Johnny Tipler

Another week in Germany, this time focusing on Porsche specialists in the south west. My supersnapper colleague Herr Fraser and I made the Channel crossing courtesy of DFDS ferries to Dunkirk this time, then drove down to Freiburg to visit aftermarket parts and tuning specialist FVD where proprietor Willy Brombacher gave us a thorough guided tour. Highlight was a run up nearby Schauinsland hillclimb in FVD’s 997 GT3 RS 4.0, an amazing machine, though shod with semi-slicks on a wet road meant erring on the side of caution.

Next day we called on SpeedART at Rutesheim near Stuttgart and went for a play on an airfield (owned by Mercedes-Benz?) in their latest 991 coupe; paratroopers descended from a massive helicopter as we did our stuff on the main runway.

Next appointment was the 2.7 ‘Bastard’ 911 that we;d seen at the Stuttgart Show, and that night we were taken out to dinner by its owners Uwe and Ute Kraenzmer and their daughter, with Annette Hisdai as interpreter. An amazing view over Stuttgart from the restaurant, so we took the car back up there next morning for the photoshoot. Great car, handled nicely.

Gemballa then kindly provided us with their 991 Cabriolet to complement the interview we did a few weeks earlier. Probably the most restrained car Gemballa has ever presented, and no bad thing for that: subtle and great to drive, and we photographed it at Solitude racetrack.

En route back to the UK we called at our Belgian friend’s 911 Motorsport premises near Antwerp to shoot the cover for my ‘forthcoming’ Porsche Carrera book: Michael Mathijs’s 356 Carrera juxtaposed with OBF’s 993 RS. A great week! And now writing it all up…

Following on from a drive to Portugal via France and Spain (courtesy P&O Ferries Dover-Calais) in the Alfa Romeo 156, it was a quick turnaround for a trip to Germany. I met photographer colleague Antony Fraser at Harwich and we posed The Peppermint Pig beside the quay to make some publicity shots for Stena line, then settled on board for the overnight sailing to Hook of Holland. The term ‘posh’ was coined by first class passengers on cruise liners, and that applies aboard the SS Hollandica as well.

We drove to Essen for the massive Techno Classica show, concentrating on the Porsches for our commission from 911 & Porsche World magazine. The zeitgeist is for 964s backdated to resemble cars from 20 years earlier, and there were plenty of firms thus involved, with some very nice examples – shades of grey were popular. We met a number of old friends as well, then took off for Stuttgart where we overnighted at the amazing V8 Hotel, Boeblingen. All rooms are decorated with all manner of automobilia, and my ‘bed’ was a Ford Taunus, while Antony slept in a Cadillac. It has its own classic car museum next door, plus brewery and pizza restaurant.

Our appointment was with tuner and bodywork converter Gemballa the next day and we had a long interview with CEO Andreas Schwartz. The big Stuttgart Retro Classic show was aslo on over at the airport so we claimed press entry and did the tour, meeting Walter Rohrl and several contacts from the Porsche Museum on their stand. We then drove south to Mindelheim in preparation for a day at Ruf, where we drove the fabulous new Ruf RGT 8, powered by Ruf’s unique V8 engine. Antony snapped other Ruf cars and I interviewed Alois. A great trip, with another enjoyable Stena voyage to round it off.

Here’s the link to the video of our coverage of the Monte Carlo Historic Rally in early February: http://vimeo.com/38952038   password: Dartmouth (if it doesn’t work at first, sign up to Vimeo then go again). The film was made by Fran Newman and edited by Robin Johnston. The full story of the trip and coverage of the whole event is published in the April issue of Total 911 magazine in my feature “Ice Road Porkers”.

I covered the Historic Monte again, end of Jan, beginning of Feb, with movie maker Fran Newman who brought along a Bullet-cam which she suckered to the Peppermint Pig so we could chase cars on the special stages and in transit sections. Picked up the start of the rally at Reims (one of six start cities) and while the contenders blasted down to Monaco on the first leg we ambled to Lyon to visit the charming Museum Henri Malatrtre. Star car was the Hitler Mercedes-Benz cabriolet which lacked gravitas in a museum context. We spent a day out on the special stages in the remote Ardeche hills west of Valence, plenty of snow and ice and a bitter wind. Great dinners in Valence, then a day leapfrogging the rally retinue along the Route Napoleon down to Monte Carlo, playing cat and mouse on the stages, alternately filming cars ahead and coming up behind, and snapping them from snow filled ditches. The final night up on Col de Turini was minus 12 but that didn’t stop the rally fans having a great time – crepe and mulled wine stalls, braziers and bonfires, and it looked like someone would get hit by sliding cars – snow on ice. We  helped  Swedish 911 pal Mauritz Lange drown his sorrows over a broken clutch. We stayed in a friend’s apartment at Menton where I wrote the reports for six magazines. Only one speeding ticket on the way home – 13 hours from Menton to Hammersmith.

Most recent mission: to cover the R.A.C. Roger Albert Clark Rally for 911 & Porsche World Magazine. So on 2nd December cameraboy Antony Fraser and I travelled to Helmsley, Yorkshire, aboard a Porsche 997 Turbo (courtesy Porsche GB) and signed on at Duncombe Park. Dozens of Escorts but only four Porsches. OK…

Touched base with John Hawkins at Specialist Cars Malton, then a hike into the depths of  Dalby Forest Woodyard to catch the cars churning the forestry tracks in the night: sound and fury and very little sight due to dazzling batteries of lights and pitch darkness. A welcome curry in Pickering to thaw out, then back to the bosom of the Mallyan Spout Hotel, Goathland for the night. More forest stages next day, and finally some circuit action at Croft (bitterly cold), then up to Bedlington for the night. More curry. Rally action shifted west to Dumfries, with blizzards up Eskdalemuir and watersplashes at Dumfries. Snow in Kielder Forest on Monday gifted some action shots in the white stuff, and finally to Carlisle for the finish. Gwyndaf Evans won, having led all weekend, while two 911s finished, 11th and 14th. Seems Ford kit has evolved over the years to a greater extent than 911′s, at this level of comps anyway.