Duel 26/10/05 15:48 Page 96 Duel purpose Anyone with an early-1960s’ 911 who fancies a back-to-back standoff with one of Duel’s creations had better think very carefully. Ed Poland, proprietor of Dutch Engine Laboratories – Duel for short – has the tuning and race-preparation of

these classic Porsches down to a fine art Story by Johnny Tipler; photographs by Peter Robain

o hint of double Dutch here. Duel - Heerhugoward, 20 minutes north of Ed Poland started Duel in 1990, and has short for Dutch Engine Laboratories - Amsterdam, and specialises in P orsche spent the last 10 years of the 15 years since Nputs its money where its mouth is, engines, and flat-sixes in particular. It’s not then concentrating on 911s. ‘I like the old- preparing Porsche 911s for C&C Motorsport easy to miss: on arrival, a startling time Porsches,’ he enthuses. ‘They’re works (class winners in the Dutch Classic Touring psychedelic mixture of colours greeted of art.’ Before that he worked for a company Car series in 2004), while Duel’s boss, Ed photographer Robain and your that built racing engines for Formula Vee Poland, and his colleagues campaign a pair correspondent, with a bright-orange 914-6 racing cars. He takes a thorough approach of early 911s in European classic endurance and a silver 911S rally car staged in front of to car preparation. ‘I prefer to do the events. the firm’s bright-yellow and mirror-glass complete package,’ he said. ‘If you just Duel is based on an industrial estate at façade. build the engine and the car crashes,

96 December 2005 911 & PORSCHE WORLD Duel 26/10/05 15:48 Page 97

Dutch Engine Laboratories

maybe the engine doesn’t emerge intact, time to restore a particularly special car it classic Porsches, which included a 2.4-litre and that’s a waste. That doesn’t work for was transported to Holland for Duel to 911S and a pair of short-wheelbase 2.0-litre me. If I prepare the whole car and handle the restoration. race cars. These were in addition to Ed something goes wrong, I can say it’s my In fact, this is the 911 driven by 1968 Poland’s ‘hobby’ cars: a couple of Lola own fault.’ European Rally Champion Pauli Toivonen T450 F2 single-seaters from 1976, and a Poland studied mechanical engineering (father of the late Henri - see sidebar). There Lola T390 sports prototype under to NTSC level at technical college. were two sister cars, one of which was construction. ‘We can’t earn a living from Everything else he’s learned from practical essentially a rally car for Toivonen, the other these,’ he jokes. ‘They’re just for having experience, and he’s upbeat about a circuit racer for (see the fun.’ Probably just as well: Lolas weren’t mechanical innovation. ‘If I want to try accompanying 1960s’ Brands Hatch even so much as a blip on the F2 radar that something new, I’m thinking about it day snapshot), with Waldegard and Larrousse season, dominated as it was by French and night figuring out how to make it better.’ also taking turns at the wheel. The Elford drivers in -powered Elf and Martini The company grew out of Ed’s passion car, as far as Ed knows, is in the USA. We’ll chassis. for motorsport. ‘I started with Formula Vee return to the Toivonen car later. At the back of the garage is the rolling- cars - real racing cars,’ he says. ‘Then I Other Porsches come from Belgium and road, alongside which is the engine and began to work on Porsches. They Germany, but not, as yet, from the UK, gearbox workshop. This has the air of a performed well in the Dutch championships, although the four-hour crossing courtesy of college technical laboratory, with and many customers expressed interest in Stena’s HSS jetfoil shouldn’t be a disassembled flat-sixes and 915 having a similar car , so we started to disincentive. ‘W e’d like it if people did come transmissions on the benches or free- prepare cars for them, too.’ over from England,’ says Ed. ‘But there are standing trestles. Many of Duel’s clients come from several UK specialists doing the same sort Duel is one of the foremost exponents of outside the Netherlands, particularly of thing as us, like Autofarm and Francis Porsche restoration, engine rebuild and Scandinavia. In fact, the first customer came Tuthill, so there’s competition from them.’ race-rally preparation in the Netherlands. from Finland via the website, and went on to In Duel’s workshop was a Carrera 3.0 The company handles all aspects, from win no fewer than 30 rallies in a row using and a Carrera 2.7 RS, along with a more mechanicals to bodywork, sourcing and Duel-built engines. The car was sponsored modern Carrera 3.2. Tucked away in the supply of parts, and provides at-circuit by Porsche Finland, so logically when the inner sanctum was a treasure trove of support for customers. It also specialises in

