If I have this right, VW is going to raise capital by increasing their outstanding shares in order to purchase a 42% stake in Porsche, AG, which is currently owned by Porsche, SE (who owns 51% of VW). Is anyone else confused???
If all this wasn’t confusing enough, Lower Saxony, which owns a stake equal to 20 percent in Volkswagen, retains a veto vote that can block certain decisions and will nominate two members of the supervisory board.
Last but not least, let’s not forget about Qatar. Remember them? According to VW’s CEO (who is that again after all this?), Qatar will still have a place in the new company and in fact will become the third largest investor in the combined entity. While specific numbers have not been released, it is rumored to be 17%.
Last but not least, it appears that everything hinges on the approval of the key banks involved. Assuming that permission is granted, we can expect a completed integration by the end of 2011.
If anyone else has a different take on things or understands things differently, please let me know. I need all the help I can get!!!!
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Written on August 10th, 2009 at 9:10am by 993C4S
Almost every ALMS driver looked to the skies with a frown on Saturday morning as it rained overnight and was drizzling during practice at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course; Flying Lizard Motorsports’ driver Jörg Bergmeister was not among them. “I actually like the rain,” he said. “I do what I always do and seem to come out ahead.” It is a confident response from a driver who should be very confident: Bergmeister took pole for the GT2 class in the number 45 911 GT3 RSR.
From left to right: Darren Law, Seth Neiman and Jörg Bergmeister prepare for the start of the race
His confidence is especially impressive in light of the fact that the team was informed late this week that the number 45 car was being assessed a 25 kilogram (55 pound) penalty weight due to judges’ suspicions regarding the legality of their motor. Bergmeister and Long were still pleased with the car’s performance during practice and qualifying sessions in spite of this additional weight.
Bergmeister gaining ground away from the Corvettes as he enters Thunder Valley
Also entered in the race was Flying Lizard’s number 44 car, driven by Flying Lizard founder Seth Neiman and Darren Law. Law raced at Watkins Glen Friday and was not present for the qualifying session at Mid-Ohio, forcing him to start from the back of the grid. It was a penalty they struggled to overcome the entire race.
Flying Lizard’s number 44 Porsche battling to pass the number 40 Ford in Thunder Valley
The weather let up just before the race, prompting teams to replace their rain tires with race slicks. As the race began, Ohio weather, in an effort to maintain its reputation for being anything but consistent, rolled gray clouds overhead once more. Aside from a drop or two, teams and fans alike did not see rain the rest of the day.
The number 08 Patron 911 GT3 from the challenge class saw an early end to the race, running off the track at the entry to madness before completing one lap. Ed Brown, the car’s driver, was rushed to a local hospital but was released after finding no serious injuries. The car was not so lucky, hitting a guardrail during the crash.
The Patron car being towed from the gravel pit. Driver Ed Brown sustained no serious injuries in the crash
Muscle Milk’s number 6 RS Spyder driven by Greg Pickett placed second in the P2 class. Pickett was given an avoidable contact penalty early on for hitting the number 90 BMW. This effectively took number 90 off the lead pace for the remainder of the race,
This race marked the debut of the Corvettes in the GT2 class, with the new C6.R Corvettes. The number 3 and 4 Corvettes were in second and third place consistently throughout the race, but the number 92 Rahal Letterman BMW passed the number 4 C6.R on the last lap to take third place.
Some fans speculated this could have been a strategic move to avoid having two cars on the podium on their debut. The Corvette team brushed aside this accusation, saying it was an effort to conserve fuel near the end of the race. However you view this strategic move, the Corvettes made themselves known as a force to be reckoned with in the series.
By the race’s end, the number 45 car took first place with Patrick Long behind the wheel. Long ended the race 21 seconds ahead of the number 3 Corvette. This broke the record for consecutive wins in the series. How did it feel? “Unbelievable!!” Long exclaimed. “The level of professionalism and cooperation exhibited by the team was amazing. I am very excited and we want to keep this positive momentum going.”
The next race in the American LeMans Series will be at Road America Road Course.
