Tag: 356

WEVO director Hayden Burvill at WEVO in San Carlos, California has just finished building the classic Porche 356 he and TwinSpark’s good friend Steven Harris will race in the Peking to Paris trans-Mongolia rally, which starts in China on September 10.

The Peking-Paris Rally lasts 37 days and takes the cars from China into the Khangai Mountains and Gobi Altai (as in Gobi desert) to Russia. Next comes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy and France: an expected total of 14,600kms.

It will come as no surprise to find that the 356 has been modified for P to P, though perhaps not as radically as one might have expected. Hayden’s WEVO blog features pictures and further details of the modifications, including the custom-made additional fuel tanks, and crack tested wheels and other components. Hayden’s piece also [...]

And then its all over, but what a result: after several attempts our sympathetic Dutch racing driver Gijs van Lennep wins The Trial. With British co-driver-navigator Iain Tullie the team took top honors with a minute to spare after 6 days of intense rallying in their 356 C, owned by the State of Art collection. I spoke to Gijs several times before this event and his concerns that another technical problem would strand him in sight of the finish line were countered by rigorous preparation of his car. Engine and gearbox were rebuilt and Gijs felt the car ran wonderfully this time around.

The combination Van Lennep/Tullie was new to the event, but Iain had won the event several years ago with the late Malcolm Pickering, so he knew what he was up against. I asked him after the event how he had prepared and [...]