Porsche & Rennline News

Track Proven Solutions for Your Porsche, Audi, BMW, or VW. 

Track Proven Solutions for Your Porsche, Audi, BMW, or VW.

Track Proven Solutions for Your Porsche, Audi, BMW, or VW.

Article by Porsche Newsroom

Porsche has once again made history and won both GTE classes at the world’s toughest long distance race.

In the pro-category, the Porsche 911 RSR with the starting number 92 concluded the 86th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours in first place after 344 laps. The driver trio Kévin Estre (France), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) held the lead for almost the entire distance and controlled the race on the tradition-steeped 13.626-kilometre racetrack. The works drivers crowned their flawless performance with class victory number 106 for Porsche.

“Special liveries for the Manthey-run Porsche 911 RSR at Le Mans: #92 will adopt the famous #PinkPig design of the Porsche 917/20 from 1971.” (@manthey_racing)

The sister car (#91) shared by Richard Lietz (Austria), Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and Gianmaria Bruni (Italy) perfectly rounded off the double victory for Porsche in the GTE-Pro class. Frédéric Makowiecki provided a special highlight. The Frenchman fought an epic duel with a competitor for an hour and a half, fending off all attacks to claim second place. With these two triumphs at the 24-hour marathon in France, Porsche has extended its lead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ classifications of the FIA WEC world championship.

“Special liveries for the Manthey-run Porsche 911 RSR at Le Mans: #91 will be decked out in the famous colors of former tobacco company #Rothmans.” (@manthey_racing)

Technical problems with the #93 nine-eleven threw the car far behind during the night. Patrick Pilet (France), Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain) lost 25 minutes due to repairs and ultimately finished on eleventh. For Romain Dumas (France), Timo Bernhard and Sven Müller (both Germany), the race was over after seven hours. Their car (#94) retired in the night with suspension damage.

“Porsche scores a 1-2 victory in GTE-Pro at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. P1 for Porsche 911 RSR No. 92 “Pink Pig”, P2 No. 91.” (@porsche_newsroom)

Winner in the GTE-Am class: the #77 Porsche fielded by Dempsey-Proton Racing

The #77 Porsche fielded by Dempsey-Proton Racing celebrated an impressive win in the GTE-Am class. Putting in an inspired drive, Porsche Young Professional Matt Campbell (Australia), Christian Ried (Germany) and Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer (France) notched up the 107th class win for Porsche. At just 18 years of age, Julien Andlauer has become the youngest class winner at Le Mans.

While the second car fielded by the Dempsey-Proton Racing team (#88) was sidelined with suspension damage, the 510 hp 911 (#99) run by Proton Competition narrowly missed out on a podium spot in fourth place. The Porsche 911 RSR with the starting number 80 (Ebimotors) and 56 (Team Project 1) finished the Le Mans 24-hour marathon on sixth and seventh respectively. The vehicle campaigned by Gulf Racing (#86) was relegated to the back of the field at the beginning of the race after becoming entangled in an accident caused by another competitor. Pulling out all stops, the team fought their way back up the order to finish on tenth.

Comments On The Race

Dr Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board: “An absolutely perfect weekend for Porsche. You can’t wish for more than this in our anniversary year. It’s impossible to plan such a thing, but when it happens it’s an indescribable feeling. Congratulations to the drivers, the teams and all the employees who made this success possible. It makes me very proud.”

Oliver Blume, CEO of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG: “We prepared meticulously for this race and have worked towards this for months. The entire team did a perfect job. We’re incredibly proud of this double victory in the GTE-Pro class and of winning the amateur classification. This is a fantastic achievement from our employees. Porsche belongs to Le Mans and Le Mans belongs to Porsche.”

Michael Steiner, Research and Development at Porsche: “The Porsche 911 is and remains the best sports car in the world – it’s a true racer. It doesn’t get better than scoring a double victory in the GTE-Pro class and victory in the GTE-Am class on our 70th birthday. This year we’re back at the front and that’s where we belong.”

Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, Vice President Motorsport and GT Cars: “It’s a sensation. What a crazy fight out there on the track and a flawless performance from the team. That was an incredible feat, which we ultimately turned into a deserved victory. The class wins are a perfect gift for our 70th anniversary. The fact that we earned maximum points towards the world championship rounds off the whole result. Now the suspense has turned to joy.”

