Frontrunner

[John Sims]

'twas indeed a great day - I've no idea how Geoff manages with the weather. Excellent bunch of cars. Many thanks to Peter E for all his efforts in providing his car for display. It did look very special. On the way home I got to watch it from the front, in my mirrors, and the rear of it after the petrol station. It looks great from both angles. Mr E and I had a little play on the way home but I am glad to report Mr McN was suitably adult, particularly considering it wasn't his car. A massive thanks to Geoff and all of the Sunday team for, perhaps, one of the best FrontRunners so far - I can't wait until next year. For those that are interested we got some pretty fair pictures for Porsche Post (little Peters are actually very good). Well done those who took the wrong turn at the junction as that made the pictures more interesting.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Thanks to everyone who came along today. I lost count of the cars, as the parking was a little haphazard and loads of you left for the rally whilst I was trying to spot the 944s amongst the other cars!

The weather was fantastic - I needed sunblock really. There were some great cars there, special mention must go to Steve Switzer for driving up from Cornwall, hope you found somewhere good for lunch. []

A great event, it gets better every year. Next year the date is being moved to later in the year, to separate it out from the Cotswold Rally. Expect even more, and let me know if you have any suggestions for inclusion next year.

A huge thank you to Peter Empson as well. As you know, my car is laid up in it's second home, although I'm thinking that it's getting to the stage where the insurers need to know that RPM is now the primary address for the car

. Peter kindly offered me the chance to take his 944S for an extended test drive, following him in his track car. A very interesting experience, I'll be giving a full write-up of my impressions in the next Porsche Post. Suffice to say that it's a very different car to the 8 valve, and a real surprise.

The one thing that really stood out is that the flag mirrors really are a world apart in rear-view use than my teardrops. Would I swap them? No. I love the look, it's probably the only bit of the styling progression over the 944/968 models that I prefer. But in the real world it's nice to feel confident that there's nothing in a blind spot every time you change lanes. I always prefer to have a double-check and look over my shoulder regardless of the trust I place in the mirrors, but the teardrops do make you rely on that "motorbike" check more than is comfortable. [&o]

I know that most of you are also booked for the Cotswold Rally, and I hope to see you there.

 

[944 man]

Id be interested to see pictures, more so now because I'll probably a member again next year.....

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Mr E and I had a little play on the way home but I am glad to report Mr McN was suitably adult, particularly considering it wasn't his car.

So, gripping the wheel so tight that my fingers lost circulation, and clenching every part of my body, is being "adult"? [] You've got, what, about 300 BHP, uprated brakes, custom suspension, roll bar, harness, Cobra Comfort seat etc. I'm in borrowed car, with 150 BHP if you're in the right gear - when in fact in an "S" it's always the wrong gear. Full of Peter's polishing gear that smacks you in the head on every bend, trying to re-tune the complicated stereo to find the Radio 4 poetry hour. I think I did just fine! [&:]

 

[Suffolk944]

Was indeed a fine day all round - lovely weather, glorious Cotswold countryside, an excellent cross section of Porsches with the engines in the right place and the customary gathering of friendly and knowledgable folk. Just how it should be ! [] Was really interested to see Mr Empson's machine back on the road in its latest incarnation as well as to chat to Will and others on various '44 related stuff. Really looking forward to next years event and I reckon its an excellent idea to shift it in the calender. Finally a big thanks as always to those who in any way were part of the organising of such a fine event.

 

[SteveSJS]

Morning Paul et al, Thanks for the special mention - Pauline and I think we must be a little mad, but it was great to have the car back (thanks to Andy Moss - super job!!) and with a great day forecast (did I mention the fog?) not to mention the fog patches it was a great chance to put some mileage on the car. 450 miles on the tankful, with a couple of gallons still in reserve, equated to 29 MPG and the oil didn't move on the dipstick. After the last engine's demise a truly great result and considering our average <cough!> speed on the motorway (legal but 'very" close to max as an overall average!!) extremely good for a 3.0 litre, 20 year old touring car. I just love them - the smile won't go away!! You asked about food? For a 'couple of old codgers' like what we are(!), an empty parking place in the town square lead us to the 'Market House.' Wouldn't do for a posse, but for the two of us it was small, beautifully formed with very good food and sensible prices. We shall use it again. Once again it was great to meet up with every one, see all the other cars and just 'be there' and while we wouldn't do it every day (we slept very well last night!!) it was a great day out.

 

[Peter Empson]

What a fantastic day out that was [] Great to meet up with everyone, the weather was ace and the turnout superb. I tried to grab a few pics but most didn't come out terribly well. Thanks to Paul for inviting the white car into the club house, I felt very honoured, although for a few minutes it looked a little unlikely it would make it up the steep ramp [] When we got a better angle of attack one of the rear wheels lifted clean off the ground and spun uselessly (so that's another good reason for getting an LSD sooner rather than later ).

