article in full - Tuthill Porsche
article in full - Tuthill Porsche article in full - Tuthill Porsche
What I love even more is its sensationally split personality, allowing it to play the quiet and civilised cruiser one moment, and the no-prisoners road warrior the next 52 WWW.GTPURELYPORSCHE.COM Tuthill 911 button that sends twelve electrical pulses down the plug leads. I’d been expecting a riot of scarcely silenced, race-spec flat-six to invade all the space in the cabin and rattle my fillings, but in fact it idles more quietly than my near standard 3.0-litre SC motor. It’s a more complex and layered sound than typical flat-sixes of the era, but it’s entirely civilised. The clutch is perhaps a little heavier than that of a standard road car, but no less progressive and anyone used to wrestling with a 915 gearbox will likely welcome the slick action of the sweet shifting G50 though, strange as I am, I’ve always preferred the challenge of the earlier ‘box. In those first few miles, I even wondered if it might have been too good. All the best 911s, from an early 911S to the latest GT3 RS have always asked questions of their drivers, refusing to dole out the rewards until the requisite level of effort and application have been invested. But this one was easy: smooth, quiet and with the best ride quality of any 911 I’ve driven, from the newest to the oldest. It retains torsion bar springing but those dampers appear to recontour the road as you approach, eliminating heave and pitch, maintaining a perfect ride height over the worst humps and dips. I’ve driven luxury cars that can’t match this level of comfort along a typical British B-road. It took a long time for what I call ‘the moment’ to arrive. Every day of my normal working life is spent assessing modern road cars and because time is always tight, one of the skills it requires is an ability to adapt and acclimatise to each new machine as swiftly as possible, so that the moment when you feel confident and comfortable enough to start really driving arrives as soon as possible. But in the 911 I was in no hurry at all. Maybe it was the conditions – damp with an air temperature hovering around zero – combined with thoughts of near-race rubber providing the only barrier between me and making a neat 911shaped hole in the nearest hedge that explained my reticence. Perhaps it was thoughts of its value or simply that it felt so good being driven slowly that I didn’t want to discover it felt less good being driven fast. But eventually I could delay it no longer, and mindful of the fact that just the engine in this car is worth not much less than my entire 911, I chose a nice, conservative 2500rpm, and opened the throttles wide. I’m not sure what I expected but it was not this. Not even an SC, the most torquey of all old 911s, is on song at such modest revs; but this one is. The engine note deepened as it took a deep breath and then with a growl and a snarl, it threw me up the road. By 4000rpm it was still gathering intensity and at around 5500rpm it went again. Richard had told me the engine is safe to 7300rpm but mindful that this was someone else’s hundred grand car and not being exactly disappointed with the level of available performance, I reached for the next ratio fully 1000rpm short of MARCH 2009 53
the mark, only for an encore of the whole crazy show to play out at even higher speeds. How fast? Nearer four than five seconds to 60mph and a 0-100mph time barely into double figures is my reasonably educated guess. Bearing in mind that this is car deliberately tuned for comfort and torque, not light weight and power, this is an astonishing result. And as for the sound, there are many 911s that are much louder than this, a few that are more exciting but none in my experience that are quite so cultured. But it’s just the start of what this car can do, and it’s only when you begin to stretch its legs properly that you realise its real magic is how beautifully matched all its different modifications are. One of the most difficult tasks when undertaking such a comprehensive upgrade is ensuring that the result feels neither over- nor under-specified in either the chassis or engine department. A car without the ability to exploit its power is, at best, frustrating and, at worst, downright dangerous while one without 54 WWW.GTPURELYPORSCHE.COM the power to make the most of its chassis commits the worst crime of all: it’s just plain boring. But with this 911, all its various areas of endeavour work together as harmoniously as if it were a bog-standard, factory fresh 911 – just on a different plane. The chassis, for instance, thrives on its increased workload. The car feels so precise, the steering so full of feel and the suspension so fluent and reassuring that you can drive this old 911 on its track tyres down quite narrow roads in very marginal conditions with total confidence. And I can’t leave without a word for those Formula R Dunlops: despite being clearly designed as a road legal circuit tyre, they coped beautifully with the damp roads and wet leaves, didn’t destroy the ride quality and offered up copious levels of grip. Looking at their tread pattern I expect they’d be far from optimal on properly wet roads where water actually needed moving, but if you’re going to spend £100,000 on such a car, you’ll be able to afford a spare set of standard tyres for such eventualities. So it seems the 911 of my