Pascal Zurlinden, Director GT Factory Motorsport: “We got a perfect lap in qualifying and the result of today’s race has crowned a perfect weekend. Victory in the GTE-Pro and GTE-Am class underlines that we’re doing everything right at Porsche in both factory and customer sport. We were able to extend our lead in the manufacturers’ classification and we also moved into the lead of the drivers’ category. All in all, a perfect day.”

Race Results

GTE-Pro class
1. Christensen/Estre/Vanthoor (DK/F/B), Porsche 911 RSR, 344 laps
2. Lietz/Bruni/Makowiecki (A/I/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 343 laps
3. Hand/Müller/Bourdais (USA/D/F), Ford GT, 343 laps
11. Pilet/Tandy/Bamber (F/GB/NZ), Porsche 911 RSR, 338 laps

GTE-Am class
1. Ried/Andlauer/Campbell (D/F/AUS), Porsche 911 RSR, 335 laps
2. Flohr/Castellacci/Fisichella (CH/I/I), Ferrari 488 GTE, 335 laps
3. Keating/Bleekemolen/Stolz (USA/NL/D), Ferrari 488 GTE, 334 laps
4. Long/Pappas/Pumpelly (USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 RSR, 334 laps
6. Babini/Nielsen/Maris (I/DK/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 332 laps
7. Bergmeister/Lindsey/Perfetti (D/USA/N), Porsche 911 RSR, 332 laps
10. Wainwright/Barker/Davison (GB/GB/AUS), Porsche 911 RSR, 324 laps

We really enjoyed this article from our friends at Petrolicious, so we wanted to share: “We’ve been slowly profiling Tim Pappas’ exceptionally fast car collection over the past year. You might remember his RUF Yellowbird, one of my all time favorite cars. He’s something of a Porsche psychopath, and his latest addition is nothing short of a mad hatter’s masterpiece cooked up by none other than Kevin Jeannette, of Gunnar Racing.

Every single element of the car was put together by Tim, Kevin, and Tim’s family. The interior fabric? Discovered by Tim’s sister. The seats are real rally seats from ‘74. The fuel cell in the front is a factory race option. The spare tire is a factory. The windows are factory 935 options that would have been available back then. There’s a factory PETO fan indicator light to keep the priceless 3.0L RSR engine from cooking itself if the fan was to lose a belt.

“We did every single thing you could have done to the car in 1975 if you had walked into Porsche Special Projects as a VVIP” explained Kevin Jeannette.

I went for a ride in it, needless to say I’m still shopping for new pants.

Ted Gushue: Tim, what is exactly is going on with this car?

Tim Pappas: The idea started in a conversation between Kevin Jeannette and me.

TG: For those who don’t know, who is Kevin Jeannette?

TP: Kevin Jeannette is the proprietor of Gunnar Racing. It’s a Porsche restoration shop based in Florida. Kevin has had a career involved in working on Porsches and racing Porsches starting back in early ’70s in southern California. He transitioned to Florida I think in the early ’80s. In any case, I met Kevin through racing in the year 2000. Over the course of a sixteen year relationship, I have sought his advice on car projects that I’ve been doing. I’ve bought parts from him, I have gone and hung out and gone Porsche crazy over the assortment of cars in his showroom at West Palm Beach, which rivals really any Porsche collection on the planet. Also an amazing collection of vintage Volkswagen, and one of the most comprehensive inventories of rare and unique Porsche parts.

Kevin has the distinction of having restored, I don’t know if it’s fifty cars now, but it’s a number that’s so significant and I’m talking about 917s, 962s, Carrera 6s, RSRs. Really, the guy raced many of the cars in period, saw the cars in their virgin state and has therefore made a career for himself restoring the cars to a level of detail and perfection that very few people in the world possess. I’ve just always loved Kevin because he’s sort of a mad scientist kind of a guy.

TG: How did the conversation around this car begin?

TP: Actually, the conversation was completely unrelated to us doing a project together. He was helping me with another project. I bought some amber molded Plexi windows for another old car that I have. When we started talking about the project that I was doing, he started telling me about how he was in the process of finishing up metal work on a car and his idea was to build a ’75 RSR for the street that would be totally period correct and would be the kind of car fitted with parts…all of which came from Porsche.

Such that if you went to Porsche in 1975 and you were Steve McQueen or Paul Newman or one of the VIPs that they built custom cars for, the gentleman that runs TAG Group had the 935 for the street for instance, this is the car you would have custom spec’d. They built crazy cars for different personalities. His idea was to build a car that would be authentic to the period with all of the coolest hot-rod parts that you could ever get from the factory.

