Sunday Porsche Blogging: the $1600 Porsche Phone, Is There No Substitute?

Well not to be outdone by Apple, Porsche Design has come out with a Porsche cell phone. Sadly this follows the Ferrari cell phone. Currently available in Germany, Britain and Dubai the $1600 flip phone (with camera phone and a 3-speaker MP3 player) will be available here in the US sometime next year. Will it clash with Paris' Bentley? Only time will tell. If you were diligent I bet that you could find a decent and drivable Porsche 924 automobile for the price of that cell phone. Sure you would have to put up with some indignities and at some undetermined point in the future the car would present you with a bill exceeding it's value but you can't drive Lake Shore Drive in a cell phone.

Porsche Design is not part of the automobile company although it offers products through Porsche and it's dealerships. Porsche Design was formed by 911 designer and grandson of the company's founder Butzi Porsche after the family decided to remove themselves from the management structure of the automobile and engineering company in the early 1970s. However Porsche Motorsports may want to supply this latest bit of Porsche gadgetry to their racers at circuits like Le Mans. Flying Debris noted while live-blogging the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hour race that when a class leading Porsche 911 GT3R broke down at Arnage the driver did not have a cell phone to communicate with his pit, possibly costing him the lead: "(t)hey also said that the driver was not carrying a cell phone. Yep, spend $1 million plus and get stuck on the circuit without a device that is given away for free."

Well Vodaphone and others will not be giving away the pricey Porsche phone for free but I am sure that the driver in question would have gladly paid $1600 for the use of a cell phone while surveying the beautiful French countryside while the previously lapped Panoz repeatedly passed hime by.Here is a video from Arnage at 3 AM during last summer's race:

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Some Summer GT3 Photos

Copyright: Flying Debris
This fantastic new 997 based Porsche GT3 was at the Autobahn Country Club during the Bobby Rahal Historic Races last August. The car is parked on the club go-cart track.

Copyright: Flying Debris
The same 997 based GT3 seen from the rear.

Copyright: Flying Debris
This is a 996 based Porsche GT3 seen up at Road America during the American Le Mans Series races last summer.

Copyright: Flying Debris
This is the front of the same fantastic 996 based Porsche GT3 seen here parked in the Porsche Club area at Road America last summer.

Just a few GT3 photos from my iPhone that happen to be on my Mac.

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Porsche RS Spyder at Road America

Photo Copyright: Flying Debris
Here is the giant killer Porsche RS Spyder of Penske Motorsports making it's way through turn 3, Corvette Corner at Road America last summer.

Photo Copyright: Flying Debris
The Team Dyson Porsche RS Spyder.

Photo Copyright: Flying Debris
The Penske Motorsports Porsche RS Spyder on the straight between turn 2 and turn 3, a downhill run that looks more and more like a toboggan run the faster you go.

Photo Copyright: Flying Debris
Penske Motorsports pits.

Road America is the fantastic four mile road race course outside of the picturesque town of Elkhart Lake, Wi. The American Le Mans Series has been racing there for several years and as the longest road course in the nation and at half the length of the Circuit de la Sarthe the series and the circuit are a wonderful fit.

Schumacher Buys Shelby Cobra

Recently retired seven-time World Champion Ferrari Formula One driver Michael Schumacher has just gone out and bought himself a 1967 Mk II Shelby Cobra 427 Roadster. The Autoblog has commented that Enzo Ferrari, known as “Il Commendatore would not have liked this one bit.” Mr. Ferrari had a personal battle with Henry Ford II that took place on the world’s GT circuits and was sparked by Ferraris’ cancellation of a deal to sell Ferrari to Ford because it would take Mr. Ferrari off of the race team. Schumacher can afford it; his Wikipedia entry describes him as a billionaire.

Sunday Porsche Blogging: 911 Rallying

Rallying a Porsche 911


This Post is a Day Late and Worth the Wait!

Check out Henri Toivonen flog on his Rothman’s 911 during the 1984 FIA Rally season. Because almost all rallying is done in the dirt Henri made very good use of the rear-end weight bias of the rear-engined 911 that he drove. If you have ever wondered about apexing a 911 in the dirt, the helicopter shots from this film will give you some good hints.