911 & PORSCHE WORLD December 2005 97 Duel 26/10/05 15:48 Page 98

Caption to go here Caption to go here Caption to go here Caption to go here Caption to go heCaption to go heCaption to go heCaption to go here

Deferential wine the Xxxxxxxx xxxx edition. Call 01737 Appropriately enough Duel’s racing 911s 814311 to order back issues.) He spun off are backed by Bernardus ‘Ben’ Pon, who on oil and was thrown out of the cockpit, comes from Amersfoort in Holland and is luckily without injury. the son of the original Volkswagen Thereafter he raced sports and GT concessionaire in the Netherlands. Porsches including a 911 and Carrera 6 for Pon was a highly successful P orsche Racing T eam Holland until he retired at the sports-car racer in the early 1960s and end of 1965 to concentrate on his wine drove a works-loaned four-cylinder Porsche business. Pon represented Holland in clay- for Count Carel Godin de Beaufort’s Ecurie pigeon shooting at the Olympic Games in Maarsbergen team in the 1962 Dutch Grand 1972, but today he’s best known for his Prix at Zandvoort. (More on de Beaufort in Bernardus W inery in Carmel, California.

tracking down hard-to-find race or rally Duel system is supplied in open-exhaust upshot is that the engine and gearbox have parts, particularly for rare vehicles like the format, with the silencer and all bracketry a longer lifespan, a bonus for endurance 911R, RS, RSR and ST . ‘W e keep a certain needed to install it. racing. amount in stock,’ says Poland, ‘and if we Another key area where Duel has found For road use Duel will happily install haven’t got it on the shelf , we will certainly scope for improvements is in carburation. bigger valves and enlarge the intake ports, find it.’ Early 911s used what were effectively six finding another 20-30bhp, bringing output Duel has developed several special parts separate Solex carburetors. ‘It was a hell of up to 220 or 230bhp. But for competition for older Porsches, notably an exhaust a system,’ says Ed. ‘It didn’t last for even a work - within the regulations, at least - the system. Designed for the 2.0-litre engine, it year, though, and very quickly Porsche went cars have to run with normal-size ports and lifts the power band from between 3000 and over to Webers.’ valves. For long distance events like the 6000rpm to 5000 and 8500rpm. Nothing Drivers of Historic pre-1965 P orsches Spa 6-Hours they also run with 100-litre fuel much happens below 5000rpm, concedes soon became aware of the inefficiencies of tanks. Poland, but the system releases an extra the Solex carburettors, and on race and It’s not just the 911 driveline that Duel 20bhp. It’s claimed to work brilliantly , and rally engines they’re notorious for resulting has tackled. F or better handling the forms an important part of Duel’s business. in excessive fuel consumption. Duel company has developed a fully adjustable In response to decreasing noise modifies the carbs and intake manifold and, suspension-damper kit to fit 911s from 1965 tolerance at European circuits, Duel also in conjunction with the exhaust system, the to 1975. These are available for race and designed the exhaust so the car can be result is claimed to be a very broad power rally, or simply street use. Says Poland: ‘We driven either with or without a silencer - to band. make them here ourselves. A short- be truthful, it’s more of a shroud - which still ‘W e now run our competition engines on wheelbase 911 is quite tricky through long, produces more power than the megaphone- full-race camshafts without sacrificing power fast corners. You can adjust the damper based systems favoured by the factory. in the mid-range. And because of the broad settings so it drives like a long-wheelbase ‘At certain points on the graph our power band we get better fuel consumption. car , and you can change the settings from exhaust showed a power increase of 35 per Crucially , the cams produce 20bhp more at circuit to circuit. W e also make longer units cent against the best of the silenced race 5000 rpm, which continues to build as the for because the car’s ride height is cans or after-market exhausts we’ve tested revs rise to 8000 or 9000rpm. You end up higher.’ on our dyno,’ claims Poland. ‘At most with the top-end performance of a race car Duel’s own racing Porsches are a pair of circuits in Europe you can’t make too much and the torque of a road car.’ identical red 911s, sponsored by Ben Pon, noise,’ he adds, ‘so we put a damper on it There’s a beneficial knock -on effect for one of the original 911 protagonists in the which fits neatly around the rearmost the transmission, too: ‘We can build longer Netherlands (see sidebar). These cars can section of pipework. As a result it’s quieter gears into our gearboxes,’ says Ed, ‘which only be described as gorgeous. One’s from and there’s no loss of horsepower .’ The means the driver makes fewer shifts.’ The 1964, the other from 1965, and both are

