Tag: Historic Rallying

Congratulations to Twinspark Racing customer, BMA/Bernard Munster Autosport, for their victory on the 2012 Rallye du Maroc Historique. This gruelling rally is a direct descendant of the famously tough Morocco International: a long-time car killer that drew entries from around the world, thanks to the epicness running through its veins.

Twinspark’s association with BMA goes back to our earliest days. The team is one of our approved garagiste dealers, and benefits from trade discounts on all of our parts. One interesting Twinspark-supplied product run on the BMA Porsche 911 rally cars for this event is the Porsche 911 gearbox/transmission cooling system. Developed by WEVO on the desert racetracks and endurance circuits of North America, this product has been tried and tested across harsh terrain and, like all of our parts, in our own cars also.

Leonard recently unearthed a Porsche press release from 1972, talking about the transmission changes for that year: the arrival of four speeds as standard and five speeds as optional, and the replacement of the dog-leg pattern on previous 911s. This release heralds the arrival of the Porsche 915 transmission and is interesting stuff, though I wonder if its really about countering objections on why five speeds now cost extra.

To match the increased power, a new, stronger gearbox has been developed by the engineers. Due to the greater flexibility of the engines, and the associated wider power range, the standard unit could be reduced from five to four gears thanks to the better torque. For all those who do not want to forego the fifth gear, a likewise newly designed five-speed gearbox is available as optional equipment.

After an exciting morning running regularities through Western Slovenia, we all made it to the finish line in Trieste, where we were greeted by organiser Bart Rietbergen and his wife Jolijn, I can honestly say that I have never experienced the kind of cold we have here at the moment. The wind is blowing from the East over the Adriatic at hurricane speeds and the wind chill factor must be minus 25C!

This morning’s roads had more holes than a Gruyere cheese. Anything loose in the car danced around as though gravity had dropped to Moon levels. Should you need to recover from a wrong turn early in a stage, doing 90km on these twisties shows you where the weakness in the car is. None were found.

We have yet to find out the official results of the rally, but [...]