It’s a 1975 Euro Carrera with a 3-litre RSR factory racing engine and 915 gearbox and limited slip differential. The drivetrain of this car is incredibly rare. They were parts and pieces that Kevin had in his shop, Bosch mechanical fuel injection, slide valves, slide valve throttle bodies, a real twin plug distributor. All together add up to basically the pinnacle of what the RSR motor became in that era. Nobody was really building street cars outfitted that way. This was the answer that he and I came up with to what is currently taking place in the arena of custom Porsches.

TG: Expand on that.

TP: I feel like, and he and I have had this discussion on a number of occasions, people are using terms like Outlaw very liberally. It used to be, my definition of Outlaw was a car that Gary Emory built. Now Rod and Gary have built cars. I always thought about Emory’s Outlaws. Then suddenly it just became when you took a 911 narrow bodied car and put a motor in it and suddenly it was an Outlaw.

There are really cool custom cars that are being built, don’t get me wrong. Often times you see a really well executed RSR or IROC replica and then you open up the engine compartment and it has a stock 964 3.6 L motronic engine. Which a lot of people put in there because they’re completely hassle free, turnkey, great performance upgrade for a lightweight 911, but they’re not really that outrageous.

TG: They’re also pretty affordable by comparison.

TP: Oh, completely.

TG: How much would it cost someone to go find that engine today in the current state?

TP: I don’t know that you can find one. I have no idea what that would be, how would it come about to find another 3L RSR engine. I don’t know enough about how many spare motors they built outside of the race car that they built. What I do know is if you had the opportunity to build the ultimate custom 911, this is what you’d do. I’ve had a 911 since 1991. I’ve never kept one stock. I’ve never, ever kept one stock. To me the most fun thing about Porsche is how infinitely customizable to your own personal taste that they can be. There is somebody out there that has remade every single part in the car.

The shift knob, the brake pedals, the seats, the fucking windows, the exhaust, everything has been changed and tweaked and modified. I think that’s so cool. I love that people go out of their way to build really outrageous stuff. Obviously Singer has taken it to almost an absurd level. They’ve taken bespoke and turned into something completely huge. I don’t think anybody imagined that there was a market like the market that Singer has created. It’s a very specific thing. They’re expensive and they’re catering to a certain market.

This project is just a whole different breed. If you gave somebody who is the race historian, restoration mad scientist guru of Porsches carte blanche, this is what you’d get. And I’m not going to say that Kevin is the only one that fits that description, there are guys like Kevin in every country where Porsche has had a history of racing. There’s people like Kevin in Europe, in Australia, in Asia. He just happens to be the guy that I know and respect and appreciate in the U.S.

TG: What’s it like to drive?

TP: The car is just, it’s sensational. The most fun thing about these cars is how connected you are to the experience of driving. There’s nothing in between you and the road. When you drive a lightweight 911 that has big brakes, you just can’t believe how much stopping force they have. We are so spoiled when we drive new cars, all of the electronic aids that have been developed in order to make the cars safer, faster, higher performance, there’s no question that this car versus a GT3RS on a race track, the GT3RS is going to walk away from it like it’s nothing.

The experience of driving this car is going to make you smile from ear to ear forever. I think that the GT3RS experience is fun, but it’s the difference between the analog and the digital. Do you want to take out a record and run it through the nitty gritty machine and clean it and make sure your needle is aligned and sit down in a comfortable chair and really listen versus the immediacy and the high tech experience of what the digital age has brought?

That’s really the difference between this car and the current factory 911 high performance hot rod. It’s analog versus digital.”

Words and Photography by Ted Gushue at Petrolicious

Rennline social media manager, Nick Coutu was lucky enough to interview Newton Kwan (@rwb_sacramento) and ask him a little about the story behind his amazing RWB 993 build.  See how Newton turned an average Porsche 993 into a dream RWB build that will leave you drooling.  Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Photo by @boldcopy

1. Tell us a little bit about @rwb_sacramento – what was your  inspiration behind building the car? 

My goal with building RWB Sacramento was to have a wild street-able track car.  I wanted something I could take to run errands in and something that would be a weekend warrior on the track. Years ago I was lucky enough to meet Nakai San in Japan and he introduced me to the RWB family.  Nakai San was so welcoming and as we talked more we had many of the same passions for cars.  Nakai San and the RWB family really inspired me to build out my 993.

