Pic post: 2003 Porsche GT3 RS

Back in May I made the trek down to Georgia for Southern Worthersee, a VW / Audi car show held in the picturesque mountains north of Atlanta. It was a decent show, but like most car shows a little dull as far as cars sitting in a field not providing much in the way of a visceral experience. Yeah there were lots of nice cars, but nice cars alone do not make for much excitement if they're not doing anything.



On the way south we managed to pop through the shop at Lufteknic and see what was new, as always, there was a lot to ponder, but what caught my eye was one of my own personal favorite race cars of all time, a 996 GT3 RS. For the uninitiated, Lufteknic is a Porsche specialist located in Richmond Virginia, handling any and all things Porsche, from service to race, restoration and more.



Robert and Lufteknic have had a significant impact on this car's life thus far, having run the car with Hazardous Sports in the American Le Mans series, before arranging it's sale to one of his own customers once it was officially retired from competition. 



The bright-orange pumpkin-colored GT3 RS looks more or less exactly as it did when it was campaigned, with one rather significant exception. Rather than the old sponsorship stickers or some completely new, dubious color combo that people seem to throw on race cars with reckless abandon, the owner saw fit to bestow a proper old-school art-car livery by Brazilian artist Patricia Secco.



The effect is significant and perfect. Flowing with the lines of the 996 while having something to say on their own as well, the color pallet both compliments and uses the base bright orange paint as a key component. And if it happens to piss off the purists, all the better.



Unfortunately we had to hit the road all-too-soon and didn't get a chance to talk shop or take in any of the other sights while we were there, but with any luck I'll be back down soon to continue documenting the wild array of cars that roll through the doors there each day. 

_WRS

12 Hours of Sebring 2011, Wed-->Thurs

 

For the second time in as many years, the crew (myself and Josh) have made the trek 1200 miles south from NYC to sunny Florida for the most important and exciting endurance race that takes place on United States soil: the 12 Hours of Sebring. So far we know one thing for certain, it's a hell of an adventure no matter how you slice it.

Pic Post: Your basic Porsche 911 SC

It's amazing how little the early Porsche 911 needs to look 'right.' I suppose that's why it is the classic design, destined to last the ages, but I think it's pretty clear that the newer models will never be able to age this gracefully.



This 911 SC is at its newest almost 30 years old, but the Super Carrera (that's what SC stands for) really remains timeless. It was manufactured and sold at that pivotal point in time when imagination, technology and sheer willpower all combined to make interesting, fun and reliable cars of all sorts.



The more modern 964 would probably also qualify for this status, but defintiely not the 993. By that point technology had creeped in entirely too much, ruining the whole thing. One thing leads to another, and the next thing you know you have 2-ton "sports cars" (I"m looking at you E9x M3) that need way more power to get going and will never be as rewarding to drive.



It's a shame. I don't think I'll ever be able to own a "new" car ever again really. Good thing I like turning wrenches.

_WRS

Classics on the Green: Porsche

Classics on the green is a yearly car show in Richmond Virginia, one which I have been able to make it to only once, but I swear next year...next year I'll make it back. It's a pretty laid back event, put on by some of the British car enthusiasts in the area, and rather than keep it all to themselves they decided to invite other classic sports and foreign cars to the party. Each year a different marque is featured and this year it was Porsche.


When I went it was Ferrari. Never had I dreamed to see so many beautiful machines from Maranello... '360s, '430s, 'F40s, 'F50s, even an Enzo. And so many suffering from the neglect of having never really been driven. I even saw a brand new (at the time) F430 with tapping lifters and what looked like oil smoke emanating from the tail pipes.

But I digress. This year was the year for Porsche, and our buddy Robert over at Lufteknic organized a gathering of vehicles for a display called 'Porsche in white' for the event. He even got support from Porsche of Charlottesville, who supplied some brand new models to add to the display. And although we weren't able to make it down for 2010, Ed over at the Porsche Bus Blog was, and he was kind enough to snap a few pics. Head on over to Porsche Bus for the rest.

