The Mulsanne Straight

We took the opportunity to jump out the porker and take a quick snap with the GoPro, before being moved along by the Gendarmerie. (Shame about the photobombing runner!)

The All Blacks!

A black 996 (Jamie's), a black Boxster (Rupert's Dad), a black 993 (mine) and a black 997 (Rupert's) all decided to get together this morning for a quick tour on the windy country roads in and around Marlborough, Wiltshire. Too. Much. Fun. Here's to the next impromptu tour! 

Spotted that orange GT2 Clubsport again!

I said 'ou la la' the first time I saw this car (see previous post) and I said it again today - spotted it at Ty's place up on a ramp awaiting some of that lovely blood orange paint - apparently the owner races it (as the only one like this in the UK and over half a million pounds, better him than me!) and somehow the bonnet 'flipped' so that needs putting right. It's one hell of a machine. Nice to see you again!

By the way I was speaking to Ty about buffing out some light scratches on my paintwork and addressing some rust on the chassis legs - which Greg spotted whilst fitting the sports cat. I'll be back to have that done in a few months as it's not super urgent - just going to enjoy the car whilst the weather's good. :-)

A bit more sound

Before:

After:

Greg fitted my new exchange cat -  Carnewal high flow sport cats with 200 cells for a bit more sound and a bit more horse power and torque. Nice. 

Mission 2014. Our Return.

We're back to Circuit de la Sarthe to see the epic return of Porsche to the LMP1 class of the 24h of Le Mans (after 16 years absence). Strong performance by the two 919 Hybrids but sadly not enough to challenge the dominate Audis. And the 911 RSRs represented well with 3rd place in GTE-Pro class and 2nd place in GTE-Am class. Another great year and made even more special as I had my very own 911 to mark the occasion - thanks to my good friend Barry who rode shotgun the whole way.

And it was great to visit (and be part of!) the Saint-Saturnin Classic British Welcome on the Friday. An amazing collection of classic cars of all shapes and sizes, from all around the world, gathered together on the northern outskirts of Le Mans. Not-to-be-missed event - we'll definitely be heading again there next year. 

There's the Singer again!

Popped in to see Greg (previously of Tognola Engineering) today at his new, yet temporary, workshop in Iver. The workshop's called Heritage AutoWerks and it's already full with some special machines, including a rare Singer. In fact, Greg is the official UK Singer service and maintenance engineer and tasked with exclusively looking after this one, which happens to be the only one in the country. They really are exceptional things. Greg has my car for week - he'll be fitting my new cat (Carnewal's high flow sport cats with 200 cells for a bit more sound and a bit more horse power and torque) plus he'll be restoring my calipers, changing the brake fluid and seeing to my seized handbrake. Just getting the last few bits done in preparation for my annual trip to Le Mans. And this year is particularly special with Porsche's epic return to the top-tier LMP1 prototype category and I'll be driving down in my very own 911 this time. [Grin]. 

RS set up

I've always liked the idea of keeping my C2 totally original but there's one 'mod' that I couldn't resist and that's a full suspension upgrade, and in particular a 993 RS set up. So having done a bit of research I pushed the button on a set of Bilstein B6 [XT] shocks and H&R springs from Gert Carnewal. And I turned to my local Porsche specialists Tognola to carry out the work. They have a tonne of experience with setting up 993s (Peter personally owns two: an RS and an S) and they use some pretty nifty kit to do the geo: Beissbarth computerised wheel alignment system on a dedicated alignment ramp. Greg, Peter's right hand man, did the work and I hung about for the day to see how it's all done. Greg's great by the way - told me all about his project cars, past and present, and his recent trip to the legendary Singer workshop in California where he was advising on their next creation.

Here are the instructions from Gert, not that Greg needed them, but it saved me from documenting every step.

Below are some of the pics and 10 hrs later I'm super chuffed with the new RS look and feel - just need to head out for a long drive now on some country roads to see how it handles. Can't wait...

Left; Peter. Right; Greg. 

Greg setting up the shock, spring and top mount assemblies. 

Rear assembly.

Greg fine tuning the toe.

The dedicated alignment ramp.

Et voila! The new RS look. :-)