Rennline, German Performance Service Inc. and Braid Wheels at NEFR 2015

 

Even in an industry where most things are pretty cool, every once in a while you get to be involved in a particularly awesome project. One of these came along recently in the form of this beautiful 964 pictured below. Marc Feinstein, owner of German Performance Services approached us with the concept of building a classic 964 911 for competition in Rally America’s Stage Rally series.

Rennline sponsored 964 rally car built by German Performance Service

Photo by EEuroParts.com

Even if you haven’t heard of German Performance Services by name, you are probably familiar with their work and some of their friends. They have prepared everything from ALMS GT2s, to classic 901s, and the Audi S4 piloted by American rally legend Ramana Lagemann at the 2014 Mt. Washington Climb to the Clouds hillclimb set in the beautiful White Mountians of New Hampshire.

Marc is a seasoned racer, having competed nationally in various SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) and NASA (National Auto Sport Association) events with huge success. When he decided it was time to take to the stages, he obviously needed something German to take on the ubiquitous Subaru WRX/STI and legendary Mitsubishi Evos that dominate American rally racing. Marc got in touch with us along with Braid Wheels, whose line of motorsports quality wheels are also available on our website.

Rennline sponsored 964 rally car getting sideways and throwing a dust plume

Photo by EEuroParts.com

Stuttgart is closer to our hearts than the Pleiades, but here at Rennline we are a precision machine/motorsports shop just down the street from Vermont Sportscar. They are the shop that prepares the Rally America and Redbull Global Rallycross cars for Subaru Rally Team USA, and we regularly collaborate on production parts. This has made us intimately familiar with the brutal nature of rallying, and perfectly suited to the needs of this particular 964.

To handle the incredibly rough and tumble surfaces on stage, Marc chose a Reiger damper setup to ensure he had plenty of suspension travel and proper valving. He added a Rennline strut tower brace up front which serves the two purposes: stiffening the front strut towers to maintain proper camber settings, and providing a convenient mounting point for the dampers’ external reservoirs.

The unique challenges of listening to pace notes while trying to barrel 10/10ths down a narrow dirt road at triple-digit speeds means driver confidence is key. So we provided Marc with a set of our Full Race Track Mats, a dead pedal, and one of our famously precise steering wheel quick disconnects. A set of our CNC machined floorboards give the co-driver something to brace off and keep the area behind the pedals free of debris.

964 rally car pounding through rough gravel on stage

Photo by Neil McDaid Photography

For safety’s sake a set of our all-steel tow hooks, the same ones used on Subaru Rally Team USA’s cars, were added front and rear. A whole host of other Rennline goods decorate the suspension, engine and interior, and in his first outing in the car he finished 2nd in Group 5 (higher power 2wd cars) and had zero mechanical problems. This was a completely successful event for all the guys at German Performance Service, by any measure, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this stage monster.

The German Performance Service built, Rennline sponsored 964 on a lift at GPS

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