I just got back from Europe. The main event was to drive the 914/6 from Amsterdam down to Lloret de Mar near Barcelona and back for the 914 International.

I arrived at 4pm and we departed in the car at 7pm to drive to Calais. We met up with the other British cars at midnight.

Next day we left heading south and drove around the Le Mans circuit before stopping.

Second day was cross country on small roads, we made sure to pass over the awesome new Milau suspension bridge, and stopped in Perpignon, near the coast. There we met the other British group to make up 8 cars. The owner of the hotel loved it - kept showing people the cars. Later on he invited us down to his private garage where we found an incredible looking special edition Lotus Exige in John Player Special colors

Friday we drove in convoy into Spain and onto the hotel. There were 27 cars in all from all over.

Friday night was a huge dinner with around 20 courses and free flowing booze. Saturday we went on a long photo rally through the back roads. Stopped in a spectacular cafe for coffee and croissants then drove a stage of the WRC Rally of Catalunya before returning to the hotel for another massive dinner.

Unfortunately on the rally stage Tom, in the green 914/6 had his rear suspension ear tear off leaving him stranded. They were OK and had the car transported back to England later in the week.

Since we were going back together the scenic way that left us without a partner so we decided to head back to Amsterdam quickly. It took us 14 hours to do the 900 miles. For a total mileage of 2000 miles. The only problem we had was that the rear trunk leaked in the occasional driving rain, which flooded the trunk and most of my clothes

With the extra time in Amsterdam we visited a high end car dealership - Lambo, Lotus, BMW, Bentley and RR in a specatcular building. We also were leant a Cayman S for two hours (its spectacular - much better than a Boxster S in so many ways - a definate car to lust after).

Here are pictures:

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Indianapolis Corner at Le Mans
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Sounds like a great time for most of you. Too bad about the ear tearing off. I'll bet that had a few others checking theirs.

More from Le Mans
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Milau suspension bridge

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Crossing the Bridge

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Meeting Up in Perpignon

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saw some of these pics on DDK...

killer pics!

Getting Ready to Convoy down
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Hotel in Lloret
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Lunch Break
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Arriving at Lunch
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Champagne Reception in town (complete with TV and speach by the mayor!)
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Leather interior of German car
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On the way home
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Last for now

Richard

What a great looking trip! Been through part of that country a few years ago, we really loved it. Barcelona is one of my favorite cities. Love the feel there. Party all night long, every night. Great architecture. I would like to hear more about the WRC stage you saw. Glad to hear about the Cayman, we feel likewise and are going over to Stuttgart next June to pick one up and tool around for a couple of weeks. Did you have special arrangements to dive the Le Mans circuit?

Wow. What a great trip!

The Porsche factory have a lady who is the club liason and she shows up at all the events. This time she came in a brand new 997 Cab. She joins in all the activities.

On Monday, as she was leaving the hotel to go back to Stuttgart she was hit head on by (ironically) another Porsche 911. She was OK, but the car was damaged and all the airbags deployed.

So I guess it turned into an expensive weekend for Porsche!

Just saw the leather interior, showed my wife......she says I don't love her anymore, how come her 914 doesn't have an interior like that?

Man that is beautiful.

Around 80% of the Le Mans circuit is public roads (not the Porsche bends and the grandstand straight, you run behind them). Of course there are speed limits but the feel and the sight is awesome - expecially how sharp the kink on the Mulsanne straight actually is.

We couldn't believe how much better the Cayman feels on regular roads and on the winding bits as well. The PASM allows the car to go from docile and smooth to a real tight feeling track ready car. I also love the engine sound at last.

R

Nice pics, great trip. I'm envious.

In this photo the Signal Orange car in the back has ralley lights. Where do you get those? Did those lights come as an option or added later? Thanks.

Hey Richard,
Nice pictures, thanks for sharing!

Too bad Jutta had an accident. She's a very nice lady.

Coincidentally, I just had Erwin Jansen just called me (the guy that worked on Dave's car just before you went to Spain)

He said he had to fix a lot of details on Dave's car to make it right and Dave wasn't amused (with the English shop that restored his car) about this, but Dave was very happy that the car ran flawless to Spain and back

@ Olav

I've never seen them as an "official" option - but I bet you could have ordered them at the factory, if you payed enaugh money
off course they were available - the Monte Carlo cars had 'em, and at least one 916 had 'em from the factory (unfortunately not today)




@ Richard

many thanks for all those great pics
it seems that this was a weekend that hardly could be topped
just wonderful

Gustl

Very true. There were many details that hadn't been correctly finished. The initial work was great but I think he just threw the last few things together to get it handed over. The skirts over the longs weren't correctly mounted, the case bolts on the engine had steel washers that all had to be replaced individually (so as not to split the case). There was mucho sand still in the tunnel that was hampering the shift etc etc. Erwin seemed to do a great job, but he wasn't happy having to pay a second time to get it done correctly.

Once Erwin fixed the shift and adjusted it and then put in the Rennshift it transformed the gear change. First second and third were wonderful, you could change into first on the move which was nice. 3 -> 4 was a bit more vague but maybe thats a spring adjustment issue? 4 -> was very positive most of the time, but occasionally it felt like you got into neutral and couldn't go any further, but you were in 5th. Going 4 -> 3 was still difficult for me though.

The only issue we had was the leaking rear trunk - there was no waterproofing goo around the rear lights so the water got in that way. Erwin will fix that soon I expect!

Dave might try to install a side shifter with a Rennshift to see how that feels.

We are doing a London -> Chamonix Historic Porsche Rally next May, so curing the shift completely would be nice.

Mueller's bearings also make the car ride and track beautifully.

Richard

Better picture of the car:

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That leather interior is nuts! I'll take two please.

Great pics

I am member of the French 914 club. I got all the papers to join this great meeting, but unfortunatelly had too much to do...

If only I could have joined. Thank you so much for sharing the pictures.

The 914 french annual meeting will be in september. And will take place in my region. I will take pictures and try to make a small movie.

Johannes, am I right that you're in the Strasbourg area?
this would be about 450 km from my place

September might be possible for me to do a longer trip

maybe you could announce this meeting?

Gustl

It will take place September 16 - 17 in Alsace ( around Strasbourg ).
I don't have all details. I will post as soon as I have all details available.

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Thanks for sharing all the great pics!