Today’s post was written by frequent contributor Andrew Granieri. Andrew is graduating from Miami University in August with a degree in Technical & Scientific Communications and Entrepreneurship. He is eagerly searching for a job that will allow him to keep his performance driving hobby going.
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Written on August 9th, 2009 at 9:40am by 993C4S
Len Keen (Charleston, SC) and Dirk Werner (Germany) drove the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to a runner-up finish in the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen (NY) International Raceway Friday, but Porsche factory drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) were literally deflated five minutes from the finish and dropped from a DP podium to a misleading 13th place.
With just three races remaining in the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season, Keen and Werner now have a 31-point lead in the Acxiom GT driver’s championship standings. That is almost a full race’s worth of points (35 points are awarded to the winners).
“”It was a crazy race, but it was a lot of fun for the fans,”” Keen said. “”There was a lot of action out there and bad things could have happened to us at any time. Dirk (Werner) was just awesome at the end. We finished second and we inreased our points lead, so it was a great day.”
”
Keen started from the pole, led the first 22 laps and drove for an hour and 15 minutes of the two-hour race on the fast 2.25-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen short course before turning the Porsche over to Werner. Following the pit stop, Werner was fourth, but began a furious charge. Werner turned in his fastest lap of the race five minutes from the finish and wound up finishing just 0.794 seconds behind the winning Mazda.
“”I’’m disappointed,”” Werner said. “”The (lapped) cars between me and the #69 car Mazda had nothing to do with the race, but they kept blocking me every time I was ready to make a move. I had to overtake them before I could try to overtake 69. I never got close enough to make a move on him.”
“”Our car was fast all day – it was just awesome. Our goal was to protect our points lead and we wound up almost winning and adding to the points lead. That is a very good result,”” he said.
The Penske Porsche factory drivers were a lot more disappointed than Werner. Dumas was running a strong third with less than five minutes remaining when he suffered a flat right front tire that slowed him down and forced him to the pits and dropped him to 13th in the final standings.
“”A little unfortunate again,”” Dumas said. “”We have had a couple of races where we were close to a good result and in the end it didn’t work out. It is a pity for the crew, us the drivers and everybody. At the other end, we are trying very hard and it is frustrating to have these things happen. It would have been a heartfelt finish for us, and would have been a really good show for all of us. But it is P 13 for us again and we lose points in the championship. It is not anything we could have done anything about. If a tire goes, a tire goes.””
It was the second time this season a solid finish has been spoiled by a flat tire for the Penske team. This one, though, really deflated the team’s spirits. Through great strategy in working the yellow flags, Bernhard led for five laps early in the race and the duo ran in the top five all day long.
Dumas had a spirited battle with Scott Pruett (Auburn, CA) for 11 laps late in the race before Pruett pushed his faster Lexus Riley past Dumas en route to a second-place finish that helped him and teammate Memo Rojas (Mexico) take over sole possession of the Daytona Prototype points lead.
“”The tire exploded,”” Dumas said, ““I think I hit a part (debris) laying on the track. It just happened. It exploded.”
“”We drove without a clutch the whole race as well, so we had problems. We could have ended with a podium finish and we didn’t,”” he said.
Both Brumos Porsche Rileys finished in the top eight overall. David Donohue (Malvern, PA) and Darren Law (Phoenix, AZ) were sixth in the #58 entry and JC France (Ormond Beach, FL) and Joao Barbosa (Portugal) finished eighth in the #59 Brumos car despite starting from pit lane after the crew repaired a leaking overflow valve on the gearbox cooler.
““That was a rough race for us but we got a pretty good finish anyway, so we’ll take it and be happy,”” Law said. “”For a while it looked like we finish much lower, but circumstances went our way at the end and we moved up. It was a positive finish, and we can take confidence from it.”
”’
The newest Porsche team was also disappointed. Driving the #48 Miller Barrett Racing Porsche 911 GT3 car, Kevin Roush (Upland, CA) even led three laps before his 2006 Porsche was tagged by a Daytona prototype and slammed into the guardrail. Roush and Bryce Miller (Summit, NJ) would up 15th in the GT standings.
Justin Marks/Andy Lally were the top-finishing drivers in the three-team TRG Porsche effort, finishing sixth.
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