Dear John,
I could not agree more. He attended the Spa 24 hour on the weekend where a Porsche GT-3RS was the outright winner. This was I believe his last official function as the chief of Porsche Motorsports. He is the last of the greats. All the rest are gone to other manufacturers or have retired. He will be sorely missed internally and externally. His, are huge shoes to fill and I doubt there is anyone around with the passion or the knowledge to do what Norbert Singer did all these years. When I was at LeMans and watched the Porsche people at work at the various teams there seemed to be a lack of passion among the younger people. They looked very professional but it still looked like they were just doing their job.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

 

I guess I've made a faux pas by stating my assumption that the CGT's V10's could have "possibly" been used for F1 development, forgive me. I'm backassward and ignorant.

That said, perhaps you should all take my comments with a grain of salt; however, I' ve found that there's a great disconnect b/w the european and U.S counterparts of nearly every highend manufacture. Seems like the passion, and the accountability, along with the respect for the consumer dissapates as it travel across the pond. Here we seem to be constituents of demographics, numbers, and blots on graphs.

F of NA has viciously gone after fans that have used their image, name, etc. to spread their own love for the marque and reputation, passionatly, via the net, etc. even when there was no money being made. They made numerous attempts at blockading the import of grey market cars to the US, and threathened to disenfranchise dealers that gave these cars support, on top of the fact that the warranty here, in the US, was null and void. Further, customers that went to dealers for support w/ euro cars, were shrugged off, for the most part, and treated as second class citizens. Same product ... what gives??? Gee I guess unit sold v. unit sold isn't equivelent, right?

Anyway, I'll betray the fact that I'm a neophyte w/ porsches, but I will say that on a whole the US contingent of authorized dealers, retailers, etc. are -- usually-- disrespectful; you've got to know someone to get on "the list", you've got to drop a wad to be recognized, etc. and the fulfillment of being around these cars vanishes ... somehow the US reps. for these Co. have allowed themselves to forget who keeps them going.

 

Dear Hubert,
One reason for these forums is to learn. F1 engines are purpose built for the task and are engineering marvels. How about an entire clutch assembly that weighs 800 grams (1.76 lbs). It is worth a visit to one of the team HQs if you ever get over this way. Most are in England of course.
To your comments about F NA and PCNA, yes it is sad. I guess the difference here in Europe is that 60,000 plus Ferrari fans that turn pit fopr each F1 Grand prix are not to be messed with. Here in Europe we have much more sports car racing at all levels including gentleman racer series. You can go on a Lamborghini drivers course for $US15,000 including the Diablo for 3 days in Spain. You do not need to be a purchaser. We get invitations to test drive all kinds of cars. I have recently been invited to test drive the new BMW M3 CSL (385 HP). Many just come in the post.
I suspect that your dealers do not have the passion for the product. Many car firms here have been a certain marque dealer for decades and they are small family firms. Here in Switzerland they are required to be licenced so that also plays a role. Too many complaints and you are dumped by the company.
Anyway, pay us a visit one day and we can go get a test drive for you. No need to bribe anyone here. They love to let people do test drives. The best thing to do if you want to test drive a Ferrari is to turn up in a Porsche and vice versa. If you enjoy racing there is heaps of that to. Oh one last thing related to the racing. The new privately designed 996 TT racing car is doing quite well and improving all the time.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

 

Adrian:

As you said, F1 engines are purpose built, but amidst early specualtion around the C-GT there was a notion of the possibility; before bore, stroke and other specifics were released. Which is what I referenced my comment from -- after all the F50 uses a detuned F1 motor (used in the 1990 F1 cars of prost and mansell; the pneumatic valvetrain was replaced w/traditional spring type valvetrain, the head remained the same, and so did the block, but the internals were switched out). Anyway, I provoked the notion b/c it isn't impossible, either way it's moot now.

Thank you for the invitation. I was just in your neck of the woods... was in europe for the Monaco GP, and would have gladly visited; spent much of my time in Italy, however, and in maranello especially. Next time...

I saw some coverage of the nurburgring 24 hour endurance race, and, yes, you're right the privateer 996 TT's were doing very well (in that venue), and lead the majority of the race... they also won overall if I remember correctly?? Correct me if I'm wrong. Did they compete in the Spa 24hrs??

I plan to move to europe once I'm able to secure employment , or a race seat with a team... but I think the former will come true before the latter.

Best,
hubert

 

Dear Hubert,
Mercedes put two F1 engine, on eup front and one in the rear of an A Class for Miki and I think David got one as well. Renault put a F1 engine in an Espace. Fastest van in the world. Putting detuned F1 engines into lesser autos is not new. We ran them in our old Zakspeed Escort (Ford Cosworth) in the late 70s and early 80s.
There is only one 996 TT competing at the moment. I cannot remember the names of the team members off the top of my head. They have not finished a race yet. No they were not at Spa.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

PS: Always remember it is not what you know but who you know that counts.

 

Hubert & Adrian,

The following information was derived from this site:


There were two 996 Turbos at the Nurburgring 24hr race this year. The H&R Spezial Federn(Jurgen Alzen, Arno Klasen, Uwe Alzen & Michael Bartels)--which qualified on pole due to the Zakspeed Viper's time being disqualified.

The second was the Manthey Racing 996 GT-MR(Lucas Luhr,Emmanuel Collard & Timo Bernhard) which qualified 11th.

An Opel Astra V8 coupe won the race. The Manthey GT-MR finished 3rd. The H&R Spezial was a DNF.


Greg A

 

Dear Greg,
The teams list only shows one 996 Turbo.
Lucas and co were driving a 996 according to the teams list. Only one Turbo is being reported in the German speaking press as being developed and raced. I have a photo of it.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

 

Adrian,
Which turbo is being reported in the German speaking press?

If you look on the team database under Manthey Racing on the Nurburgring 24hr official site you will see under "CAR" and then "Engine" it says: 6 cyl. / 3.600 ccm Turbo

Here is another page which mentions the Manthey car: www.gt-eins.de/dgtarchiv03.htm

There were two 996 Turbos in the Nurburgring 24h race.

Greg A

 

Found a nice bit of information about Norbert Singer on dailysportscar.com. Illustrating his unparalleled expertise in managing races, he apparently had a hand in helping the Freisinger 996 GT3RS driven by Ortelli/Lieb/Dumas to win the Spa 24 hours race, against long odds. The rainy weather was apparently horrible and the Freisinger car achieved an unexpected overall win thanks to its superior wet weather traction and some input from Singer.

He's going to be sorely missed...

 

Dear Greg,
The Uwe Alzen machine,
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4