Table of contents for No. 217 in Total 911

“What a Turbo lacks in throttle response it makes up for in brute power” There really is nothing out there quite like a Porsche Turbo. Sure, the 911 generally is an amazing sports car and a pretty good all-rounder, but while other models within the 911 family excel more at one aspect of motoring – for example, Rennsports take care of track work with aplomb – the Turbo really does raise the bar for EVERYTHING, and right up to 11. Today the 911 Turbo is known as the ultimate all-rounder, but how did we get here? This month’s group test of the air-cooled Turbos made for a fascinating look back at how the Turbo dynasty started, to a time when there wasn’t a lot else to rival it. As a…

G Series Tool Bag This stylish tool bag for the G Series 911 (1983 to 1989) is new from Porsche Classic. The leather and black-and-white pinstriped velour bag contains a range of tools, including instruments for use in the event of a faulty sliding roof or window regulator motor. Other versions of the bags contain tools specific for different eras of 911. Porsche item number PCG93072110 is priced at £389.33, available from shop.porsche.com. Playmobil 2.7 RS Perfect for the smaller Porsche person in your life (and the big kids too) is this Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 – new from toy manufacturer Playmobil. The car’s roof is removable for placing the figures in and out of the vehicle, while an opening rear decklid reveals a six-cylinder engine. The model comes…

HISTORY AND TECH The 997.2 made history by being the first Turbo since the 930 in 1974 not to use a Mezger-derived engine. The water-cooled 3.6-litre flat six that Herbert Ampferer had conceived for the 996 GT3 and developed for the 996 Turbo had served its purpose. Emissions reasons alone would have justified the end of production, but not only did a brand-new power unit offer better mpg possibilities, the fresh start enabled Weissach to improve refinement and especially torque at low RPM. The new MA1 3.8 flat six introduced with the 997 Gen2 was also conceived to be turbocharged. This led the way for the separately manufactured Mezger, which had no common parts with the M97 unit, to be replaced by an engine that suited both n/a and turbo…

Data file Full specs, ratings and market values of every Porsche 911 model from 1963 to 2022 can be found beginning on page 74 Plus Showroom Looking for a new 911? The classifieds from our independent specialist partners are the first place you should start your search Servicing & tuning Get the very best from your Porsche 911 with the help of our selected performance and maintenance specialists Porsche lifestyle Helping you make the right lifestyle choices to complement you and your 911. Don’t just drive Porsche, live the brand Insurance & finance Get your Porsche covered with the best insurance deals for road and track to ensure happy, safe motoring…

For some owners, standard is never enough – even on a 911. With this in mind, Porsche offered a performance increase package for the 911 called the X51 Powerkit. Since the 993, the X51 was a factory-approved package to give a 911 engine a little bit extra. The X51 floated around on options lists for both the 993 and 996, but you may not have known this, so uncommonly was the option specified. It was the 997 – specifically 997.2 models – that saw the package come into wider awareness, thanks to models like the Sport Classic, Speedster and GTS, which all came with the X51. Rather than a scant mention buried near the back of a brochure, the Powerkit started to become central to the performance of the specials.…

All 911s are constructed on the same hallowed line at Porsche’s long-time HQ at Zuffenhausen, but did you know each 911 goes through a 117-stage build process, over two days, involving some 1,500 staff? Porsche has also expanded its popular Paint To Sample campaign, with 20 cars a day now receiving a unique hue under the initiative. Seen here is the 992 GT3 of Leh Keen, racing driver of many Porsche cars, being painted in its unique shade of Gold Bronze Metallic on the Zuffenhausen assembly line.…

After strong sale prices of the auction cars featured in last month’s Spotted, we’ve been perusing the classifieds for other interesting 911s for sale. We love a Special Wishes car, and back in the early 1990s Porsche’s dream-makers were applying some RS philosophy to the 964 Turbo, and produced some 964 Turbo S Leichtbau (lightweight) models for its most discerning – and deep of pocket – customers. It’s said that just 86 of these special Turbos were built, and according to the paperwork this is the last of them. Carbon composite and aluminium body panels featured, as did RS door cards, no rear seats, less sound deadening, thinner glass and carpets and RS bucket seats. These changes reduced the mass by 180kg over a standard Turbo. Just to make sure…

997.1 GT3 £90,000 buys a correctly maintained 2007 GT3 which may have seen some track use. Nervous when the Turbo S is calm, when the blown Turbo S seems unbelievably fast, the manual GT3 is always a driving challenge. The opposite of Turbo S, but a more solid investment. 991.1 Turbo S If the 3.8-litre was virtually as before, the 991.1 Turbo S brought a new chassis that was larger in all dimensions, the longer wheelbase granting greater stability, better ride and refinement and a more spacious, refreshed cabin. It generally sells around £100,000-plus. 992 C2S All current 911s are turbocharged: the S has 80 horses fewer than the 997 Turbo S (but not noticeably less of a performance), and has a state-of-the-art cabin and the expected improvements in ride…

