Innehållsförteckning för No. 155 från Total 911

“The GT class is the most competitive it’s been for years” Like its predecessors, the 85th running of Le Mans proved an absolute spectacle of a race. Whereas in 2016 the headline-grabbing entertainment came in a sensational last five minutes, this year the fight for overall honours was a dogged affair, the pendulum swinging continuously between Porsche and Toyota as each attempted to steal a lead before one of its cars encountered a problem, shifting the advantage back towards its rival. It was utterly enthralling to watch. However, I can see problems arising for the top class of competition in the WEC, which could even undermine Porsche’s success at La Sarthe going forward. It all started when Audi dropped out of the LMP1 category before the season’s start, which we…

19th overall win at Le Mans No.2 919 battles back from the brink for an unlikely victory for Porsche Porsche’s LMP Team once again triumphed at the Le Mans 24 Hours to celebrate a hat-trick of back-to-back overall wins at the world’s most famous endurance race. The victory for Earl Bamber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley in the No.2 car marked an extraordinary turnaround of events that saw the car pitted for more than an hour battling a front axle drive problem only three hours into the race. Returning to the field 18 laps behind, the no.2 car was second to last overall and seemingly well out of the running for even a podium. That left the no.1 car of Nick Tandy, Andre Lotterer and Neel Jani up against a…

Fifty years separate these very special 911s, yet their origins could not have been more different. The 911R was an experimental lightweight that never advanced beyond the prototype stage, and for decades was almost forgotten. Then, as interest in Porsche history widened, the importance of the 911R was recognised to the point where it has become perhaps the most valuable of the early air-cooled cars; Porsche rarely misses an opportunity to build an anniversary model, but with the 991 R it pulled out all the stops to create as near a likeness to that original R as modern production would allow – a brilliant contemporary yet traditionally analogue 911. To appreciate this 911, it is necessary to understand Porsche’s interest in saving weight as a means of gaining performance, which…

“The 911 would remain the highway flagship of the Rijkspolitie for almost three decades” The story begins in the late Fifties with the promotion of a bright young officer, Kees Vogel, to head of Dutch traffic police. In the postwar boom, like Germany, the Netherlands was developing rapidly: towns were being rebuilt and expanding, and new dual carriageway roads were under construction to link them. As car ownership increased and traffic patterns changed, Vogel realised that the new motorways required different policing from the traditional urban model. He set up a separate highway division, the Rijkspolitie, for which one of the first requirements after appointing and training officers was vehicles. The Dutch force’s traditional Renault Dauphines, Opel Kadetts and VW Beetles had been acquired for the urban work, which was…

Edinburgh. My hometown. Growing up here as a kid I never truly appreciated how beautiful it is. And it is, sensationally so, though today I’m back home not to see friends, family or enjoy the sights, but to take part in something very special indeed. A few weeks ago, the millionth Porsche 911 rolled off the Zuffenhausen production line in Germany. Think about that for a moment: one million 911s – and counting – that’s an incredible feat for any car, let alone a premium sports car. Since its introduction the 911 has become a sports car icon, defining the marketplace, dominating race circuits and being symbolic and relevant in every decade it’s existed. That’s as true today as it was when it was introduced back in 1963; the 911…

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 Q4 will be September 2017. The review for 2017 Q2 was June. Ratings  Each model is rated out of five in our half-star system according to their performance, handling, appearance and desirability.…

A new 911 is revealed to the public once more. However, this is no ordinary showcase – more than two weeks before its official unveiling at Goodwood, the 991 GT2 RS makes its public debut next to Dan Greenawalt, Forza franchise Creative Director, at the launch of the new Forza 7 Xbox game. The result of a partnership with Microsoft, this is the first time a videogame has launched a new car.…

7 00hp. Usually when that sort of figure is attributed to a Porsche 911, we would presume it has been the subject of a fettle by a tuning house such as Gemballa or TechArt. Not this time, however. Say hello to the new Porsche 991 GT2 RS, a rear-drive, turbocharged Rennsport boasting a monumental 700hp, making it the most powerful factory 911 ever to roll off the production line at Werk II. And, let it be said, that tells not even half the story of this phenomenal new Porsche GT car. That’s because the 991 GT2 RS will power on to a top speed of 211.2mph, delivering another gong of being the fastest factory 911 of all time, usurping the 991.2 Turbo S by a full six mph (with extreme…

Background to the 996 C4S ‘Turbo look’ is a familiar part of the Neunelfer enthusiast’s parlance, but you have to head back to 1984 for its first appearance. Back then, it meant the M491 option for the 3.2 Carrera, a car that featured familiar mechanicals clothed in the wider-hipped shell of the groundbreaking Turbo, and it soon became clear that Porsche had hit on a winning recipe. Continuing with both the 964 and 993 generations, it debuted on the car you see here in the latter part of 2001, before going on sale the following year. Buyers were asked to pay around £65,000 for the privilege if they opted, as many did, for the optional Tiptronic gearbox – £25,000 less than the amount asked for the full-fat Turbo – but…