Rendezvous Meets Google Earth

Rendezvous

This is the best car chase without a chase, an accompanying real time guide map is linked below

Claude Lelouche made one of the great Paris/Car movies of all time with the Rendezvous, an early morning drive at breakneck speeds through the streets of Paris without regard to any traffic signals. Mr. Lelouche used a Mercedes 300 and later a Ferrari for the engine soundtrack; no Mercedes has ever sounded this good. Well, over at bhendrix.com they have gone and put the movie online and synced it to a Google Earth moving map of the ride through Paris. The fantastic mashup and great travelogue is here.

The Autoblog has more on the great original movie.

Drunken PCA Member Wrecks Porsche 908 – PCA Pays $250,000

Disclosure – the author has been a member of PCA for many years.

The Porsche Club of America (PCA) has been found liable for the drunken actions of two of its members four years ago. An owner of a Porsche 908 was gracious enough to display his uber-rare race car at a club technical event in Huntsville, Al. The car’s owner had an agent who was responsible for transporting the car and the agent was unable to pick the car up the following week as planned; the agent finally arranged pick-up of the car six weeks later. The week of the delayed pick-up two PCA members had access to the car, one was an officer of the local region and the other was the owner of the garage that was storing the car. The two members decided to drive the race car on the street after drinking wine at breakfast. Apparently that foray passed without incident because more wine was consumed at lunch and the car was subsequently wrecked during some more drunken street driving. The cost to repair the vehicle was approximately $250,000.

The car’s owner filed suit and the Federal District Court in the Northern District of Alabama heard the case last year and handed down the opinion last June. The President of the PCA, Tom Bobbitt wrote in the August issue of the club magazine Panorama (the August issue is not yet online) that “the two drivers were acting outside the scope of any club authorization and not in connection with any club event, the Court nevertheless found that PCA had an ongoing obligation to care for the car indefinitely because it had been used in a PCA event and PCA benefited from the arrangement.” Neither Mr. Bobbitt nor I are attorneys but he described the liability as a “bailment for which PCA as the bailee is liable.” Mr. Bobbitt also wrote that the club intends to strip the two members of their memberships and that the club will attempt to recover damages from the two.

Club President Bobbitt wrote about three lessons from the experience; two of them have to do with the casual nature of many club events and the need for more contractual agreements. The third lesson has to do with the personal responsibility of club volunteers, a very diplomatic way of saying that one should not act like a jerk. Flying Debris would like to add two more lessons to that list; one is the stunningly obvious - don’t drive race cars drunk. The other is that if you’re going to drink alcohol at breakfast you may as well not kid yourself, drink liquor. Frankly a few pops in the morning should be followed with a comfortable couch and a few football games on the tube rather than driving a purpose built race car around the neighborhood.

Sunday Porsche Blogging: How to Kill a 911

Top Gear - How to kill a Porsche 911

If This Video Were't So Funny It Would be Truly Depressing! In complaining about how tough this early seventies 911 is Jeremy, a Brit says, "Germans; can't beat us, can't beat Croatia" and then continues to try to kill the poor 911.

Another Beautiful Ecurie-prepared 911 gets ready for the BRIC vintage races at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wi.
c Flying Debris

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Light due to Obligations

c Flying Debris
A 2002 Boxster S in rare Polar Silver Metalic paint, 18 inch wheels and the optional hardtop

Obligations including work, social life, driving and cars have kept me from being able to find the time this week to work on many outside interests, so some photos will have to do!

