Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i Classic Porsche

This special bookazine-style issue of Classic Porsche celebrates the last two generations of air-cooled 911, namely the 964 and 993, models currently enjoying their thirtieth and thirty-fifth anniversaries respectively. For years, these superb Stuttgart-crested sports cars were considered the runt of the air-cooled 911 litter — too numerous, too modern, too far removed from the original 911 concept. Indeed, under previous editorial rule, this magazine didn’t showcase either the 964 or 993, but times change, and what was once the ‘great unloved’ of the 911 scene is now considered utterly essential. Paying tribute to both the 964 and 993, we’ve gathered together a collection of fantastic feature cars and have presented them for your enjoyment across the following pages. Some of these air-cooled classics will be new to you, some…

The word ‘convincing’ certainly sums up Julian Parker’s 9m11S Touring, affectionately known as Project Abbi, named after his wife and co-collaborator in the project. Londondomiciled, Julian is a Porschephile through and through. He’s the custodian of a 991 Carrera GTS and boasts Porsche ownership history including “a yuppie-spec Carrera 3.2” and “a restomod not quite hitting the spot.” Work carried out wasn’t terribly good, which is why he handed the car to the team at Warrington-based independent Porsche specialist, Ninemeister, where the engine was sorted. “It became the best bit of the entire car,” he laughs. “This is how I found myself talking to Ninemeister boss, Colin Belton, about the possibilities available when developing a 964 restomod. He really opened my eyes to the wider world of modifying and backdating…

Yep, I must be getting old. Well, actually, I am getting old, there’s no ‘must be’ about it. Can this explain why I’m starting to get the whole Targa thing? There was certainly a time when a 911 had to be a coupe and nothing else would do. The Targa’s crime? Despite the fact it was named after the Targa Florio (the epic Sicilian road race Porsche dominated for two decades, coining eleven wins, nine second-place finishes, twelve third-place finishes and eight fastest laps), a 911 Targa was and is no road racer. More a California cruiser. This might be true of a standard Targa, but here I am, the car’s roof panel removed, driving some of my favourite Suffolk roads. Despite a chill in the air, the experience is…

With the 964 Carrera RS and Carrera Cup competition car as sources of inspiration (and parts), Porsche set about developing a Turbo-bodied, road-legal racer in keeping with the changing direction of international sports car racing, which was finding its feet (again) after the cost-driven implosion of Group C. The brief was to develop a 911 capable of being campaigned globally and competitively in a broad spread of series and races with shared regulations, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, ADAC GT, the BPR Championship, IMSA, plus the Japanese GT Championship. Enter, then, the 964 Carrera RS 3.8 and its RSR derivative, designed to meet the new, internationally devised criteria. A total of 106 cars were built. Fifty-five were road-going Rennsports for homologation purposes, while fifty-one units were dedicated customer…

These days, there’s nothing unusual about a sports car with all-wheel drive and a twin-turbocharged engine. In fact, it’s not just supercars relying on the advantages of four-wheel drive — it’s the blueprint for many serious performance cars, from sports coupes to super saloons, not to mention high-performance SUVs. All-pawed performance wasn’t the norm at the dawn of the 1980s, however, which is why Porsche set the template for the future of high-performance motoring when it revealed its Gruppe B concept at the 1983 Frankfurt Show. This particular design study took an excruciating three more years to enter production, effectively missing its chance to shine as a Group B weapon, but the resulting 959 remains and is one of the most influential cars the world has ever seen. One of…

VarioRam is the name Porsche gave to its advanced variable intake system when the technology was first released in 1994. It’s clear, however, from the wealth of Porsche-filed patents in the years leading up to then, the manufacturer’s engineers had long considered the benefits of varying intake geometry. Indeed, the VarioRam system was preceded by a far simpler variable design that didn’t get much recognition, never mind a catchy marketing name. Before we look at how these Porsche systems work, it’s probably worth us going through an overview of intake tuning. This is a massive field of study, obviously, because it includes the whole inlet system, from engine air intake, filter, throttle and then the plenum, manifold and, finally, the inlet valves. Each and every millimetre of this system affects…

COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION OF Classic PORSCHE ORDER BACK ISSUES AT bit.ly/issuescp GALPIN MOTORS LAUNCHES BB AUTO IN NORTH AMERICA WITH TARGA HYBRID In 1974, two brothers, Rainer and Dieter Buchmann, established bb Auto, a business that would change the standard of automotive customisation, bringing the art of coachcraft into the twenty-first century. Today, Beau Boeckmann (yes, another bb), President and CEO of Galpin Motors, is bringing the bb Auto brand to California, bridging the vision of the resourceful Buchmann brothers with the historic Porsche restoration skills and techniques of today. bb Auto rose to fame at the height of an economic boom in Germany. Situated in Frankfurt, the Buchmanns reasoned car enthusiasts wanted to express themselves in different ways, but the period’s OEM manufacturing techniques didn’t allow for much variation…

With the demise of Group C came a desire for Porsche to focus its motorsport programme on GT racing, beginning with development of the Carrera Cup series, established following success Porsche enjoyed with 944 Turbo Cup, the manufacturer’s first single-make championship. Factory motorsport engineer, Roland Kussmaul, was therefore asked to draw on his experience with the 911 SC RS project to produce a Cup version of the 964. By mid-1990, a limited run of 964 Cup cars was in the works, but with little in the way of headline sponsor interest for the new race series, not to mention Carrera Cup being a closed competition, Porsche needed a new privateer-friendly racing 911 capable of garnering wins, thereby heightening brand visibility in a range of series all over the world. At…

Launched in November 1988, the 964 marked a sea-change in the 911’s development. Porsche CEO, Peter Schutz, and the company's chief engineer, Helmuth Bott, aimed to make the new model the most advanced sports car to wear the 911 badge. Indeed, many of the 964’s key features were inherited from the earlier 959, bringing supercar technology to a much wider audience. Despite Porsche claims the 964 was eighty-seven percent new when compared to the outgoing Carrera 3.2, changes to the iconic 911 silhouette were prohibited. Nevertheless, the 964's polyurethane bumpers, aerodynamic rain gutters and flat undertray were all new components taking clear cues from the 959. The 964’s drag coefficient was improved to 0.32 over the Carrera 3.2’s 0.39. Additionally, devoid of any superfluous addenda, the newer 911’s passage through…