Porsche 959 Gallery at Jalopnik

Jalopnik just posted a very interesting look at the inside of the Porsche 959 factory, way back in the 80's. The 959 was a one of a kind and at the time, seemed the very pinnacle of automotive performance and achievement. By today's standards it's simply a very low production sports car with all wheel drive, with performance easily bested by a number of cars. Back then it was a technological force of nature, and one which was posted on many a child's bedroom wall, along with the Ferrari F40 or maybe the Lamborgini Countach. True legends in their own time. (I'd still take a 959 or an F40...the Lambo? Not so interested thanks...)

Check out the full gallery over at Jalopnik.

_WRS

A Second Look: Roy Lichtenstein 320i Group 5

I was really taken with the Roy Lichtenstein Group 5 320i that was on display a couple weeks back here in NYC. It combines a lot of elements I love...underdog status, big turbocharged power from a diminutive 4-cylinder engine, boxy and extreme aerodynamics...plus things I don't typically associate with Le Mans racers. i.e. a world famous artist.

Seeing these cars inside of the elegant confines of Grand Central Terminal really brought them to life in a way that other settings might not have. Grand Central feels enough like an art gallery as it is, so it wasn't much of a stretch to appreciate them as such.

Be sure to stop on over to the WRS Flickr page to check out a bunch of additional pictures, in addition to this shown here....enjoy! I will also add a section of desktop sized / resolution images to the account pretty soon, so if anyone has a favorite let me know and I'll get them loaded in the near future.

_WRS

Giant vintage pic post: More of Daytona Y2K

By request: I went ahead and scanned in a portion of the Daytona Rolex 24 Y2K pics that I've been sitting on for about, oh, the last nine years. I kept it mainly to the Porsches, along with the only two (only two? WTF was I thinking?) BMW E36 M3 pictures that I took that weekend. I have a decent selection of WSC cars to scan - or whatever it was that Grand Am was calling them that year- include a good number of Ferrari 333sp's, some Lola's, and the Cadillac's. Not too many of those, they were pretty tight with security around the garage area, but most everyone else didn't mind you wandering about as long as you stayed out of their way.

I have to apologize again for the lack of Volkswagen content here, but I've always been a fan of sports car racing, and although VW did have some participation in Le Mans in the early aughts (which I will cover) they haven't done much else. And why not post a selection of the bazillion pics I have? I certainly haven't seen many others out there from this era. Being pre super-cheap digital camera and what-not. Be sure to go to my Flickr page for the full range of scans...WAY more than what will be posted here...

A common sight that Sunday morning:

More of the G&W team's bad luck. We arrived at exactly the perfect time to catch the car being towed into the garage area.
Before the race:
After the race:
And just to show I didn't just take pictures of Porsches
More to come! Have a good weekend everybody.

_WRS

Vintage Picture Post - Y2K Rolex 24

Years ago, my buddy Kevin and I hit the road on a very last-minute trip to check out the Rolex 24 at Daytona. I had been wanting to go for years....my obsession with all things sports car related was showing no signs of slowing, and after watching almost all of the televised portions of the LeMans 24 the year before (1998), I had little choice. I needed to experience something similar, in real time. Adding to this draw was the fact that my good friend Robert (now owner of Lufteknic in Richmond, VA) was working for G&W Porsche that year, ensuring we would get a bit of a behind the scenes view whenever he had a spare second...which was not often.
Y2K was the year that the GT3R first came out, and although Daytona was crawling with the first-ever watercooled 911 street racer, they were not so reliable. G&W's own brand new car was running third in leading their class up to around 7:30 a.m., then boom. Oil, coolant, everywhere. Retired. They had quite the all-star driving team for that car, including Darren Law, Uwe Alzen and Patrick and Duncan Huisman, so they really could have had a shot at the class win.
With so many of the faster GT3R's expiring, the Jennifer Fund 993 RSR stayed reliable, stayed on track, and managed a 3rd in class finish. Robert and the team were kind enough to let us check it out. I even got to crawl inside and check it out from the pilot's perspective, which was (and still is) pretty cool. Less than an hour after this car ran the 24 and finished on the podium I got to sit inside and make racing noises, that sort of kid stuff. Good times.
The Roock racing team was running in GT2, but this was the era of the Viper domination, so they didn't win, but it was an awesome car nontheless. More pics to come, plus a report from the 2002 race, where the Jennifer Fund 911 did not fare quite as well...

Until next time...

