Porsche 911 Turbo Air Cooled Years 1975
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www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting report back Published: 23rd March 2018 By: Glen Smale Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/goodwood-76th-members-meeting-report-back/ Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: #58 Porsche 935 K3 (1980) driven by Urs Beck in the Group 5 ‘Special Production’ event over the weekend I know that motor racing circuits around the UK are renowned for being cold places, and that’s because many of them were built around airfields following World War II. So, open and flat places they tend to be, and this of course offers zero protection from the elements. Activities surrounding this last weekend’s 76th Members’ Meeting at the Goodwood Motor Circuit certainly lived up to that open and exposed reputation, as the ‘Mini Beast from the East’ descended on the UK once again. www.porscheroadandrace.com The Members’ Meeting has now become a favourite on the annual historic motorsport calendar, because this offers racing enthusiasts the opportunity to get up close and personal with some iconic race cars, drivers and other well-known personalities. Although there were many, varied and different race cars present over the weekend, we have, for obvious reasons, focussed our report around Porsche cars only. www.porscheroadandrace.com Arriving at the circuit on Friday, you could have been forgiven for questioning the weather forecasters who told us that both Saturday and Sunday would bring snow. Friday afternoon was nippy (it is March after all) but clear with blue skies. That afternoon, the teams and drivers spent their time setting up their cars and laying out tool boxes and gear, and being a Friday, there weren’t that many spectators milling about. www.porscheroadandrace.com A very pleasant surprise though, was witnessing the one and only street-legal 935 being discharged from its transporter, this being (originally) built for Mansour Ojjeh in 1983, whose company Techniques d’Avant Garde (TAG), had entered into partnership with McLaren to develop a Formula 1 engine. This led Ojjeh to Porsche’s front door, and they were only too happy to make a one-off, street-legal 935 for this important customer. On Friday, this car was unloaded in the Goodwood paddock to serve as the course car to lead the Group 5 race cars out onto the track over the weekend. www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: Porsche 935 Street (1983) built for Mansour Ojjeh, Chief Executive of TAG Race 1 – Ronnie Hoare Trophy www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: #35 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS (1964) driven by Rainer Becker during practice for the Ronnie Hoare Trophy Practice for the Ronnie Hoare Trophy commenced at 09h00 on Saturday morning, the first real action of the day. Running in this event were no fewer than fourteen Porsches, consisting of: a single 901, five 911s and eight 904s. www.porscheroadandrace.com When the Porsche 904 (or Carrera GTS as it was officially known) was first produced in 1964, it was intended that the car would be powered by the all-new 2-litre, 6-cylinder engine that was fitted to the 911. However, the new production 6-cylinder engine was not yet ready for serious competition, and so an uprated version of the 4-cam, 4-cylinder Carrera engine (Type 587) was installed in the 904. In fact, in its lifetime, the 904 would be powered by three different engines, the 4-cylinder Carrera engine, the 2-litre 6-cylinder unit from the 911, and an 8-cylinder 2-litre engine as well. The 904 Carrera GTS would serve the company and its many customer teams very well, during the 1964 and 1965 seasons. www.porscheroadandrace.com This 20-minute race catered for Sports and GT cars that raced internationally between 1963 and 1966, and for purposes of this event, were mostly around 2-litre capacity. The winning car in Race 1 was the #98 Porsche 904 driven by James Cottingham, although the spectators were just drinking in all the action, from the front to the back of the field. www.porscheroadandrace.com Race 8 – Moss Trophy Race 8, the Moss Trophy, was the next race to feature any Porsches. The Moss Trophy was a 45-minute 2-driver race for GT cars of a type that raced at Goodwood between 1960-1962. This class offered the spectators a rich variety of race cars from an Aston Martin DB4GT, Ferrari 250 SWB ‘Breadvan’, E-type Jaguar, AC Cobra, to the iconic Porsche 356. There were two 356s in this race, the first a 1953 model in white with a green nose, which is seen quite frequently in historic races in