I didn't capture the colour of this car very well, but it's one of my favourites (I still fail to understand why people dislike the cookie cutters so much, I think they look great and are stupendously cheap at the moment).

Lastly, couldn't resist sneaking a pic in of my car []

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty .....You've got, what, about 300 BHP, ......

Only if I've lost 10% from last time we checked []. I did spend part of the day playing with my electronic boost controller so have also managed to dial out some of the lag, and a good amount of the boost smack in in the back, so Beaky was much more Cotswoldian road friendly. [8D] I am also developing a bit more local knowledge, with frequent trips, so that helps. [8|] The trouble with gatherings such as this is, just when I had decided I wasn't going to spend any more on the car, my wish list grows. (Another seat and Jon's exhaust to keep Small happy, a set of R888's, new mirrors, Peter's tailgate, black wheels, Barry's LEDs, Olli's brake ducts (they weren't there but I thought I would put them on the list for good measure) and Chris Clark's light weight 928)

 

[Peter Empson]

Sounds like a good shopping list to me John [] I'm getting used to the R888's now on the road and they are great fun, the grip is good of course but they are much more prone to spinning unless they're really hot, which is a bit tricky at the moment. I had left my suspension on full hard after Oulton and following you on the way back was amusing (I don't really mean amusing, I mean bl**dy uncomfortable []), some of those roads are shocking and I think I spent more time skipping over the surface than I did completely hooked up. Was good to excercise the car but I felt for Paul knowing that by the time we'd finished the 944S would just about be coming on cam Will we ever get over the shame of being overtaken by a Citroen [&o]

 

[944 man]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

Is that Ricky Ceasar's car Peter (one of them, at least)?

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson ....Will we ever get over the shame of being overtaken by a Citroen [&o]

And a really old one at that. He was giving it some stick on those skinny cross ply tyres and had something hanging down under the car which could only be described as an exhaust tube - there was no way it was thick enough to class it as a pipe. Top man. Obviously we had pulled over to wait for Paul. [8|] I was very pleased with Beaky's suspension on this occasion. Some of the surfaces did unsettle him a little but he seemed pretty well hooked up most of the time - the seat helps because you can tell what is happening. Perhaps I have found a happy compromise. I love those uphill right left sections [8D][] and with the turbo better trained now I was having loads'a fun.

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: 944 man Is that Ricky Ceasar's car Peter (one of them, at least)?

Yes it is, and it's lovely. I met Ricky for the first yesterday and had a good chat with him, top bloke.

 

[James_G]

Chaps Nice to catch up with some of you at Frontrunner yesterday. Peter, your car looked fantastic and you must be very pleased with the finished product. I also spoke to a friendly chap in a 996 and another couple who'd come along in an 911 SC proving that we're all friends together...[]. Alas I was shooting 35mm film, so no photos from me yet. Like others I have come away with a shopping list of parts that I need (sort of..) but I'm definitely getting my car close to the condition I am happy with, even if it didn't look it with a weekend's worth of dirt from driving around the Costwolds. My run back to Brighton was easy though and according to my calculations 400 miles for the weekend was done at 29mpg. Fabulous. Now looking forward to Blenheim. Cheers James

 

[944 man]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

ORIGINAL: 944 man Is that Ricky Ceasar's car Peter (one of them, at least)?

Yes it is, and it's lovely. I met Ricky for the first yesterday and had a good chat with him, top bloke.

He must be a very successful plumber! He used to have a pair of CGTs and a 1975 impact bumper Carrera (essentially an RS in the later body)...

 

[pauljmcnulty]

He must be a very successful plumber! He used to have a pair of CGTs

He brought both cars to the photo shoot I attended for 911PW, one was up for sale, I thought it was the silver one? Ricky, please enlighten us if you use computers! [][][]

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty He brought both cars to the photo shoot I attended for 911PW, one was up for sale, I thought it was the silver one? Ricky, please enlighten us if you use computers! [][][]

He said he didn't use a computer, which is sad, as his knowledge would be very beneficial here. I believe he sold the other CGT so that he could buy the sister car to Derek Bell's. Now that I want to see []

 

[944 man]

Id heard that he was buying a Carrera GTS.

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: 944 man Id heard that he was buying a Carrera GTS.

Yep, that's the one [] For anyone that's not seen it, Derek Bells car is featured in this vid [link=http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Video/Search-Results/Video/Features/Porsche-video-special-Derek-Bell-drives-the-911-27-RS-and-GT2/]here[/link].

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson Sounds like a good shopping list to me John []......

I might have accidentally [] ordered a second seat. [8D] []

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I believe he sold the other CGT so that he could buy the sister car to Derek Bell's. Now that I want to see

It was featured in the 911PW article with my car and others, the one that covered the whole front-engined range. Looked great, but was misfiring badly on the day.