_WRS

More pics, Racing Porsches

This series of pictures was shot at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, during a Porsche Club of America track day. The main feature was Geoffrey Ring's 964 RSR replica (based on a Euro Carrera Cup racecar). The pics were run as a few monthly installments in Total 911 Magazine (UK). The car itself was amazing in every possible way, and unbelievably it was Mr. Ring's first car project...!





While I was there, I couldn't help but take a few more pictures of the various 911's getting a workout.


-BS

PS We are working on making the blog look better, so bear with things if you see some differences in the pictures, etc.

Hans-Joachim Stuck interview on Ausringers

The Nurburgring is probably the most talked about race circuit in the world these days. With everyone from GM to Nissan, Porsche to Dodge and who knows who else using it as the benchmark test -nevermind that it's all self-reported and more or less worthless- a car's "Ring time" has become quite the buzz word for any performance car.

Hans-Joachim Stuck should be synonymous with the 'Ring for any person who claims to be into four-wheeled vehicles (and if not, shame on you, go read some history books and then come back) and AUSringers has a killer interview with the man himself. A legend for many reasons, he is know for being particularly adept at driving in the rain, hence his nick name the "Rainmaster" ("Regenmeister" for those who speak Deutsch).

HJS became one of my most favorite drivers when I watched him on television at the 12 hours of Sebring race sometime in the late 90's. It was a particularly stormy race, and Hans was behind the wheel of a Porsche 993 GT2 twin turbo. Not only was there a torrential downpour...one of those Sebring storms that makes you wonder how anyone is driving at any speed resembeling fast...but Stuck was actually making up time and passing much faster cars. All the while the windows were fogging up in the worst way, making visibility pretty much zero. Stuck was driving around the track, sliding and making corrections one-handed, while trying to wipe off the windshield so he could see. I'll never forget the in-car footage on the backstretch, through turn 17, down the start / finish. If only I could find that on youtube and post it up...

Anyways, I can't seem to find any decent pictures of one of those GT2's on the track...there seems to be a bit of a vortex swallowing them up, but I have a couple I'll scan in later. At any rate, they were bad ass, no other way to put it.
So to finally get to the point, VW Motorsport now has Herr Stuck on the payroll, and he'll be once again piloting a Scirocco GT24 at this years Nurnburgring 24. Check out the interview over at AUSringers, it's well worth reading. While you're over there you can download an awesome desktop sized version of the image at the top of the post. Do it now!

AUSringers HJS Interview

_WRS

Back on track: Jetta TDi Cup for 2009

The 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup is ready to roll out of the gate this month at nearby Virginia International Raceway on April 24th. They're supporting the Grand Am series for this event, which is not as cool as the ALMS events, but cooler than the NASCAR ARCA series. Unfortunately I'll be in VA just a bit too early to attend...the weekend prior...and making a 10 hour drive just for the opener just isn't going to happen.
The rest of the year is also out of reach, except for the event in New Jersey. The old NASCAR cars are the headliner there, which is beyond disappointing to me, but I don't think it's enough of a nail in the coffin to make the WRS crew (that'd be all two of us) from not making the trip. If things go as planned, we should have a very, very inside look for everybody.
As far as a racing series goes, I think the TDI cup is very exciting, but honestly I'm not big on any one-make series. I mean, if every car is the same model from the same brand, they can never really lose a race. That said, it's a series full of hungry young drivers that have to lay it all on the line in order to get a win, and more importantly, maybe get noticed by a team in another series. (ALMS perhaps?) Plus, since it's VW and they're actually doing something in motorsport inside the USA no less, I'm all for it. I hope we can continue to enjoy the TDI series for a long time to come!

_WRS

2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Schedule

• Round 1 & 2 April 24 - 26 VIRginia International Raceway - Grand-Am - Alton, Va
• Round 3 May 15 - 17 Miller Motorsports Park ALMS - Salt Lake City, Utah
• Round 4 June 19 - 21 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Grand-Am - Lexington, Ohio
• Round 5 July 24 - 26 Autobahn Country Club Atlantics - Chicago, Ill.
• Round 6 Aug. 14 - 16 Road America ALMS - Elkhart Lake, Wis.
• Round 7 Aug. 28 - 30 Mosport International Raceway ALMS - Mosport, Ontario (Canada)
• Round 8 & 9 Sept. 11 - 13 New Jersey Motorsports Park ARCA - Millville, NJ
• Round 10 Sept. 25 - 27 Road Atlanta ALMS - Braselton, Ga.