MY BLOG

Luftgekühlt – A Celebration of the Air Cooled Porsche

kevin54449

Apr 14, 2016
1 min

Luftgekühlt – A Celebration of the Air Cooled Porsche

Why would hundreds of Porsche owners bring their toys to a dead end tucked in an industrial neighborhood of Los Angeles on a Sunday morning under threatening skies? The answer? The common love and respect for the air-cooled engine that powered every Porsche model from the company’s inception until 1998. #Luftgekuhlt #Porsche

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kevin54449

Jan 23, 2016
10 min

Observations on the Rolex 24

Doing some preparation for the Rolex 24 at Daytona and ended up with a bit of an overview/preview. The more one looks, the more interesting angles there are to the race. While prototypes may be the fastest and most likely to compete for top honors, the story for the 2016 Rolex 24 Hours is the GT cars. Opinions on that score may vary, but it still is a compelling race even if your view differs. 2016 is the last year for the Daytona Prototype formula as we know it and the P

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kevin54449

Jan 18, 2016
1 min

Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 704

Last in our series (at least for now) of Porsche RS Spyder chassis features is 9R6-704. This chassis started life in the hands of New York-based Dyson Racing in IMSA competition. Dyson ran the car in 2007 and 2008. Drivers in 2007 as #16 were primarily Andy Wallace and Butch Leiztinger with guest appearances from Andy Lally for the longer races at Sebring and Petit LeMans. The 2008 schedule found Marino Franchitti taking over for Wallace with Leitzinger and guest Lally re

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kevin54449

Jan 10, 2016
1 min

Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 709

Team Essex, a Danish team owned by Peter Halvorsen, provides the next in our series of Porsche RS Spyder reviews – this time we have chassis 9R6-709. Team Essex had a history of running in the Danish Touring Car championship with periodic entries in prototype sportscar running. For the 2008 season, Essex joined other privateer teams like Van Merksteijn and Horag/Lienhard to purchase and campaign Porsche RS Spyders. The new Team Essex car was unveiled in December 2007 in blu

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kevin54449

Jan 3, 2016
1 min

Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 710

Next in our series of Porsche RS Spyder chassis reviews – this time our subject is 9R6-710. This car ran in IMSA competition as a Penske Racing entry in the hands of Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard. It contributed to Porsche’s LMP2 manufacturer title in 2008. Racingsportscars.com for the data, available here. #Porsche #RennsportReunion

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kevin54449

Jan 2, 2016
1 min

Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 711

Horag combined with Fredy Lienhard to field a car in ELMS and an entry in the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring. The car was shown for sale via racingcars24.com in March 2009 for €850,000. Arrival video from Gunnar Racing is available here. Enjoy the pics from Rennsport Reunion V at Laguna Seca in 2015! #Porsche #RennsportReunion

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kevin54449

Dec 28, 2015
1 min

Much more on Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 708

Some additional digging around the internet and my files yielded some more things of interest on the van Merksteijn Racing Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 708: Planet LeMans story from Marcel ten Caat on the first test outing for the car in February 2008. Planet LeMans interview with Frans Verschurr, team principal of Equipe Verschurr, the organization that prepared and ran the Porsche. Want to see 3+ minutes of Jos Verstappen behind the wheel in 2011 giving the car some exercise? Of

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kevin54449

Dec 25, 2015
2 min

Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 708

The 2007 Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 708 was purchased with the objective of racing at LeMans. The Dutch Van Merksteijn Motorsport team purchased the car, with owner Peter van Merksteijn spearheading the effort. He added fellow contrymen Jos Verstappen and Jeroen Bleekemolen as drivers and the three shared driving duties throughout the 2008 season. Peter had done a fair amount of sports car road racing over the years. He had largely run in Porsche GT platforms in events like the

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kevin54449

Dec 23, 2015
2 min

Porsche RS Spyder 9R6 702

The Porsche RS Spyder is likely the last prototype that will be built by the Porsche factory, run in private hands in active competition and then sold to private owners. The use of hybrid technology and the relative sophistication of platforms like the LMP1 means that privateers are unlikely to have the resources and depth to maintain and run the cars. The Porsche RS Spyder ran in 2007 and 2008 in IMSA competition in the hands of Penske, Dyson and Pickett Racing. Chassis 9R

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kevin54449

Dec 13, 2015
1 min

Santa Delivers new GT3 cars

If you’ve been paying attention to social media, you’ve seen that some teams have been posting pictures of their brand new race cars as they’re being delivered. The past week or so has seen a lot of new hardware delivered to waiting race teams and more deliveries are coming soon. Some cars are only shown by their teams after they’ve received their new colors, but there is something about the bare carbon presence of a brand new race car. We’ll also be watching for delivery