I swear we'll be there next year...

_WRS

Pic post: Stuffed

Apologies for such limited posting these past few weeks. I was busy getting married last weekend, so my time has been predictably scarce to say the least. I have a very brief respite from the crazy, and then head back to Maryland and then on down to Dubs at the Beach for the weekend of 5/29 & 5/30, so I can't say I'll be writing any books, but at least there will be plenty of fresh photos from the show. By the way, I would like to place the phrase "Dubs" anything on moratorium when it comes to show naming...I'm getting too old to keep everything straight. Anyways, as I have probably alluded to previously, I'm not so big on shows, mainly because I have to work like a crazy person for the entire time. Ocean City is never all bad though, so it will at least be worth a few laughs and some good times between all the work.

Here's a shot of Drew's 911 with the oh-so-fresh 3.8 VarioRam motor in place, an example of the perfect hot rod formula. A small, lightweight car with minimal flash, solid underpinnings, and a big powerful motor. Sign me up!

Thanks to Ed for the pic.

_WRS

Potential energy

Potential energy can be just as beautiful kinetic energy when it is in the form of Porsche 911. As usual there were a few goodies hiding at Lufteknic when we stopped by on our way to Florida. The red 930 is just out of the chassis shop and ready for more serious work to
begin.



Details are intentionally scarce, but let's just say that when your nickname is 'Turbo Don,' and your street car is a 400hp+ 930 of similar vintage, your race car is going to be something altogether earth shattering. Big, BIG things planned, watch this space.



You might also spy Drew's silver 1987 911 Coupe in the background. This one is a project after my own heart. Naturally aspirated 3.8 power, Motec, clean, simple and will be ready to run circles around the new stuff out there, with a style and rawness that newer cars will never be able to match. Soon to be residing at the rear:



Now I know there has been almost an overload of Porsche material lately, and I promise we'll be back to some VW and Audi action soon enough...it's just too bad Audi wasn't at Sebring. So blame them and the ACO / ALMS, not your humble servant here at Der Wolfsburg Rennsport.

_WRS

This is who we want to win (in GT)

So we have 3 out of 4 classes with Wolfsburg Rennsport-connected cars running in this weekend's Homestead 200 / Grand Prix of Miami. APR in ST and GS, and the Grant Racing / 901 shop entry (because of Lufteknic being on board) in the GT class. Honestly I have to say 3 out of 4 is ideal, cause even if I knew someone running a Daytona Prototype, I'd never admit it...

http://www.grand-am.com for more. GT / DP class runs live (actually live, not tape delayed) tomorrow at 5pm on Speed TV.

_WRS

Pic post: Saving my pennies

Simple, clean, red. A coupe. This is pretty much all I want in a 911. Older model, coupe, probably CIS (if there's one thing I am, it's a master of Bosch CIS tuning) and just low enough to look purposeful. Show me a 964 and I'll probably change my tune, but when it comes to what I could (eventually) afford, something like this is what will probably fit the bill. Just not this amazingly clean.

_WRS

Porsche pic post, gigantor sized

The other day I received an email from Josh of some super, super old slide scans from back in the day. We're talking VW scene circa 1993. It may as well be an art exhibit this stuff is so cool. Vintage, amazing, awesome stuff. BUT he made me promise not to post any of it until he is done scanning all of them.



So, I decided to dust off my scanner and finish doing a job I started a few months back, which is scanning in the remainder of the pictures I took at the 2000 Daytona 24 hours. Some of these I had scanned in and posted about previously, but many I had not. Some of those pictures which I already posted I have re-scanned and uploaded to Flickr in a larger size. There are still some left behind, but not many.

Before...

After...

For this round I concentrated on the Porsche pics, as this race was an extremely significant one with regards to modern Porsche race cars. This was the big introduction of the 996 GT3R, the first water cooled customer GT from Porsche, and one which started the championship winning tradition of the GT3 R / RSR which is still going strong today.