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Type Numbers Part 4, Type 500 through Type 528

Type 502
1950-51
1.5 liter engine for the Type 356

Type 506
1950-51
1.3 liter engine for the Type 356

Type 506/2
1954-55
Type 506 with three-piece crankcase

Type 508
1950
4-stroke diesel engine for Volkswagen

Type 509
1950
1.3 liter engine for Type 356

Type 514
1951
Le Mans cars for 1951 (Type 356 SL)

Type 519
1951-52
Synchronized Transmission for Type 356

Type 522
1951
Volkswagen design proposal with strut-type front suspension

Type 523
1951
Studies of marine engines

Type 524
1951
Fuel injection for Type 369 engine

Type 527
1951-52
1.5 liter production engine for the Type 356, initially made for Le Mans

Type 528
1952-53
1.5 liter sports engine for Type 356 1500S or Super

Type 528/2
1954-55
Type 528 with four-piece crankcase


Source: Porsche Excellence Was Expected - The Complete Story of the Sports and Racing CarsKarl Ludvigsen1st Edition, 1977 pg. 517-5182nd Edition, 2003 pg. 1484The Ludvigsen work is an ongoing labor of love and a must read for any serious student of Porsche history.

Previous parts of the Type Number Series are Type 7 through 114, Type 115 through 356 and Type 356 through 500.

Le Mans – Another First for Audi, Another First for Corvette and a First for Panoz

At the end the Audi R10 Diesel TDI V-10 won the Le Mans 24 hour race handily, followed by a Pescarolo Sport team car and another Audi R10. The GT1 class was exciting as Corvette took the lead early in the (French) afternoon and never relinquished it. The story in GT2 was very exciting for the Panoz customer team that caught and passed the Porsche GT3 RSR in the last hour while the Porsche had gearbox trouble and went on to be the first Panoz to win its class at Le Mans in the ten years that Dr. Panoz has been bringing his cars to France for the endurance race. My prediction for next year is: better communications or cell phones for all of the drivers. The 2nd place Porsche GT3 driver had to wait until the team mechanics could reach him on the course to tell him how to repair the Porsche, saving enough time could’ve won the race for the Porsche.

Le Mans – Class Leading Porsche in Trouble W/O Cell Phone 2

UPDATE:
WOW GT3 is on the circuit again!!! Team mechanics went out onto the circuit to tell the driver how to engage the tranny – he is now limping back to the pits, class win seems VERY unlikely – they need to fix the tranny – Panoz just took over class lead!

The class leading Porsche GT3 RSR is reported to be definitely stopped out on the circuit at Arnage. Speed Channel had reported a problem with 4th gear during the just completed pit stop. The Le Mans rules require the driver to get the car back to the pits if he is stopped out on the circuit, so the cars carry tool kits and communicating with the driver is critical in order to tell what to repair – Speed just reported that the car is stuck out at Arnage and that the pits have lost communication with the car, nothing, not even telemetry. The team is hoping that the Porsche factory group may be able to communicate some telemetry information (commentator implied that and yes it does sound dubious, on the other hand the factory did not have any entry in the race and may be there collecting telemetry for their customers). They also said that the driver was not carrying a cell phone. Yep, spend $1 million plus and get stuck on the circuit without a device that is given away for free.

Le Mans – Class Leading Porsche in Trouble W/O Cell Phone

The class leading Porsche GT3 RSR is (reported to be) Definitely (!) stopped out on the circuit at Arnage. Speed Channel had reported a problem with 4th gear during the just completed pit stop. The Le Mans rules require the driver to get the car back to the pits if he is stopped out on the circuit, so the cars carry tool kits and communicating with the driver is critical in order to tell what to repair – Speed just reported that the car is stuck out at Arnage and that the pits have lost communication with the car, nothing, not even telemetry. The team is hoping that the Porsche factory group may be able to communicate some telemetry information (commentator implied that and yes it does sound dubious, on the other hand the factory did not have any entry in the race and may be there collecting telemetry for their customers). They also said that the driver was not carrying a cell phone. Yep, spend $1 million plus and get stuck on the circuit without a device that is given away for free.

Le Mans - WOW - Corvette Takes Class Lead!

With James Bond’s (#007) sister car, the #009 Aston Martin DB9 in the pits the factory Corvette #64 has taken the class lead and is 4th overall. The battle between the Vette and the Aston has been a tight one since yesterday afternoon; if the Corvette can stay on track it has the race sewn up, however 2 hours and 35 minutes is a lifetime at Le Mans, and longer than any Formula One race.

