Tag: R Gruppe

Team TwinSpark participated in a non-championship 1 hour race during the Open Exhaust Historic Grand Prix at Zandvoort on September 1 and 2. Lex proper and I shared the wheel during this race amongst 60’s and 70’s Sports Car prototypes and what an experience that was! Zandvoort has only 7 days a year during which there is no noise restriction. We could therefore drive The Hulk on megaphones for the very first time and experienced what an RSR sounded like in the day. I drove qualifying with ear plugs in, but decided that this was a waste of aural pleasure and raced without them!

As a coincidence my niece Emilia Mendieta, a Vassar cinematography graduate and producer, who lives in new York, was present that weekend and we asked here to make a video impression of the event, using both round-the-track video [...]

With our first races behind us it’s time to start focussing on the BergMeister Tour 2012. It’s hard to describe what the BergMeister is all about, but I’ll try.

I have regularly spent time in the South of France, visiting my sister, who lives and works there and I became enamored with the landscape of the Alpes Maritimes. During day trips my wife and I would criss cross the landscape in rental cars, looking for vantage points for photo’s, and at some stage I decided we needed to take the R Gruppe down here.

I gauged the interest among friends in the USA and at R Gruppe Treffen in 2009 the BergMeister Tour was born. TwinSpark partner John Glynn was there and the pals of Zuffenhaus and Steven Harris. Although in the end out of that group onlyJohn and Steven joined us on the first Tour [...]

I drove an interesting car the other day. It was a Porsche 911 – Type 964 – backdated to give some early-style looks with modern day creature comforts. In some ways, the 964 was a bit of a mismatch of style and shapes but one area where it did itself proud was the engine.

964 engines have a good name among specialists. The bottom end of a 964 engine is said to be more robust than the 993 motor – especially when boost is introduced – and the one I drove felt as strong as an ox. That might have had something to do with the new Porsche Motorsport pistons and barrels fitted from a 3.8-litre 993 RS engine, along with camshafts from a 993 Cup car.

The other thing this car had was a lightweight flywheel: something [...]