98 December 2005 911 & PORSCHE WORLD Duel 26/10/05 15:48 Page 99

Dutch Engine Laboratories

Caption to go here Caption to go here Caption to go here Caption to go here Caption to go heCaption to go heCaption to go heCaption to go here

fitted with 2.0-litre engines. Their original the gears. Soon enough the revs rose to rounds at Zolder, and Spa in Belgium. But 130bhp output has been increased to earplug threshold. we don’t do anything in the UK yet.’ By the 204bhp at 8000rpm. I stared spellbound at the readout on the time you read this Duel will almost certainly Duplicating such a machine is fairly monitor as the revs soared and the output have won the 2005 Dutch championship standard procedure, until you come to the was registered; an impressive 8000rpm - with one of its red cars. mechanicals. Duel finds a basic car, strips it and 205bhp! It begged the question, ‘When Duel 911s are built to extremely high to a bare shell, removes all the rotten parts, can we see it in action?’ Had we been standards, in contrast to the school of seam-welds it, and then rebuilds it as a race around the following weekend we could thought that believes a racing car just has car. As Ed says, ‘We rebuild everything from have followed Duel’s exploits at Zolder. to function as efficiently as possible in an the engine, gearbox and suspension to the ‘We’re doing quite well in the national environment where it’s likely to get brakes. Everything is installed to meet the Historic racing scene,’ says Ed modestly . damaged. P oland puts it like this: ‘When homologation requirements of a1965 car .’ ‘W e didn’t enter all the races last year you are asking a lot of money from I marveled at the complexity of the because of the time schedule, but we customers, they want to see something as detailing in these racing 911s: the side finished the Spa 6-Hours in seventh place close to perfection as possible. So we window openings, the air vents in the rear- out of 120 starters.’ The Porsche 911 isn’t a spend a lot of time making things look three-quarter windows, and the roll-cage: car for sprint races, compared to the Alfa perfect. more complex than anything used at the Romeo GTA or Lotus Cortina. But if you ‘Sure, it has to work mechanically, but its time, but crucially still managing to appear have it set up right the Porsche will run for presentation must be perfect, too.’ To in-period. six, 12 or 24 hours. ‘If they have gas they reproduce one of the red 911s would cost in The meaty -looking steel wheels are will run - unlike the other cars we just the region of 100,000 euros. That’s standard-issue 15-inch-diameter pressings, mentioned. They are finished!’ enthuses comparable with what the leading UK which Duel has widened with 5.5-inch rims. Poland specialists would charge to construct a The main reason for this is so they can run Duel employs three drivers for long- classic 911 race or rally car . tubeless tyres; early narrow F uchs alloys distance events like Spa, and for four -hour Poland is concerned with authenticity , won’t support tubeless tyres. races there’s usually just one driver change. but is prepared to make improvements Ed offered to put one of the 911 race ‘You can drive every weekend if you like,’ wherever possible. ‘The problem with cars on the rolling-road. Having thrilled to said Poland. ‘We only do FIA races, but we Historic race cars is that everyone stands the throaty roar of the 2.0-litre flat-six as a cover the whole of Europe, with races at the still. They are always looking in the Porsche race fan during the mid-1960s, I could Nürburgring, Monza, and also in F rance and history books and saying, “That’s what hardly wait for the mechanical cacophony to Spain. Then we do the Dutch you’ve got to do”. But we are 40 years begin. As the engine oil warmed, the championships with races at Zandvoort on further on, so we can do better. Our present mechanic at the helm started to go through the coast and Assen in the east, plus day figures of 200bhp would be unheard of .