Before...(remember this car when you see the last picture)

Although Porsche did take first through third in the GTU (aka GT2) category, it was not without casualties. Renowned for their reliability, most of the new GT3R's were anything but. Apparently the new sand-cast crankcases were not cleaned before assembly, resulting in sand running through the engines' cooling systems and clogging various key passageways and waterpumps, causing failure, after failure, after failure. Some managed to escape, but not many. To say they most all looked the worse for wear is an understatement...



Robert from Lufteknic was crewing for the number 81 G&W Motorsports car, with an all-star driver line up they were over 10 laps ahead up until around 7:30 am, when the old engine went boom and that was all she wrote.

Before...

Diagnosis...

Prognosis...

Robert is also the man behind GT3R.com, which will continue to grow into a reference for years to come. After all, these old 996s are practically vintage now and it would make sense to begin a chassis database to track where all these incredible machines have ended up.



One of the prototype GT3Rs was in attendance, (Number 7 Redbull sponsored) and made it through the night without any serious problems, at least not from the engine. This model used a prototype 3.2 liter unit, essentially a 962 / GT1 motor but with high compression and optimized for a non turbo application. Obviously this one avoided the sand issue.



For me, this is almost the ultimate example of a true GT racer. Highly modified for the track, yet still retaining many of the clues from the street car which it is based upon. And perhaps best of all, no "driver aids" as they call them.



No sequential gearbox, no ABS, and no traction control. This is a car which took real skill in piloting around the banks of Daytona at 175mph. With everyone looking to make racing cheaper these days, how about that? Take off all the fancy electronics and the let the drivers duke it out with real skill.



Anyways, like I said all the new uploads are over in the Flickr account in mondo-size, so please feel free to go over and take a peek at some of Porsche Motorsport history....

Wolfsburg Rennsport FLICKR set.

_WRS

After....

The other Wolfsburg RS Project: Blaksquirrel's Mk5 GTI

I'm still waiting on my A59 info, so I figured I would officially introduce Blaksquirrel's Mk5 GTI 2.0t daily driver as a WRS project. Josh has owned this particular Candy White GTI since it was new in 2006, and has had a bunch of stuff done over the years, including Vogtland coilovers, APR ECU upgrade, full 3" turbo back exhaust, Forge Motorsport Twintercooler, Diverter, Carbonio intake, all that good stuff.

The biggest visual change to the car, and the one we'll be focusing on here, was the addition of a set of Hartmann Lamborghini Gallardo replica wheels (Model G5) in 19x8", et42. The more aggressive offset (for a Mk5 anyways) of this early set never made it into production, so if you want this same stance, you'll need to run some 5mm spacers on the 47mm offset they offer. Just be prepared to do some fender clearancing to accommodate the tires. The G5's are relatively light for being big 19x8" rollers by the way, and have held up really well to the abuse.

So the 215/35 R19 Dunlops that J had been running ended up bubbled and in poor shape thanks to the combination of having practically no side wall, and running on typically poor New York / New Jersey highway surfaces. Josh ran the wheels in silver for a while, and although they looked good, it just didn't have enough "pop."

With the tires in need of replacement anyway, we decided to head down to Lufteknic and take the time to catch up with Robert and get the wheels freshened up with a coat of gloss black paint and some 225/35 Dunlop Direzza Sport Max tires. Once the tires were off Josh got to washing, washing, and then washing again, before scuffing the surface for the spray.

No turning back now!


The finished product, up close. This fitment is without any spacers or anything, fills the arches perfectly!


I think it made a huge difference in the looks of the car. The slightly larger tires fill up the fenders more completely, and the black wheels really tie together the black trim around the bottom of the car and the "shield" grill, whereas before it seemed out of place. They have the added benefit of making the car look about 100 times more aggressive and moody.

Special thanks to Robert and the crew at Lufteknic for the additional help and support, now and in years past. Maybe if Robert finds the time in between GT3RS engine rebuilds and his top secret panel van project, he can get his Mk2 Jetta finished up and we can make room for it here on the site. (Just kidding Robert, I know you've got bigger fish to fry!)

_WRS