911SC and 930 Turbo Peak District Tour
Last year I contacted Porsche Club GB to see what tour routes they had around the Peak District. They suggested the Peak district East Midlands region 8 tour which is approximately 80 miles. This year we did the same route on a warm Saturday in April but in reverse with my 1983 930 turbo leading the way followed by the 3.2L 1978 911 SC driven by my friend Steve Prior. This article is covering our Sunday drive around the top loop of the Peak District north of our Saturday drive. A summary of the route is listed at the end of the article in case you fancy doing the trip.
We set off from Wingerworth just south of Chesterfield on a cloudy but sunny Sunday morning joining up with the A6 to Bakewell after driving a few twisty back roads. The SC is a great car to use on these Peak District twisty roads. With it’s ‘RUF’ spec engine running about 240HP with EFi it had no problem keeping up with the 930 turbo on these ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads. The plan was to do grab some breakfast at the great Yondermann café which is on the A623 B6465 junction. Both 911’s parked in front of the café below getting a lot of attention:
Leaving the cafe we headed north up the A6013 passing the impressive LadyBower dam before meeting up with the A57. Turning right at the junction we travelled a couple of miles then turning left onto the lovely Mortimer Road which goes past the Strines Inn. This is a great road which is well used by the bikers who are ‘in the know’.
The open roads over the rolling hills of the Peak District were great fun to drive in the 911’s. We stopped a couple of times to view the scenery.
Some interesting road signs on our travel as made famous by Top Gears “Hover Van” episode.
After some fun driving the road joins up with the A616. Bearing left here you hit a roundabout after a couple of miles. Here you take the A628 towards Manchester which is a nice scenic road to enjoy. At the end of Woodhead reservoir, you take a left turn onto the really nice B6105. Be careful it’s any easy turn to miss. This will take you through the outskirts of Glossop joining up with the bottom of snake road.
Travelling up Snake pass from Glossop we stopped at the top of the pass with the American B29 Superfortress bomber crash site in the background, which crashed in poor visibility in 1948.
Debris is strewn on the hill shown below.
Remains of the engine and oil cooler.
Continuing up Snake pass the road has suffered badly from subsidence as can be seen on the right side of the road picture below. Only half the road was there!
When getting to the top of Snake Road it’s worth popping into the Upper Derwent Visitor Centre. Parking here you have a short walk to the stunning Derwent Dam. During the Second World War the reservoir was used by the 617 Squadron, the "Dam Busters", for practising their low-level flights.
The SC had a few niggles after coming out of winter hibernation. They say things come is three’s: The first was that an ignition lead came lose. Easily fixed but this caused the spark plug to foul up. A quick clean had the SC running perfectly. Then an hour later when opening the sun roof an old fuse blew. Again, easily fixed after spotting the offending fuse. The final issue was a slightly loose wire on the fuse terminal causing and intermittent contact driving the fuel pump relay. All of these were little issues not distracting from a lovely weekend touring.
On the way back to Chesterfield we went back via Buxton, going down the A53, then along the A54 to the Cat and Fiddle pub were there are some nice winding roads to drive. The pub is now open for business.
Overall, a great tour with some lovely viewing sites along the way. The SC and turbo were great cars to drive on these challenging flowing roads. The conclusion of this trip is to get your Porsche out and drive it. Enjoy.
Route Summary: This consisted of bearing right at the A57 at the LadyBower reservoir junction from the A6013 travelling up from the Bakewell direction. Then turning left after 2km up Mortimer Road. This joins up with the A616 which you go left. At the next roundabout turn left onto the A628. At the end of Woodhead reservoir turn off left onto the B6105. This will join up with the A57 the start of Snake Road. This will then take you back to Ladybower reservoir.
Richard Stephens, 911SC Tech Advisor
26
th May 2023