and here's my english translation:
========================
someone needs to proof read this, as my english is not that good
also, a few things where i wasn't sure about the exact terminologie are marked with "NOTE" ...
========================
No a real 911, but it'll do for the "Tour Auto" ...
The plentiful reports in the Club-Newspaper and on the Internet about
the "Tour Auto" caught my eye and inspired me to send my nomination
to Paris early. I was pleased to see that there were two additional
914/6 GT at the start line at Trocadero in Paris.
A impressive field of 6 x 906, 1 x 910, 4 x Ford GT 40, one Ferrari
250 LM and Jean Ragnotti in Group 4 with a Factory Supported Renault
Alpine A 110. A lot of good drivers with AC Cobras, 911's and Ferrari's
meant that this was not going to be easy for us.
My first "Special Run":
I have collected some experience on road-racing tracks in the past,
but the first hill climbing portion was "virgin soil" for me.
A narrow dirt road uphill through a little village and back,
a GT 40 in front of us had already plowed into a field where the
crops were so high that he had problems finding his way out.
We managed to stay on track and my adrenaline level was at its max.
while Kersten was announcing the corners and i tried to stay on the road.
This was a lot of fun and we finished 15th after this first run,
nothing broke on the car and we moved on to Dijon.
"Standing Start":
is hard on the clutch, i didn't get away quick enough and the RSR and
the 250 LM pass me, i manage to keep up with them and got into a nice
"duel" with Danny. unfortunately, i had to let the GT 40 pass on
the straight and ended up 5th for this run.
Everyone is enthusiastic about the Porsche 914/6 GT and the 2 others
manage to place in the upper 3rd of the field.
The only drawback: a 906 blows up the engine, catches on fire and burns
down to the ground.
After this first day, we end up in 4th place overall with 12 sec to
the leader, which we are very pleased with.
The next day consisted of 3 Hill-Climbing "Special Run's".
We get a good start on the first run and after my first
hairpin i notice that my clutch is getting spongy.
We make it to the end of the run, but by then i can't get
into any gear anymore. The clock is ticking and the complete
disassembly of the Transmission and the loose screw on the
gear-fork costs us 2 hours. A technical problem that normally
never occurs - f***ing Screw!
After this, our 914 was running without problems as did the 2
other as well. but we got a penalty time of 1:05 hours which
threw us out of the top ranks.
But we're here to accumulate experience. We haul ass and finish
the last two runs side by side with the leading cars.
We did a lot of passing.
thursday morning we went to the Charade racetrack.
i have never been to this track before and on top of that it
was wet. I leave the Yokohama A032 on the wheels and start
as 5th (after the race from Dijon). With a fair amount of
anger in my stomach, i fight my way past the GT 40 and the
Ferrari 250 LM and finish 2nd after Danny Sullivan.
The orange 914 has fought his way up to position 12 and
our team is happy. tomorrow, we'll go for the alps.
Start is a 7:00 am on Friday. The first part goes to Nimes
and is all Mountain and Valleys only. the first "Special Run"
is at 1700m altitude (5577 feet) and the roads are partially
iced over and extremely slippery. we don't risk too much and
arrive at a snowed in hill-top. We have to go downhill over
the snow (on our Yokohama Slicks) which was a real adventure.
My compliments to Porsche for the surprisingly robust design
of the 914/6. "Tour Auto" is truly a amazing event and we will
be there again next year for sure.
Oliver