www.porscheroadandrace.com Vintage Porsches add German colour in Wine Country Published: 2nd August 2019 By: Kevin Ehrlich Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/vintage-porsches-add-german-colour-in-wine-country/ Gulf Porsche chassis 917-016 Under the welcoming embrace of sunny California skies over wine country, the Sonoma Speed Festival established a new tradition of historic racing at Sonoma Raceway. Held on the first weekend of June, the Festival sought to emphasise quality over quantity with a compelling collection of rare and historically significant race cars and hospitality that made the best of the surrounding locale. www.porscheroadandrace.com Line-up of iconic Porsche racers The event was previously known as the Wine Country Classic before new management took over responsibility and kicked off 2019 as the inaugural event with a slightly different focus. The clear message with the new philosophy is a focus on quality. Racing cars should be period correct and historically significant. Static displays should be unique and interesting. The idea is to provide an event that creates a space where truly special cars roam and owners are encouraged to bring out their gems to share with colleagues and guests. With that in mind, a carefully curated entry list included just under 200 entries across ten racing groups. www.porscheroadandrace.com Line-up of iconic Porsche racers In total, just over two dozen Porsche variants saw action. The roster ranged from the purpose build low production prototypes to converted road cars, from former works cars to privateer efforts, and from race winners with famous drivers in their past to just honest examples of period correct racers. www.porscheroadandrace.com Bruce Canepa’s stunning Porsche 917-015 in the foreground with 917-016 just behind it For example, two private owners brought their Porsche 917 race cars making for a rare pair of Porsche siblings, each in traditional Gulf racing livery. 917-016 competed in 1970 and 1971, including wins at Brands Hatch, Watkins Glen and Monza. The owner has raced it in many vintage events, but has not restored it to showroom condition. The patina makes it a crowd favourite with evident pitting and scrapes on the paintwork, a true race worn hue. Bruce Canepa’s 917-015 won the 1970 Daytona 24 Hour race. A unique design detail is a narrow additional window at the top of the windshield which helped drivers with visibility to see up the steep banking at Daytona. As 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the Porsche 917, it was appropriate to have a pair on hand at the Sonoma Speed Festival to mark the occasion. www.porscheroadandrace.com Gulf Porsche chassis 917-016 Kevin Buckler’s Racers Group operation is located in nearby Petaluma, so the Sonoma Speed Festival was effectively a home race for him. Buckler brought his 2003 Porsche 911 GT3 RS that won the 2003 Daytona 24 Hours both in the GT class and overall. Completing the presentation, Buckler also displayed the Daytona trophies. A 2003 race car might not seem sufficiently ‘vintage’ when cars in other parts of the paddock pre-date computers and cell phones, but 2003 is still more than a decade and a half in the rear-view mirror at this point and the Daytona-winning Porsche deserved the invite. www.porscheroadandrace.com Kevin Buckler’s 2003 Porsche 911 GT3 RS that won the 2003 Daytona 24 Hours both in the GT class and overall Using the Goodwood Festival of Speed as inspiration, organisers arranged the paddock by race groups rather than scattering cars randomly among transporters and trailers. The setting allowed spectators to easily compare and contrast cars of the same era. Owners, drivers and crews seamlessly mingled with temporary neighbours, extending the camaraderie beyond the competition on track. www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche 908/03 powered by an 8-cylinder boxer engine developing 350 bhp in a 545 kg body The groupings made it easy to get a good look at the 1967 908/3 Spyder parked next to the 1970 910 – both made by the same company and only separated by three years, but very different in numerous ways. The brutish open-cockpit 908/3 accomplishes its goals with its eight-cylinder engine and enormous rear tyres across a short wheel base and stubby bodywork. Helpful poster boards with race history and specifications for 908/3-007 recorded that the car was an ex-works racer driven by Vic Elford and one of six built to race in 1970 specifically for the Targa Florio and Nürburgring. The 908, 910 and 917 entries shared class space with distinguished competition such as a pair of Ford GT40 models and a pair of Ferrari 312PB models. www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche 908/03 at speed www.porscheroadandrace.com The Porsche 910 was powered by