the UK. The other car was a 1960 356 Super 90 model, well turned out in silver. Both cars put in an excellent performance. www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: #6 Porsche 356 (1953) of Sam Tordoff/Tim Sugden powers past the pits during practice for the Moss Trophy The speed differential between the front and the rear of the grid was quite substantial, and in the damp and cold conditions, the going was quite exciting. Most of the competitors in this race were driving front-engined, rear-wheel drive cars, which made for a lot of tail twitching as the cars exited corners and put the power down. www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: #18 Porsche 356 Super 90 (1960) speeds past the pits in the hands of Gareth Burnett during practice for the Moss Trophy Race 11 – Gurney Cup The next race featuring Porsche cars, was Race 11, the Gurney Cup. This was a 20-minute race for sports racing prototypes that raced between 1960 and 1966. Remembering the late great Dan Gurney, the class featured cars of the type in which he competed back in the day and included several Ford GT40s, Lotus-Fords, McLarens and many more. www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: #12 Porsche 906 (1966) driven by Armin Zumtobel during practice for the Gurney Cup Of interest to Porsche Road & Race was of course the contingent of Porsche prototypes which included three 906s and two 910s. The 906 and 910 were very similar in appearance and construction, and both were powered by a race-tuned version of the production 2-litre 6-cylinder engine that was fitted to the roadgoing 911 of the day. A 2.2-litre 8-cylinder engine was used in the 910 in certain events, but for endurance road racing, it was the 2- litre 6-cylinder engine that was mainly used. www.porscheroadandrace.com Following in the footsteps of the 904, these race cars formed the vanguard of what are referred to as the ‘plastic’ Porsches (I hate that term), but they laid the foundation for the 907, 908 and 917 which followed. In excess of 100 of the 904s were produced, and a total of around 107 of the 906 and 910 models were built. The 906 and 910 prototypes were raced extensively around the world (along with the 904) and due to their widespread success, these race cars went a long way to raising the company’s international profile in competition. Group 5 ‘Special Production’ www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: #5 Porsche 935 K3 (1980) chassis no. 935 000 00013 driven here by Paul Knapton for the owner Henrik Lindberg, in the Group 5 Special Production high speed demonstration run It goes without saying that many spectators had come to see the Group 5 racers. Called Group 5 ‘Special Production’, these cars formed back in the mid-70s, what was also known as the ‘silhouette class’ in that they were supposed to resemble the production cars that they were based on. There was, however, very little in common between these potent all-out racers and their roadgoing siblings. Sprouting seriously wide front and rear fenders to accommodate ultra-large rubber, these cars were also fitted with an extravagant rear wing and front air dam to help keep the car on the road. The cars were also lowered by around 120mm, as every external facet of the bodywork was geared towards maximum aerodynamic efficiency. www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: #25 Porsche 935 K3/81 negotiates Madgwick during the Group 5 Special Production high speed demonstration run on Saturday afternoon All-in-all, there were nine Porsche 935s at Goodwood for the 76th Members’ Meeting, including four 935 K3s, two 935/77As, two ‘standard’ 935s and of course the 935/78, or Moby Dick as it is known. In addition to this, the Porsche Museum had sent one of the 1980 924 GTPs to do duty on the weekend. These cars all participated in the Group 5 high-speed demonstration run, which was nothing short of awesome. Due to the number of Group 5 cars assembled, they had to be split into two 10-minute heats on Saturday, and two again on the Sunday. www.porscheroadandrace.com Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting, 17/18 March 2018: #2 Porsche 924 GTP (1980) driven by Dan Harper in the Group 5 Special Production high speed demonstration run on Saturday afternoon Most of the 935s ran with taped up front radiators, and this was to try to get some heat into the engine which would otherwise have been difficult for three reasons: firstly, because of the slower speeds the cars were being driven at; secondly, because of the very low temperatures; and thirdly, simply because the cars only had ten minutes of track time on each run.