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Falken Porsche 2014 Nurburgring 24 Hours

kevin54449

Dec 10, 2015
1 min

Falken Porsche 2014 Nurburgring 24 Hours

For no particular reason other than photos of the Falken Porsche from the 2014 Nurburgring 24 hours apparently have the ability to catch one’s attention when poking through the archives, a brief look back in time is warranted. The Falken 997 Porsche is known as a regular and fan-favorite competitor in the Nurburgring 24 hours. Falken always has a distinctive paint scheme and does a ton of on-site marketing support. As you might have seen on this blog or elsewhere, the 997

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kevin54449

Nov 26, 2015
1 min

Falken Porsche 997 GT3 R For Sale

With thanks to Dailysportscar.com for the pointer, the Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (997) that has raced thousands of kilometers is now for sale. The team is moving to the 991 platform for 2016, so they have put their 997 up for sale. Interested? Check out the listing on Mobile.de with a €500,000 asking price. The car finished on the podium at the 2015 Nurburgring 24 hours – the team’s best ever result. In honor of the team and the car, here is a gallery of shots

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kevin54449

Nov 24, 2015
1 min

IMSA Daytona Test notes

Once again, Marshall Pruett is a journalistic machine. He continues to turn out high quality pieces on open wheel and sportscar topics. The latest is a rewind on the IMSA test at Daytona posted on Racer.com. Marshall has lots of goodies about people, tires, testing, Balance of Performance and development. Perhaps the most potentially disappointing tidbit is the note that a deal between IMSA and either Aston Martin or Mercedes is unlikely which means no customer GT cars on

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kevin54449

Nov 24, 2015
1 min

2017 Porsche 911 RSR development

Could we see a mid-engined 911 racing in 2017? According to this story in Sportscar365, it a possibility. Porsche apparently is taking 2016 off from the full factory GTE support in the FIA WEC series to get working on the 2017 911RSR model. Development has already been underway with on-track testing targeted for the middle of 2016. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the article is the acknowledgement that Porsche has looked seriously at a mid-engined concept and has sp

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kevin54449

Nov 24, 2015
1 min

Porsche Junior Program for 2016

Want to get a good sense for the next generation of sportscar drivers who will be standing atop podiums in the coming years? Look no further than the Porsche Junior Program. Last week, Porsche announced that four drivers would be selected for factory support. Norwegian Dennis Olsen (19) and Frenchman Mathieu Jaminet (21) join the squad while Italian Matteo Cairoli (19) and German Sven Müller (23) will continue for another year. Olsen will run in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deu

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RUF Yellowbird at the Nurburgring in 1987; in Los Angeles in 2005

kevin54449

Nov 8, 2015
1 min

RUF Yellowbird at the Nurburgring in 1987; in Los Angeles in 2005

Oh yes, the Los Angeles connection. In September 2005, the Yellowbird was refreshed (including a new coat of paint) and brought to the US for Road & Track magazine’s use and a few car shows. It was on display at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, north of Los Angeles near Santa Barbara at a Porsche focused weekend event “The Ventura Show”. The show was an annual event, but ceased sometime around 2011 or 2012. It was great to see the actual Yellowbird in person. From humble

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Vintech P550 Tribute at Art Center Car Classic

kevin54449

Nov 8, 2015
1 min

Vintech P550 Tribute at Art Center Car Classic

It takes something special to attract a crowd on a field littered with vintage hot rods, the Ferrari LaFerrai supercar, the original first production run Lamborghini Countach, custom coachwork Hispano Suiza, Mercedes 300SL examples, a 3D printed supercar, concept cars brought from the General Motors design warehouse, one of only 25 Mercedes CLK-GTR road car examples, and on and on and on… #ArtCenter #Porsche #Vintech

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kevin54449

Nov 6, 2015
2 min

Porsche Rennsport Reunion V Photo Galleries

The fifth edition of the Porsche Rennsport Reunion held in September at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was an impressive event. It was a feast for photographers. If you were there, you know that there may have been some things you missed. If you somehow were not there, living vicariously through the lens of others is the next best thing to being there. Here is a round-up of some of the best still photo coverage of the event on the web – there are some very talented photographe

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kevin54449

Nov 5, 2015
1 min

WEC Works Porsche 911 GTE program done?

Motorsport-Total.com out of Germany reports that the Porsche works WEC 911 GTE program run by Olaf Manthey will not continue into 2016 and Manthey will retire from active motorsports activities. The decision is based, in part at least, on the Volkswagen diesel emissions matter. Sportscar365 has published a similar story with some additional speculation. The GTE program has been “under review” prior to the VW matter, and there is some speculation that the pull-back is reall

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Random 919 and 911RSR demo run photos from Rennsport Reunion V

kevin54449

Nov 2, 2015
1 min

Random 919 and 911RSR demo run photos from Rennsport Reunion V

Porsche brought its 919 and 911RSR to the Porsche Rennsport Reunion V at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in September. Friday saw leisurely parade laps behind a camera car, but Nick Tandy (919) and Fred Makowiecki (911RSR) put in several laps at speed on Saturday. The 919 was stunningly fast, but rumor suggested that it wasn’t even making use of its hybrid electric power. The 911RSR was positively brutal – particularly launching off of the last turn onto the front straight. How

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