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Our recent excursion to the mountains surrounding Monte Carlo flowed seamlessly into Classic Le Mans. Assuming you count an 1,100 kilometre drive, in 45 degree cabin heat with no ventilation seamless…

TwinSpark Porsche 911 RSR: Monaco to Le Mans

After leaving Monaco at 6.30, it was a slightly dehydrated bunch of Bergmeisters that arrived at Le Mans 12 hours later and grabbed a quick bite before an early night. Next morning, we assembled with our R Gruppe compatriots at the Rotonde, to collect our Porsche ticket packages and catch up on recent events, including the World Cup soccer results. There were also some very pretty cars to see.

Gulf Blue Porsche 911 RSR: Monaco to Le Mans

The newest arrival to R Gruppe Europe is a perfect little 911R recreation, built in the Netherlands. With a front end made entirely of plastic, the R tops the scales at a featherweight 860 kilos, all powered by a glorious 906 engine. Pictures are coming!

The R’s maiden voyage, along the coast to Calais and on to the Karting Nord campsite alongside the Le Mans circuit, had gone without a hitch. Quite a relief given the exceedingly high ambient temperatures down here at the minute: it was 45 degrees in the Porsche restaurant tent yesterday.

Porsche 911 ST at Classic Le Mans TwinSpark

Other cars arriving from the Netherlands included the Clockwork Orange 911 ST seen at our Spa track day in June, and a very original ’73 Carrera RS with beautiful Lilac bodywork. Prettiest RS in Europe? Potentially.

The most important arrival at Le Mans this weekend was a borrowed Volkswagen Touareg, pulling the rented British caravan that would serve as the base for our Friday night barbeque. The Euro Gruppers who stayed at home, while we played in the mountains, did a superb job organising the food and location for a social high point of the trip so far. On Friday night, R Gruppe members from seven different countries gathered to enjoy fun times together.

Clear MFI fuel lines at Classic Le Mans

We were joined at the barbeque by someone from a certain Stuttgart-based auto manufacturer: a man who shall remain nameless at this time. Our friend is currently rebuilding a classic RS Porsche in what little spare time he has available, and TwinSpark are helping with finding some of the hard-to-source parts, including the clear MFI fuel lines.

When I tell you that the restoration has so far taken 18 years, you’ll begin to understand how exciting the impending first drive is going to be. With countless emotional twists and turns, it was a great story to listen to, under the R Gruppe Le Mans bivouac, as the Friday evening qualifying sessions roared past less than 20 metres away. Heaven.