Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Classic Porsche

What an astonishing year of celebrations 2023 is turning out to be for Porsche enthusiasts. For starters, there’s the Stuttgart brand’s seventy-fifth anniversary (and therefore a significant milestone for the 356), a landmark in Porsche history to be commemorated by a series of exciting events throughout the coming show season. We then gear up for autumn and the 911’s sixtieth birthday. It’s safe to assume there will be parties far and wide. Even enthusiasts with only surface-level knowledge of Porsche products and the company’s long and illustrious history will be aware of these anniversaries, but there are other significant — albeit less prominent — dates to be aware of this year. Immediately springing to mind, we have forty-five years of 911 SC to concern ourselves with, not to mention forty…

Road racer! There has to be an exclamation mark after such a statement, and while Porsche didn’t invent the concept, it will forever be associated with epic closed road events, such as the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, not to mention homologated RS and GT sports cars, built in road specification to satisfy the rules and regulations of international motorsport. Without Porsche’s desire to compete, there would be no Carrera RS 2.7, which is a sobering thought. Porsche has always had an active factory and customer motorsport programme. Indeed, from the 550 Spyder to the current generation of 911 Carrera Cup and RSRs, there has barely been a single Porsche race car unavailable off-the-shelf and ready to race. Every now and again, these very machines get re-purposed for the road.…

BRAKE BIAS To understand how brake bias works, how you can improve/alter it and why you’d want to do so, we first need to understand exactly what brake bias is. In short, the term refers to how braking force is split between a car’s front and rear axles. This ratio is critical for obvious reasons: too much effort at the nose of the car and the front wheels could lock, causing you to push on through the corner. Too much effort at the back and you might lock the rear wheels, causing an uncontrollable spin. You might be wondering why you’d want to change factory settings, but bigger brakes, weight saving, stiffer suspension and other chassis modifications will affect the way brakes are biased. In fact, we can affect braking…

Many people frown upon certain words being used to describe appearance. ‘Fat’ is one such label, but in this instance, I invite those of judgemental ilk to come up with a more appropriate epithet to describe the swollen Turbo-esque wheel arches of the 993 Cabriolet belonging to Chronis Tsiligkeridis. Bulging? Bulbous? Unlike a broad-beam narrowboat, where the whole hull is widened, only the Porsche’s arches are larded up. Enough fatty talk. The story of this impressive, wide-bodied, drop-top 993 began some twenty years ago, when you could pretty much say what you liked and not get cancelled. Chronis, who speaks with an entrancing Greek lilt (think Zorba), was living in his native country and bought the car from a seller in Austria. It was a regular 993 Cabriolet in left-hand…

Just like Arnie, we knew we’d be back. Back to Rindt Vehicle Design, that is, not to save the world (although never say never). There’s just so much to see and drive here. Make no mistake, this is a prolific outfit with a compelling USP: full control over all projects. That is to say every stage of a restoration or restomod build is carried out in-house. What’s the old adage? If you want a job doing well, then do it yourself? It makes sense, but it’s not always easy or practical to achieve. In the world of Porsche restoration and custom builds, it equates to a dedicated team of technicians expert in all areas, from bodywork restoration and fabrication, to engine rebuilds, electrics, trimming and painting. Most specialists will farm…

What are brake pads made from? Brake pads are often made from a variety of different materials. Standard street compound pads are usually a non-metallic composite of synthetic properties. They offer excellent bite in the cold coupled with low noise when called into action, but they lack high friction and their effect will ‘fade’ at relatively low temperatures when compared to performance pads. At the other end of the scale, race compounds are usually fully metallic or ceramic in their make-up. Offering much higher levels of friction, these pads are far less susceptible to fade, but they need to reach operating temperature to work effectively. In other words, their cold bite is poor. They’re great for track work or ‘spirited’ driving, but not great for nipping to the shops and…

COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION OF Classic PORSCHE ORDER BACK ISSUES AT bit.ly/issuescp PORSCHE RECOMMISSIONS PARIS-DAKAR 959 DRIVEN BY ICKX AND BRASSEUR A car capable of surviving 14,000 kilometres in the deserts and savannahs of Africa can go anywhere in the world, right?! The 959 Paris-Dakar mastered the gruelling rally from France to West Africa in 1986. The Porsche, in which Jacky Ickx and Claude Brasseur finished second behind the winning French team of René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne (in an identical car) is now ready to by driven once again. The recommissioning has been carried out over the past few months by the Porsche Heritage and Museum team, together with colleagues from Porsche Classic. The multi-part 959 Paris-Dakar documentary posted to the Porsche YouTube channel offers exciting insights…

Imagine being able to order a Gulf-liveried 914 in the 1970s. This is exactly the thought process serving as the catalyst for the Targa-topped air-cooled roadster you see on these pages. The work of Tim and Douglas Abbot, the project took on a life of its own when additional inspiration was provided by the two 918 Spyders finished in Gulf colours by the Porsche factory. Whether wrapped or painted, we suspect there are a number of 918s dressed in the iconic blue and orange branding, but Zuffenhausen only produced two, albeit at customer request. We have Vaughn Wyant to thank — he owns the Saskatoon Porsche dealership in Saskatchewan, Canada, and was hell-bent on getting his way. His powers of persuasion worked, first by convincing Gulf to let him use…