Porsche 997 GTS Launch Event

[Stotty]

Last night I went to the launch of the 'new' 997 GTS - the last 997 model before the 998 is launched next year.

The launch was set up around a chance to listen to and meet Richard Attwood and David Piper. Richard was one of the drivers of the 917 that won Porsche's 1st outright victory at Le Mans in 1970, and David Piper bought the 1st customer 917.

A friend and myself were collected by Panamera 4S from the off site parking and taken to the Porsche Centre Guildford, where we got fed and watered (the service at the event was absolutely perfect) and got chance to see numerous new, old and famous cars up close.

Then there was a 20 minute interview with Richard and David as they recalled stories from their days racing. Both of them were very well known in the period... Richard was a factory Porsche driver, and David bought the 1st customer 250GTO from Enzo Ferrari and raced 512's extensively as well as Lola's and Porsches. And both were responsible for large parts of the professional driving in the Steve McQueen film, Le Mans. It was agreat insight in to how informal motorsport was back then compared to today!

Anyhow, a really nice evening. Here are a few rubbish photos from the event...

Richard (blue shirt) & David

911 Club Sport

964RS

997 GT2 RS (1st right hand drive car in the UK) - looked immense!!

Sport Classic - 1st one I've seen... looked VERY nice!

997 GTS - looked better in guards, needs some spacers on the rear wheels

550 Spyder - from the Porsche museum, and the one produced before James Dean's car

904/8 - the only flat 8 engined 904

Safari 911 - with 959 running gear

935 - with 1.4l 400bhp+ engine... 'and turbo lag measured in days'

David's 917

GT1

962

RS Spyder - ALMS LMP2 championship winner in 2007

 

[Enigma]

Wow, sounds like a fantastic event, how come you were so lucky to get an invite or did you have to pay for the pleasure ?

Those old boys sound like a couple of legends, I bet they had some great stories

That GT2 RS is one mean looking car, even sitting still it looks scary.

 

[Clark]

You make me very jealous Sir Stotty.

Forget the GT2 RS and the RS Spyder. You got to see the Porsche race cars I've not seen . I've met alot of drivers but those two are still on the list, Dickie and Davd Piper (who in case nobody knows lost his leg in a crash filmin Steve McQueen's Le Mans (the best film of all time). I have to say after the GTS came out and then when the Speedster came ou I must say I've taken to the GTS. The SC and Speedster look a bit too garish.

On an interesting side note I've seen both the factory '88 962 and the Penske RS Spyder (shown in your pics) at Porsche's Driving Centre at Silverstone.

Also the 3.0RS road car that was there is reported to be worth around £400K.

 

[Stotty]

Got the invite through a friend who's on the event list for Porsche... only cost was the petrol to get down there from home (about 20 miles).

Yes, Duffers, David told us a story about his leg... many years later, when he was in Monaco spectating at an F1 race, his leg broke - the aluminium had fatigued over the years and it just broke whilst he was walking from the Cafe de Paris after a couple of 'coffees'. A couple of McLaren mechanics fixed his l with some strengthening plates, rivets and gaffa tape.

Couple More...

The 1st time Richard drove the 917 was the 1st time anyone outside a couple of Porsche test drivers had driven it. The test was at the Nurburgring, it was cold and wet, and it took place as part of qaulifying for the 1000k's... and he got just 1 lap. Richard said the car was fabulous in the slow stuff, but had terrible rear end aerodynamic instability. This was eventually cured when Porsche brought in a guy who had worked on the successful GT40 Le Mans program and he fitted a swept up tail.

Modestly, Richard puts the 1970 win down to a lot of luck. He'd had to chose his spec of car in January of that year, and at the time he chose a short-talied 4.5l set up as the 5.0l was unproven and had a reputation for eating gearboxes. However, over the year, Porsche made numerous improvements to the 5.0, and by the time Le Mans came it was the proven race winner. They only managed to qualify the 4.5 15th, and were well behind early on, but the front running 917's and 512's kept braking and taking each other out 'gifting them the win'.

Great pair of old guys.

 

[homeforsummer]

Great pics Stotty, sounded like a great event. Some remarkable cars there.

Big fan of the GTS and especially the SC myself. Probably the most suitable 997s for road use, much as I love the GT3 models they seem a bit too extreme for the road, ditto the GT2 RS, and the turbo models have an image that I don't like, in that they seem to be bought by people who just want the most expensive 997 rather than for the actual performance.

Only other Porsche I would have wanted to see there is the Boxster Spyder.

 

[GT_Prologue5]

Wow, great pics man! I personally like the GT2 RS in silver, and that 962 looks really reminiscent of the Sauber C9. Great find.

 

[Clark]

Wow, great pics man! I personally like the GT2 RS in silver, and that 962 looks really reminiscent of the Sauber C9. Great find.

962 came first, development of the 956. Most sportscars of the late 80's would have been copies of them.

@Stotty in the 1970 race no 5.0L 917's finished the race, and it was known that the 4.5l Martini Longtail of Gerrard Larousse and Willi Kausen was faster and could have won but were given the slow down by Porsche bosses to let the Salzburg car win.

Sorry for slightly going off topic and not talking about the GTS but hey, I can't not talk about Porsche motorsport history (I've read soo much about it there t'aint much else I know more about).

 

[Stotty]

@Stotty in the 1970 race no 5.0L 917's finished the race, and it was known that the 4.5l Martini Longtail of Gerrard Larousse and Willi Kausen was faster and could have won but were given the slow down by Porsche bosses to let the Salzburg car win.

Sorry for slightly going off topic and not talking about the GTS but hey, I can't not talk about Porsche motorsport history (I've read soo much about it they're t'aint much else I know more about).

Heh, not off topic IMO, and it's my thread

To be honest, I wasn't that interested in the GTS... it should be the perfect road 911, yet it just doesn't look right to me... I don't like the black wheels with silver rim and the stance is not right... needs to be another 10mm lower and the rear wheels need at least a 7mm spacer so they fill the arches properly. The white GTS did have an alcantara interior with fixed back carbon buckets... very nice!

The interesting part of the night was the interview and the old cars... you just don't get to see history like that every day... and it demonstrates the immense heritage Porsche have in motorsport. Just reading the names of the drivers on the sides of the car gave me goosebumps... Derek Bell, Jackie Icyx, Klaus Ludwig, Hans Stuck, Jan Dalmas, Alan McNish, Bob Wolleck... some of the best drivers ever to hit the track.