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Le Mans After 21 Hours

The annual Le Mans 24 hour race is still going on, it will end at 5:00 PM local time (11:00 AM EDT), Audi is still leading the race with their wonderful diesel powered R10 TDI, however Henri Pescarolo and his Pescarolo Sport, a Courage chassis running a Judd V-10, is just five laps back. Henri Pescarolo is the team manager and a former winner at Le Mans; the team is also the pride of France, being based in the town of Mans.

Porsche is doing its job in the LMGT2 category with the Seikel Motorsport team of Frankfort Germany leading the class. Porsche was recently the only serious competitor in this class until Ferrari, Panoz and others decided to take on Porsche. The Panoz Esperante of Team LNT is seven laps behind the Porsche GT3 RSR of Seikel Motorsport.

There were a few changes at Le Mans this year; yesterday they started the race 1 hour late in order to accommodate the TV schedule for the World Cup soccer matches. This is much better than the 1968 race that was rescheduled for that fall due to student unrest in France that summer. They have also moved the “carnival” and its Ferris wheel to the area near pit-in rather than behind the front-straight grandstands. It has been said that some of the best food in France that weekend can be found on the grounds of Le Mans. The usual camp-site mania seems to be occurring again this year, with car nuts from around the continent gathering in camp sites throughout the area. The 8.3 mile circuit includes public roads that wind through the farm country near the town of Mans and contains plenty of suitable camping sites. Many continental car clubs (especially from Britain) attend the race en masse, gathering at designated camp sites and carrying on in what for them is traditional manner (including copious amounts of alcohol). It is somewhat like Sturgis without the Harleys and less tattoos.

J Bond’s Car at Le Mans

This year’s Le Mans 24 Hour race was featuring the first Le Mans racer to sport a triple digit number. The lead Aston Martin (in green livery) is number 007, something to warm the hearts of James Bond fans. Things aren’t going too well for the 007 car, they made a somewhat routine pit stop after 6 laps (under a caution flag) and came out just behind the rival Corvette; the Aston crew changed tires after driving through some wreckage debris. One lap later the Aston’s crew made a late (and likely surprising) call to pit and the Aston ran over the Armco at the start of pit lane and tore off the oil sump (oil pan). That caused quite a mess in the pits (and at pit-in) and the 007 Aston Martin is in the garage being worked on after 7 laps; a big bonus for the Corvettes.

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Type Numbers - Part 3, Type 356 through Type 500

Type 356
1947
Open Mid-Engine two-seat sports car based on VW chassis and components
The link is to a Wikipedia photo of the actual first Porsche car

*Note: The early 356 models, pre-1954 models except the cars built in Gmund, are rear-engine cars known as “Pre-A 356s” but badged as 356s. The cars built in Gmund are known as “Gmund coupes”

Type 356/2
1947/48
Rear-engine Porsche sports car
Known as Gmund Coupes because they were built in Gmund, the town that Porsche was located in during the end of WWII and the early post-war period

Type 356A
1955/56
Improved series production Porsche with 15-inch wheels and a 1,600 cc engine

Type 356B
1959/60
Improved 356 model with “T-5” body

Type 356C
1964/65
Further improved 356 model with disc brakes

Type 356 SL
1951
Racing version of Type 356/2 Coupe

Type 360
1947/48
Cistalia Formula One Grand Prix car

Type 361
1947
Single cylinder test engine for Type 360

Type 362
1948
2.0 liter unsupercharged Formula Two version of Type 360

Type 369
1949/50
1.1 liter engine for Type 356/2 and Type 356

Type 370
1947
Cistalia 1.5 liter touring car

Type 378
1948
Porsche-Schmid gearbox for Volkswagen

Type 384
1948
Porsche-Schmid gearbox for Volkswagen

Type 425
1948
20-hp diesel tractor


Source: Porsche Excellence Was Expected - The Complete Story of the Sports and Racing CarsKarl Ludvigsen
1st Edition, 1977 pg. 517
2nd Edition, 2003 pg. 1484

The Ludvigsen work is an ongoing labor of love and a must read for any serious student of Porsche history.