a 6-cylinder boxer engine, similar to that which was fitted to the 911 road cars Group ten was all about big fender flares, big tyres, big wings and big engines. Almost half of the field was Porsche powered. A Kremer K3 tangled with Porsche 935s and RSRs. While the Porsche badge on the hood may have been the same, the variations were endless. Unique aero designs, wildly varying race histories, striking liveries, and different headlight treatments made for a visual treat. The parade of Porsches diced among a stellar class including notable 1970s racers such as the Ferrari 512 BBLM, a quick Chevrolet Camaro, several BMWs and a pair of Dekon Mazdas. www.porscheroadandrace.com The awesome Kremer Porsche 935 K3/80 Organisers worked their magic to weave Porsches of other eras into the mix. A timeless 356 Speedster with decades of privateer racing history in period and in subsequent vintage events showed a windshield full of event stickers from prior outings. Only 20 Abarth-Carrera GTL examples were made originally – a lesser known footnote of Porsche racing history that extended the racing life of the 356. Two runners from 1960 and 1961 were on hand, showing the Italian bodywork and racing with the benefit of more robust four-cylinder engines and weight-saving measures. www.porscheroadandrace.com 1974 Kremer Porsche RSR www.porscheroadandrace.com A 356 Speedster with a windshield full of event stickers from prior outings Oddities such as the Bobsy Porsche were on hand – a 1964 home-made racer with an open- cockpit chassis mated to a 6-cylinder Porsche engine designed to run in SCCA. Many were made, but apparently, the orange and blue liveried example on the entry was the only complete example in existence. The 1955 Cooper with a Porsche engine, affectionately known as the ‘Pooper,’ helped demonstrate the days of racing when engines, gearboxes, chassis and bodies were swappable like a tinker toy play set. John Cooper mounted the Porsche engine behind the driver at a time that most race cars put the virtual horse before the cart. www.porscheroadandrace.com The #42 Kremer Porsche 935 K3/80 was driven by Rolf Stommelen, Axel Plankenhorn and Tetsu Ikuzawa in the 1980 24 Heures du Mans. Although they qualified third on the grid, the car retired after 167 laps with a blown head gasket The mighty 917 isn’t the only Porsche celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019. Fans of the 914 platform enjoyed a full-fendered black 914-6 GTU racer equipped with sufficient Andial 2.5-litre twin plug power to give its 935 and RSR classmates a serious challenge. www.porscheroadandrace.com Bruce Canepa’s stunning #2 Porsche 917-015 won the 1970 Daytona 24 Hour race In all, 26 Porsches and Porsche-powered cars were scattered through the extensive entry list, making for the largest presence of any marque. Beyond the Porsche entries, the paddock bristled with other gems. For example, open wheel racing was well represented with an Indy 500 winner. In 1965, Jimmy Clark took a combination of a Lotus chassis and Ford engine to claim the Indy 500 win. Clark was dominant, leading 190 of 200 laps. Ford took the car and used it for publicity before turning it over to the Henry Ford Museum who brought it to the Sonoma Speed Festival. The rear-engine eight-cylinder platform was a significant historical pivot point for the Indianapolis 500, marking the end of four-cylinder front-engine configurations. www.porscheroadandrace.com The striking Moretti ‘MOMO’ Porsche 935 A major headline for the inaugural Sonoma Speed Festival was a trio of racing Silver Arrows. One garage housed a 1939 Mercedes Benz W154 grand prix car, a 2016 Mercedes W07 Formula One car and a 1954 Mercedes Benz W196 Streamliner. While the Festival was a ‘historic’ event, the contemporary Formula One car was a huge crowd favourite and a very rare opportunity to see a modern Formula One car at speed. Fifteen members of the Mercedes Formula One team stopped by Sonoma on their way from Monaco en route to Canada to run the ex-Lewis Hamilton race-winning 2016 W07 hybrid in four demonstration sessions. Test driver Esteban Gutierrez found pace at Sonoma quickly and unofficially set a new track record at 1:15.430. The demonstration laps were an extremely rare appearance by any Formula One team in the United States outside of a race meeting. Judging by the spectators lining the fences with camera phones, the visit was a big hit. www.porscheroadandrace.com Ex-Lewis Hamilton 2016 Mercedes W07 Formula One car driven here by test driver Esteban Gutierrez Racing fans also were treated to Historic F1 cars that took up residence in the permanent garages at Sonoma Raceway. Sixteen cars on the entry from the late 1970s and early 1982 sported enormous rear tyres, giant airboxes, and aerodynamic wings of all shapes and sizes.