NEW HERITAGE MODEL REVEALED Full details on the exciting Heritage Design 911 to roll out of Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur THE WORLD’S LIGHTEST 911 And it’s not the 1967 911R! We detail one man’s commitment to ‘leichtbau’ ESSENTIAL DRIVING TIPS Total 911’s performance driving instructor improves your technique THE LAST PROPER 911? Discover if the 997.2 is the sweet spot for water-cooled enthusiasts *Contents may be subject to change…

9WERKS Awards celebrates the best in the business Industry excellence is rewarded at the black-tie ceremony, with Tony Hatter as guest of honour 9WERKS, the innovative online platform for Porsche enthusiasts created by Total 911 editor Lee Sibley, has conducted its inaugural awards evening to celebrate the finest in quality and customer service across the UK Porsche industry. Held on 7 April at Shorade Accident Repair in Staffordshire, one of a handful of Porsche Recommended body repairers in the UK, the 9WERKS Awards with Design911 presented nine trophies on the night to both personalities and businesses. On presentation duties that evening was the legendary 993, Carrera GT and GT1 designer Tony Hatter, who flew in from his home in Weissach to be guest of honour for the black tie event.…

Andreas Preuninger often reminisces about the white and blue Carrera 2.7 RS that occupied his bedroom wall. For me, being a few years younger than the head of Porsche’s GT division, pride of place went to a red 930 Turbo. To a car-obsessed kid in Croydon, the flagship 911 seemed impossibly exotic. In many respects, the 930 was the yang to Andreas’ yin. It traded lightweight for luxury, unambiguous focus for a split personality, and linear throttle response for bludgeoning boost. It also had huge haunches instead of slim hips, while delicate chrome gave way to bulbous black plastic. The Turbo was more at home on an autobahn than at a racetrack. Many Porsche purists were miffed. I loved it. “This is the only air-cooled Turbo that doesn’t hide its…

A wise man once said there’s no such thing as a cheap Porsche, and he wasn’t wrong. Sure, a few years ago you could probably bag a 924 for a four-figure sum beginning with a 2, but it’d be, er, ‘ratty’ I think is the term. And then there’s the debate about it being a real Porsche at all. I’ll leave that can of worms firmly closed. Of course, nowadays there are still a few early Boxsters available for under £5k if you browse eBay/Facebook/Pistonheads hard enough, but they come loaded with issues that could easily chew through the same amount of cash all over again. Besides, if you fancy a Porsche at the budget end of the market you probably want a ‘real’ one don’t you? Which means having…

Andy Brookes Poole, UK @993andy 9WERKS Radio Model 993CARRERA Year 1995 Acquired SEPTEMBER 2018 Project ‘running gear’ is progressing well. My aim is to bring the running gear up to a decent standard that’s easy to maintain, and not to make the car into a garage queen that I won’t want to use. With this in mind, I decided I wanted to remove 27 years of dirt to enable me to get Gustavo dirty again. To this end, I had a visit from Tom of @theblastsmith to give the bottom of the car a freshen-up with his dry ice setup. There’s been a lot of talk about this process in recent times and I was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about. I spent a couple of evenings…

The world has changed in the past month or so. The war in Ukraine has sent shocks around the world, both emotionally and financially. Aside from the horrors inflicted on Ukrainian people, the world is learning to cope with new supply chains for all manner of goods, including Porsche. Earlier last month production temporarily halted due to Ukrainian wiring harness supply being affected. The fallout filters down to us all, as consumers, notably with record petrol prices in recent weeks. Have booming petrol costs had an impact on the 911 market? Avantgarde Classic’s Jonathan Aucott says yes: the rising cost of fuel – and of living – is having an effect not just on 911s, but the market for classic cars in general. “The froth has perhaps blown very slightly…

Events bringing Ferry Porsche and his four sons together became rarer as the years passed. Yet for his 80th birthday in September 1989, most of the family and a few close friends descended on Zell am See, the traditional Porsche home south of Salzburg. In the foreground, beside the Panamericana that the company had presented to Ferry for the occasion are Hans-Peter, Gerd, Butzi and Wolfgang. It’s said that Ferry disliked the “beach buggy” Panamericana intensely. What his sons might have thought isn’t recorded. On the left is Hans-Peter, born 1940. He was the second son to join Porsche where, as production manager, he would clash with his cousin Ferdinand Piëch, the engineering director until 1972 when the Porsches and Piëchs all gave up their management roles. A major shareholder,…