911 & PORSCHE WORLD December 2005 99 Duel 26/10/05 15:48 Page 100

Contacts book Duel (Dutch Engine Laboratories) Celsiusstraat 18, 1704 RW Heerhugowaard, Holland; +31 (0)72 572 6000; e-mail: [email protected]; website: www.duel.nl

C&C Motorsport www.ccmotorsport.nl

Dutch Championship for Historic Touring and GT cars www.nkhtgt.nl

Stena Line www.stenaline.co.uk

does this pic need a caption??

They were getting maybe180 or perhaps worldwide.’ Indeed, P oland sourced the they know what they want - or you can 185bhp back then.’ special Mahle 906 racing pistons for the advise them and they know what you’re Three young men are employed full-time Toivonen car from Kuwait. talking about.’ at Duel, with another on college work If Duel has specific questions about a Lastly, Ed took us to see the stripped experience. As well as hands-on jobs, their particular car it calls the factory and a shell of the T oivonen car in their bodyshop tasks include writing computer programmes Porsche rep comes out to advise. They just up the road. When found it had spent to evaluate scenarios, such as what kind of sometimes ask for the homologation 20 years rallying in the Finnish forests, and exhaust is needed for a particular papers, which is no problem. ‘That’s the was in a terrible state. It even had a application, and the result is tested on a nice thing about Porsche. They know turbocharger fitted, with vast wheelarches dyno to see if it works in practice. everything about these cars. When you give and a big wing to match. ‘We had to rebuild Two of them were hard at work in the the chassis number they tell you when it to how it was in 1968,’ recalls Ed. ‘Where engine shop during our visit, engaged in was delivered, what extras were on it, who the rear wishbones are, everything was the rebuilding of a couple of engines and a delivered it, where it was delivered. They completely cracked, so we made up plates 915 gearbox. The first engine was the 2.0- know everything. Y ou don’t get that with to reinforce it. The front had completely litre T oivonen unit, its heads having valve Ferrari or Lamborghini.’ disintegrated, and we had to use a donor seats ground out, and the transmission was Back on the forecourt we paused to car to provide the doors and the front destined for the same car , waiting for the admire the orange and silver cars. The wings. The rear wings and the roof are gears to be installed. The second engine exceedingly rare 914-6 GT with the flared going to be new because the car was rolled was a 2.7 RS unit for a customer’s car. The wheelarches and lightweight bonnet was a few times.’ rebuilt 2.7 RS heads have new valves and equipped with a 2.7-litre RS engine. Duel It’s nice to have at least some metalwork guides, and the heads were skimmed to had done a complete driveline rebuild, and from the original car, but the only thing keep the deck height exactly the same on the owner and his wife use it simply for worth keeping in this case was the VIN each. ‘They came in as a complete mess,’ pleasure. And what a pleasure it must be! number and the original 100-litre fuel tank. Ed says. The silver 911S had undergone a more There was also a footrest to the left of the Duel carries out all the cylinder-head comprehensive makeover for extensive use clutch pedal and some studs that revealed work on site, including fitting valve guides in classic rallies, for which it’s fitted with where the roll-cage was located. and valve seats, flowing the ports and front and rear skid-plates. It also has bigger ‘W e will copy the original, and with all machining. ‘We start with the standard brakes with Duel-made calipers, plus details correct it will be just as it was in engine, and it takes two weeks of normal Minilite wheels and a more robust 950 1968,’ predicted Poland. ‘The same running work days to complete,’ said Poland. ‘The gearbox to contend with the jumps. ‘The gear, decals, same non-adjustable seats. engine always has special parts in it, so you owner rallies it all over Europe,’ said We are going to do all the paneling and have to look for the parts, or maybe wait for Poland. ‘He just did the Coppa Europa in paintwork here. And Mika Håkkinen is them - or else fabricate them. We want to the French and Swiss Alps, and competes going to drive it when it’s finished.’ You saw use the best pistons, so we have to find the in winter rallies in Austria and Switzerland. it first here, and I for one can’t wait to see 906 [Carrera 6] ones. W e search for those It’s nice to work for serious guys because the Flying Finn in a ‘real’ car . I

100 December 2005 911 & PORSCHE WORLD