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Sally Carrera the Leading Lady in Cars

c Leonard Turner
This photo of Sally Carrera, the 2002 Porsche from the movie Cars was taken by Porsche photgrapher extraordinaire Leonard Turner

Sally Carrera, a former big-city lawyer moved to Radiator Springs, is the “leading lady” in the upcoming Disney/Pixar animated movie Cars. As the name implies her automotive character is based on a Porsche Carrera, in fact she is based on a 2002 Porsche Carrera, referred to as a type 996; the newest Carrera models are referred to as type 997s. Porsche started using the name Carrera to celebrate its class win in the grueling Carrera Panamericana race of 1953. The first Carreras of 1956 were considered too luxurious to race, that changed dramatically the following year.

Sally was modeled after the second newest iteration of the long-lived 911 line that acquired the Carrera designation in 1984 after using the SC or Super Carrera nameplate from 1978 to 1983. Previous to that time the Carrera moniker was reserved for low volume cars that were often race-bred specials derived from a street car. Then there was the Carrera 6, or the type 906, the first Porsche race car that could not be driven on the street at all (a Wikipedia disputes that and so far I haven’t found the proper citation but having seen numerous Carrera 6s I really doubt the Wikipedia assertion that the car was ever a street car).

The Porsche Club of America’s (PCA) monthly magazine Porsche Panorama did a full write up on the Porsche/car-guy angle in their May issue. When Pixar decided to make this movie in 2001 the production team has made sure that the animators understood cars, their dynamics and auto racing. They took them to NASCAR races, auto shows, car museums; they were even sent them out onto Infineon Raceway with pro drivers. Pro race drivers can put the fear of God into most folks. As a result of all the preparations, technical and psychological, the vehicles shown in the movie have the dynamics of the actual vehicles, down to suspension and tire pressures.

Apparently Doc Hudson, voiced by actor/racer Paul Newman has driving characteristics of a 1951 Hudson Hornet, of course Sally behaves like a 2002 Carrera and the leading man Lightning McQueen, behaves like a NASCAR race car. In addition Pixar used a new technique called “ray tracing” that accurately depicts reflections off of the surfaces of cars, the dozens of head-light beams in night shots and the shading of surfaces and characters. This technique is so complex that even using Pixar’s 3000 networked computers the average time to render a single frame of film for Cars was 17 hours! Obviously many frames where done at a time.

For many Pixar employees this entire exercise must’ve been a blast. Panorama interviewed PCA member Gary Schultz and pictured him in front of his white 1967 911S with some trick yellow rally lights. 1967 was the first year for the 911 S series, the most performance orientated of the street 911s. The S designation has been carried on with the modern Carrera S. 1967 is also the final year of the short wheel base 911s, making that year’s S model a particularly desirable 911.

Porsche Cars North America donated the promotional Sally pictured above, the car started out as a 1999 Carrera that was updated with 2002 body panels. The car was created by movie car creator Eddie Paul from a car that had been damaged in transport and had been used as a repair training model. In order to achieve the proportions of the animated Sally the car’s wheelbase was shortened by seven inches, the roof was raised by 3 ½ inches and the windshield rake was lessened giving the car a more upright windshield. Eyelids are built into the windshield and the eyeballs are controlled by magnets built into the interior. The front grills of modern Carreras also hold a number of radiators that Sally must be hiding quite tactfully behind those teeth.

Weekday Special: New Porsche Track Car – Except for the US

Rear window of Porsche's upcoming GT3 RS shows off the factory roll cage
c Porsche

The new GT3 RS is a continuation of the GT3 series of street-legal track-worthy 911s and will be released in October. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS features the same 3.6 liter 415 hp engine that the base GT3 has. The car is a lightweight version of the US legal GT3, shaving almost 45 pounds off of the already light GT3. It also features an adjustable wing and a full factory roll cage. Porsche shaved almost 45 pounds off of an already lightweight car and added a roll cage; that is impressive. It is likely that the roll cage is keeping the car from being imported into the US; the feds do not like to okay vehicles with roll cages.

The car comes with a lightened flywheel and a closer ratio transmission plus a fire extinguisher and racing seats. This is one heck of a weekend racer, for the very well healed. With a reported price of 94,280 British Pounds ($177,482) it makes for one expensive track car. Porsche has put a mini site on the web featuring this new car.

Hat Tip: the Autoblog