To add to the numerous events, Porsche Club Great Britain and Brands Hatch revived their Festival of Porsche, which was last held in 2014 and it turned out to be one hell of an event.
Brands Hatch was the appropriate venue to hold this premium event where the cars and the weather all came together to make for a very hot weekend. The on-track action was headlined by a Porsche Club Championship round, starring a wide range of race-prepared cars across a number of different classes. Out for what I think was the first time was an amazing lineup of retro liveried 986 Boxster S models, each restored by different Porsche Centres from across the UK. There was also close racing action from a selection of 4-cylinder Porsche 924’s, 944’s and a few 968’s, together with a round of the Porsche Club Speed Championship. Off-track the infield for full of Porsches of every description, many different clubs and Porsche UK had a collection of all current road models on display. Centre of Porsche Club GB’s marquee was a beautiful Gmund coupe and a small stage which provided a platform for Porsche Le Mans legends Richard Attwood and Derek Bell, plus Urban Outlaw Magnus Walker to tell some of their stories.
The pits and paddock were open all day and allowed everyone to get up close and personal with all the cars and drivers. Having access to the pits like this a dream and I spent most of my time hanging out here, as you can tell from my images.
Philip Basil’s awesome 1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS has been one of my favourites all year. Originally one of two cars campaigned by Racing Team Holland (RTH) during 64/65. This one, chassis 055 was delivered, in May 1964, to its owner, Ben Pon – son of Ben Pon Sr. who was the first dealer to sell Volkswagens outside of Germany and is widely credited as being the inspiration behind the VW Type2. He was also one of the main guys responsible for VWs being sold in the USA, alongside Max Hoffman.
Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann took the1970 Le Mans victory, by 5 laps, in this Porsche 917K, chassis #917-23. Although only a static display in a quiet garage this car is such a beast and is definitely my favourite 917 race livery.
Rainer Beckers 1968 Porsche 910, chassis: 910-020, sat quietly in the pits.
In 1980 Porsche ran three924 GTPs at Le Mans. Teams from Germany, USA and Great Britain each ran one car under their national colours in the highly competitive ‘Prototype’ class. This #2 car was driven by Andy Rouse and Tony Dron and this car campaigned until 1982 when it was retired from competition. In 2016 a group of Porsche centres in Glasgow, Leeds and Swindon, worked together to restore the #2 924 GTP to its former glory. You can read about the restoration and the car’s specifications on the Porsche Cars GB site. There’s also a short video on YouTube about the project.
DSD Motor Works recently restored this 650bhp 1981 Porsche 935 K3.
Nick Tandy driving the Porsche 919 Evo, which clocked a speed of 191mph at Paddock Hill and lapped the Indy circuit with an unofficial quickest lap-time of 38.146s. The Brands Hatch Indy circuit isn’t long enough for the 919 to fully recharge it’s batteries, so each demo run was only a few laps. Out on track at the same time was the mid-engined 2018 Porsche RSR, quite a sight seeing these two machines together. The 919 Evo was so quick that it managed to lap the 911 every other lap.
@kiwisteveinuk putting the #OkrasaSpecial through its paces.
Ian Clarke + 356 + Brands Hatch = big grins.
