Total 911

Car Week was once again spectacular this year, with the California extravaganza now cementing itself as THE annual event for Porsche and car enthusiasts around the planet. It’s now the epicentre of restomod companies launching new products for the year ahead – and each year, the bar gets higher and higher. Last year, no less than six new projects were announced by reimagineers in the space of 48 hours. This year, the glitz-fest continued with world-renowned companies in the restomed sphere such as Tuthill, Singer and Gunther Werks lavishing the lawn at The Quail with their new wares. My favourite? It’s difficult to choose, for while Tuthill’s GT One is achingly stunning, I also love the craziness of RUF’s Rodeo project. Then there’s the outrageous GWR by Gunther Werks, featuring…

911 Turbo 50 Years revealed Celebrating five decades of its turbocharged icon, Porsche has unveiled the 911 Turbo 50 Years August saw Porsche whipping the covers off a special model created to mark the 50th anniversary of the 911 Turbo. Revealed at The Quail during Monterey Car Week in California, the aptly named 911 Turbo 50 Years is heavily based on the latest generation 992 Turbo S. Just 1,974 examples will be built, the number picked in honour of the year that the first 911 Turbo made its debut – 1974. The anniversary 992 pays tribute to its 1970s forefather, making several references to the 930 Turbo – the car that started it all. The 911 Turbo 50 Years takes the recipe of the already astonishing 911 Turbo S, with…

The RNLI-911 Challenge Dear Sir, I don’t know if my car cuts the mustard – no it’s not a GT, no it’s not a classic (not yet, anyway) and no I’m not a former rally driver or Le Mans winner – but it’s a 911 and I’m a retired woman who’s devised and completed five (soon to be six) serious road challenges. However, it is the only Porsche 911 to have raised enough funds via the RNLI-911 Challenges to buy a D-class lifeboat, and the first 911 that will save lives at sea. In February 2018 my brand new, out-of-the-box Lava orange 911 4S Cabriolet arrived. After running it in to a few nearby events to promote our first-ever RNLI-911 Challenge, we set off from Teddington Lifeboat Station in west…

Summer, such as it is in the UK, means Spotted gets distracted a lot of the time looking at open-topped cars and pondering silly things like VW beach buggies, all while wishing our climate was a little bit nicer. While doing so we’ve noted a decent number of 3.2 Carrera Cabriolets, as well as a sizeable price disparity between them. Mileage seems to matter (although it shouldn’t as much as it appears to), while prices range from the entirely reasonable £40k-60k region, right up to near double that – more in some particularly optimistic cases. That lower price point got us very interested, because it makes 3.2 Carrera Cabriolets among the most accessible entry point into air-cooled 911 ownership. That low starting price usually means mileages in excess of 100k,…

997.1 v 997.2 GT3 RS It was the 996 that started the GT3 RS dynasty, fusing a new GT3 platform with those hallowed RS letters which have long signified a Porsche to be significantly special. That first liquid-cooled RS was something of a toe-in-the-water for Porsche. The management was sceptical that the Andreas Preuninger-led, after-hours built, overt (for then) GT3 RS would find customers. It did, and convincingly so, with Porsche unable to make enough of them for the demand that it created. So, these two cars, and all of us who enjoy driving, have a lot to thank that 996 for, because without it the 997 might never have been offered as an RS. That designation was instrumental in Porsche realising the commercial value of these focused, enthusiast cars,…

996 GT3 RS MR Full disclosure here. The 996 GT3 RS was the first RS I ever drove and it left something of an impression – so much so that I’ll always look for an excuse to drive one. That first car was owned by a friend, Neil Primrose, who had the first UK car in the country back in 2003. It arrived before the UK press car and he was kind enough to let me borrow it for a day. This experience, coupled with subsequent drives of that delayed UK press car, Porsche’s own museum car and other privately owned examples over the years, have only reinforced my opinion that the 996 GT3 RS is among the greatest of all RSs. If you truly covet purity and want to…