Long story short, when I met Nakai San in Japan he took my fiance (now wife) and I out to Shabu Shabu after we landed from a late night flight.  As the taxi dropped us off, I was mesmerized by seeing the RWB headquarters.  It’s kinda of like a fantasy car heaven with RWB’s everywhere.  So, him and his friends waited up for us and took us to dinner and I had so many questions in my head about the RWB’ss.  I was skeptical, very skeptical of RWB’s rubbing and camber and all those things that make car enthusiasts frown.  Before Nakai San answered any of my questions he was like…”Get in.”  Pointing to RWB Adriana, we were heading off to dinner with the Nakai San.  I got in the car and moments later it was like a thrilling action movie.  We were flying down the dark narrow streets of Chiba with straight pipe exhaust screaming in the night.  In my head I was like ‘OMG’ this is amazing and holding on for dear life.  Keep in mind some of the the roads are maybe 1 and 1/2 lanes wide and as other on coming cars were coming we would weave around effortlessly.  I was so surprised how well the car handled.  There wasn’t any rubbing and the corning was very precise.  As we arrived at the Shabu Shabu restaurant, I got out of the car and I said, “Nakai San I need one.”  That was the moment I knew I needed an RWB.

Photo by @boldcopy

2. Why RWB? What was it like working with Nakai San?

I choose RWB because I wanted something special and I wanted it to be a unicorn.  I choose RWB because I wanted it to be perfect.  The attention to detail and meticulous craftsmanship is unheard of.  I also wanted to share RWB with people who haven’t experienced or heard of these before too.

Working with Nakai San has really been an honor for me.  I have been lucky enough to travel around with him and help with over 30 RWB’s.  He’s definitely been a great mentor and friend to me.  Nakai San knows everything about Porche’s and his craftsmanship.  He is very humble and a very hard worker.  Its mind blowing to see how all of the lines and measurements are done by eye.  He uses his finger to bond the panels with sikaflex and these RWB’s always come out perfect.  He is always the first and last person working.  In my experience with him, I just try and keep up and soak up the all knowledge and work ethics that I can.

Photo by @boldcopy

3. I remember you mentioning that you’ve auto-crossed and raced  the car on the track. How did that go? How did the car do?

Prior to the RWB transformation, I auto-crossed and tracked my cars.  I have a little process where I like to start with stock cars and modify them to see how the cars progresses and improves with each modification.  Last year my car spent a lot of time jumping from shop to shop getting work done, so it hasn’t hit the track yet.  I’m hoping this year I have the the time track it.  On a brighter note, the car is ready for the track.  Last year I was able to finish the year with a corner balance and alignment to track specs.  I weighed in at 2800 lbs (400 lbs under the stock weight) and it has a perfect cross weight now too.  So I’m excited to see how it performs too.

Photo by @boldcopy

4. We noticed a few Rennline parts on there – which parts did  you choose? Why Rennline?

I wanted a very clean and retro look.  I went RS style interior (it used to all be tan and I went with the silvernet black).  I relocated the center console to the dash and added more leg room with the lower dash delete.  Removed the back seats and customized the rear panel.  I also wanted it to be lightweight and it’s all sound dampened with Dynamat.

For the Rennline parts I went with the following:

• Rennline 964/993 Lower Dash Delete Cover
• Rennline Aluminum Floorboard – Driver side
• Rennline Passenger Floorboard – Passenger Side
• Rennline Steering Wheel Quick Disconnect Rev B
• RothSport Steering Hub Adapter
• Rennline Radio Block-Off Plate
• Rennline Aluminum Pedal Set – 4 Piece – Rubber Grip
• Rennline Front Adjustable Camber Plate Set- Sealed

I think I got my CAE Shifter through you guys too 🙂 I love it!

I choose Rennline because you guys have the best parts and fitment and excellent customer service, not to mention an excellent reputation in the Porsche world.  Still on the wish list is silver gauge rings, seat brackets once I get my seats, the rest of the control arm pieces, drop links and strut bar.

Photo by @conley916

 5. What do  you see for the future of @rwb_sacramento?

These cars are never ending projects.  Next is engine work and seats.  It lacks a bit of power, but for a streetable car in CA we have the worst emissions regulations.  It will get intake, exhaust, tune, clutch, and lightweight flywheel and we should be good.  These are all long processes, so maybe even start on RWB Sac. #2???? 🙂

Photo by @rwb_sacramento