As we’ve previously discussed in Total 911, Porsche’s release of the exquisitely styled 991 Targa brought about a positive rejuvenation in values of the air-cooled roll bar Targas, enthusiasts perhaps reminded of the simple yet timeless aesthetics of those early open-topped 911s. However, while roll bar Targas have clearly found favour with the classic 911-buying public again, can the same be said of the later glass-roofed Targas, namely the 993, 996, and both generations of 997? Marc Elgar, Senior Sales Consultant at Porsche Centre Portsmouth on the UK’s south coast, is pretty clear in his standing that the glass-roofed Targas just don’t hold the same appeal: “While 993,996 and 997 Targas are doing well at the moment, in general I don’t think these will ever be held in such high…

SUNRISE IN A 996 RENNSPORT The 996 promised a new dawn for the Rennsport: Total 911 experiences it MOBY DICK 935 Up close to one of the most extreme 935 iterations ever to grace a track CARS & COFFEE HIGHLIGHTS See the pictures from our cars & coffee at 911 Rennsport…

Turbo S Exclusive Edition launched Limited numbers Turbo S revealed boasting 610hp; just 500 examples to be available worldwide Porsche Exclusive, Zuffenhausen’s in-house workshop responsible for building one-off ‘special wishes’ 911s, has revealed it is to produce a new 991.2 Turbo S, boasting 607hp and limited to just 500 units worldwide. The most powerful 911 Turbo S of all time boasts a 27hp increase over the standard factory Turbo S, with maximum torque set at 750Nm. This is the first limited-run car the special wishes department has produced for worldwide markets since the revered 997 Sport Classic of 2010. As with any Exclusive-designed car, the Turbo S is most notable for its bespoke design, here boasting Golden Yellow Metallic paint with carbon fibre inserts on the front bonnet, roof, side…

Long lost UK 930 & Goodwood Revival rendezvous G’day Sir, As one of your distant antipodean subscribers, I write with a couple of very different topics where your UK-based readers may be able to assist. The first is to see if any of them can help fill in the first 10 years’ history of my 1980 930, chassis #93A00700536, engine #6700526, before it was shipped to Australia in about 1990. I have already tried Porsche Club GB, the DVLA and have visited the OPC in Reading, all without much success. The car was delivered new in April 1980 by AFN in London, and the only info that the OPC could provide due to privacy restrictions was that it was delivered to a director of Highmark Welding. At that time, the…

It is precisely 34.5 degrees Celsius at the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone. I know this because a small digital screen sitting inside the second-from-right dial in the 911’s dashboard is illuminating the temperature reading in bright white figures. I also know this because the sweat freely flowing from every pore in my body suggests ambient temperature is far and above what us mortals here in the UK are accustomed to. Both windows down, my hands and arms are clammy and sticky as I wipe another fast-gathering layer of moisture from my soaked face. Short of stripping off entirely (the thought does cross my mind), there’s little else I can do: there’s no air conditioning in here, so I’m at the mercy of our torturous summer sun. But you won’t find…

996 C2/C4 Being the first water-cooled Neunelfer was always going to mean a difficult start, and a reputation for unreliability and expensive engine failures didn’t help. With values depressed, it became the generation of choice for those on a budget, but times are changing. C4S money could get you a very low miles C2/C4. 997 Carrera The replacement for the 996 moved the game on, impressing owners with a blend of refinement and strong build quality. Benefitting from more compact dimensions compared to the 991, it meant the 997 felt wieldy when the going got twisty, and it was quick enough in entry-level form compared to the 996 C4S. Air-cooled The money required for a good C4S will just about secure an air-cooled car, but you’ll be heading into riskier…

Carburettors were the age-old method of combining the petrol-air mixture for combustion engines and Porsche persevered with them until the late 1960s, when US emissions regulations prompted a switch to fuel injection. The carburettor works by the suction created by the downward stroke of the pistons, with fuel delivered by a pump usually running off the crankshaft; fuel injection by contrast is a closed, pressurised delivery system. The first Bosch-derived injection system for the 911 was virtually a miniaturised motor with twin rows of tiny pistons actuated by a roller cam. This turned on a shaft belt driven from the engine at half crank speed and the effect was an exact dosage of fuel at constant pressure delivered to each of the 911’s six cylinders, coinciding precisely with the engine’s…

The Porsche owner hunting for spares might think he (or she) had come to the wrong address: a modern three-storey warehouse with ‘VW Heritage’ emblazoned across its front. After all, hadn’t VW and Porsche gone their separate ways? The sight of a 997 and striking 993 C4S in the directors’ parking spaces is slightly more reassuring, and then the company’s marketing director, Andy Gregory appears. “Yes you are in the right place,” he says. “The directors are Porsche fans and we now supply Porsche parts.” VW Heritage retailing Porsche spares? It turns out there is solid business logic behind this. A ten year company man, Andy Gregory explains that the business really goes back to 1986 when founder David Ward hit on the idea of offering a removals service for…

Even on Google Maps, the Col Du Torini looks like one of the best roads in the world, its aerial layout resembling a plate of spaghetti. While roads rivalling its to-and-fro layout, such as the Stelvio Pass, are a little lacklustre in reality, this is as thrilling to drive in real life as is it to ogle at on the computer, boasting no less than 34 glorious hairpins to negotiate. Perhaps the ultimate authentication of this road’s credentials is the fact it’s used as a stage for the famous Monte Carlo rally, a thrilling motorsport event held every January in the mountains high above Prince Michael’s celebrity-rich principality. The road itself is the D2566, which lays between the rural towns of Sospel to the south and Le Bolléne-Vésubie to the…