teenage daydreams does exist after all, even if it did not at the time. A car with all the punch (and more) of a modern 911, with the beauty and compact dimensions of an original plus, critically, the comfort and ease of use to make it a perfectly practical everyday proposition. I love the innocence of its appearance and were this my car I’d choose a very sober colour, lose the front airdam and put a 2.4 badge on the engine cover. But what I love even more is its sensationally split personality, allowing it to play the quiet and civilised cruiser one moment, and the no-prisoners road warrior the next. This is for someone who wants their 911 to do everything – look good but go hard, be sensible yet endlessly thrilling. If it has an equal within the realm of 911 road cars, I’ve not driven it ● Thank you to Richard Tuthill and all at Francis Tuthill for their help with this feature. +44 (0) 1295 750514; www.francistuthill.co.uk There are many 911s that are much louder than this, a few that are more exciting but none in my experience that are quite so cultured
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the mark, only for an encore of the whole crazy<br />
show to play out at even higher speeds.<br />
How fast? Nearer four than five seconds to<br />
60mph and a 0-100mph time barely <strong>in</strong>to double<br />
figures is my reasonably educated guess. Bear<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d that this is car deliberately tuned for<br />
comfort and torque, not light weight and power,<br />
this is an astonish<strong>in</strong>g result. And as for the<br />
sound, there are many 911s that are much louder<br />
than this, a few that are more excit<strong>in</strong>g but none<br />
<strong>in</strong> my experience that are quite so cultured.<br />
But it’s just the start of what this car can do,<br />
and it’s only when you beg<strong>in</strong> to stretch its legs<br />
properly that you realise its real magic is how<br />
beauti<strong>full</strong>y matched all its different<br />
modifications are. One of the most difficult<br />
tasks when undertak<strong>in</strong>g such a comprehensive<br />
upgrade is ensur<strong>in</strong>g that the result feels neither<br />
over- nor under-specified <strong>in</strong> either the chassis or<br />
eng<strong>in</strong>e department. A car without the ability to<br />
exploit its power is, at best, frustrat<strong>in</strong>g and, at<br />
worst, downright dangerous while one without<br />
54 WWW.GTPURELYPORSCHE.COM<br />
the power to make the most of its chassis<br />
commits the worst crime of all: it’s just pla<strong>in</strong><br />
bor<strong>in</strong>g. But with this 911, all its various areas of<br />
endeavour work together as harmoniously as if<br />
it were a bog-standard, factory fresh 911 – just on<br />
a different plane.<br />
The chassis, for <strong>in</strong>stance, thrives on its<br />
<strong>in</strong>creased workload. The car feels so precise, the<br />
steer<strong>in</strong>g so <strong>full</strong> of feel and the suspension so<br />
fluent and reassur<strong>in</strong>g that you can drive this old<br />
911 on its track tyres down quite narrow roads <strong>in</strong><br />
very marg<strong>in</strong>al conditions with total confidence.<br />
And I can’t leave without a word for those<br />
Formula R Dunlops: despite be<strong>in</strong>g clearly<br />
designed as a road legal circuit tyre, they coped<br />
beauti<strong>full</strong>y with the damp roads and wet leaves,<br />
didn’t destroy the ride quality and offered up<br />
copious levels of grip. Look<strong>in</strong>g at their tread<br />
pattern I expect they’d be far from optimal on<br />
properly wet roads where water actually needed<br />
mov<strong>in</strong>g, but if you’re go<strong>in</strong>g to spend £100,000<br />
on such a car, you’ll be able to afford a spare<br />
set of standard tyres for such eventualities.<br />
So it seems the 911 of my teenage daydreams<br />
does exist after all, even if it did not at the time.<br />
A car with all the punch (and more) of a modern<br />
911, with the beauty and compact dimensions of<br />
an orig<strong>in</strong>al plus, critically, the comfort and ease<br />
of use to make it a perfectly practical everyday<br />
proposition. I love the <strong>in</strong>nocence of its appearance<br />
and were this my car I’d choose a very sober<br />
colour, lose the front airdam and put a 2.4 badge<br />
on the eng<strong>in</strong>e cover. But what I love even more is<br />
its sensationally split personality, allow<strong>in</strong>g it to<br />
play the quiet and civilised cruiser one moment,<br />
and the no-prisoners road warrior the next. This<br />
is for someone who wants their 911 to do<br />
everyth<strong>in</strong>g – look good but go hard, be sensible<br />
yet endlessly thrill<strong>in</strong>g. If it has an equal with<strong>in</strong><br />
the realm of 911 road cars, I’ve not driven it ●<br />
Thank you to Richard <strong>Tuthill</strong> and all at Francis<br />
<strong>Tuthill</strong> for their help with this feature.<br />
+44 (0) 1295 750514; www.francistuthill.co.uk<br />
There are many 911s that are much louder than<br />
this, a few that are more excit<strong>in</strong>g but none <strong>in</strong><br />
my experience that are quite so cultured
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