What Day?: Sunday, March 11th

What Time?: 8:00PM EST - 5:00PM PST

What Is It?: A live online chat with one of the top Porsche drivers of his time.

About the technology: ParaChat is the official "InVision" (our BBS software) chat server. It will allow us to set-up a live chat with notable figures in our realm. The live chat will be set-up in a thread. You will need your user name and password to access the thread and the chat, even if you are already signed in.

More about the technology: IMPORTANT - We will NOT implement live chat as a regular feature on this site. There are many, MANY reasons for this. Most importantly, cost (we do not wish to be a subscription based site), the ability to archive helpful tips and data, and, SEO optimization. PLEASE DO NOT ASK (or we'll have you shot).

Now, on with the show; In 1970 Meaney Racing won The 24 Hours of Daytona for the GT2 class in a 911S. However, the 914-6/GT number 19 (shown here) is Meaney Racings most well known car, described as "Europe's Fastest GT" by the German press. This car has an extensive race history in Europe and the United States. This is the 914 that literally won the 1970 FIA World Championship for Porsche!



Steve Limbert, current car owner, and owner of Aircooled Racing, will also be on-hand, joining us to talk about this very car and his latest project to reproduce the #18 car (the sister car) that Ralph had back in the day.

Ever wonder what it was like to drive a real 914-6/GT at a real track? Make sure you set the date and time to be here to talk to Ralph Meaney. We don't want you to miss this exciting exclusive event.

that is soooo schweet!

Andy

Mr. Meaney is a true icon in 914 history... this is going to be great!

-Rusty

Sweeeeet!!!!

Pay homage to Jeff Hines.

Nice!!!

This is going to be so cool...

Nice job setting this up Boys!

I think we took the original aluminum cage out of that car and replaced it with a steel cage in 1998 or 1999. The original cage was removed very cleanly, and preserved, and returned to the owner.

A fellow here in NY owned either that car or one of the others that were raced at LeMans.

as an aside which site will this chat originate from? world or club?

This is a 914World exclusive.

Yea and this "chat" is being pushed on 914club


I almost have the title for my 914 clear so I can sell it..

That was an accident.

Miscommunication with Ralph's 'computer person'.

Ralph's son spreadin the word of the world to the .com.

And the 914nation.

Tim - This is the car that Ed owned.

Hows this gonna work?

Way cool. Nice work !!!

This should be nailed

we'll setup a page here that runs the invision chat applet (java-applet).
anybody will be able to log in with their username and password and chat away.

Andy

Matt - This was Ed Mettelman's (sp?) car? Didn't it used to be at his shop in VA Beach (Race Prep?)

Does Ralph still have a shop in the Pacific NW? IIRC, he was in Redmond/Kirkland area in the early 80s . . . .

He appears to. Check it out.

What a deal........this is too good!!!! You have done us all a great service in rigging this up. We will be watching and getting a word in now and then.....hopefully !

I don't know where Ed stored it, but he is the one who bought it from Patrick. I believe the current owner bought it from Ed. There may have been another owner in there somewhere, but I don't think so. The car has great history and was the best restoration on a racing 914 up to the point it was done. The Lufthansa car done by Mark Allin that was done 3-4 years ago is also amazing and probably a little more over the top than this car. Either way, this is a great thing for club members.

We're going to test run the chat applet this Sunday, March 4th at 8:00 PM Eastern - 5:00PM Pacific (same time as the real deal but one week early).

This will give everyone a chance to make sure their computer is up to speed with security settings, ParaChat and Java. You'll want to make sure you have Java loaded on your machine.

In the test session we'll cover how to change your fonts and how to make the chat screen "float" independently of the thread.

Warning: This may be a bit premature but, you can not post to the thread or refresh the thread while your chatting. It will toss you and you'll have to log back into chat. Simply log into chat (you'll need your user name and password), and enjoy.

We've been playing with this "in the back room" and it's gonna work great!

But, like Eric says, Make sure that Java is installed first.

I think Steve bought it from Patrick Scalli. I saw it in 98 at the historics when Scalli owned it. I thought Scalli was the one who commissioned the restoration

Anyone remember the Excellence article on that? There was some interesting stuff in that article. Pete weigh in here with a year and month so I don't have to wade through all my back issues

My records show the following owners:

Pat Scalli from PA then Ed Mettelman from NY then Steve Lambert from PA

Well... there ya go then!

That's be Issue #135/February, 2005.

I'm sure Meaney's name appears elsewhere deep in the anals of Excellence, but I don't have the time to search through an estimated 25,000-30,000+ pages. But you *might* want to check out Issue #70/June, 1997, too...

EDIT: Scratch that. All you need is Issue #135. T'was a different GT...

pete

Thanks!

Because, for the life of me, I cannot understand why this event isn't nailed and/or listed on the home page and news page.

Coming this weekend!

Wonder what kinda wax he uses?

This is gonna be tomorrow!

I spoke with Jeff Hines today (Jeff will be hosting the chat with Ralph at his abode). After last Sunday's trial run, we all had concerns about the limitations of chat and the pitfalls associated with 200 people asking questions and one guy typing long-winded responses.

There is technology in place to have a heavily moderated chat. This would mean only questions approved by a moderator would get through. Some felt this would essentially dampen the spirit of the club. We want everyone to be able to participate. We're going to "wing it" but we'll all have to be conscious of the limitations of the technology and the person at the other end of the keyboard.

I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify the overall theme and methods involved.

1. "Be cool my people" (in my best Conan O'Brien voice) - This should be a relaxed event. It's the first of its kind in our circles and it should be great but, if there are technical problems or if every single question doesn't get answered... let it ride. Everyone will be doing their best.

2. Keep it real. Keep it relevant. - There are plenty of things to talk about but wax probably isn't one of them. You'll be chatting with a Daytona winning race car driver. You'll be chatting with an original 914-6/GT pilot. You'll be talking with the current owner of the #19 car Steve Limbert who is in the upper echelon for modern race prep with his shop Air Cooled Racing. Think now of things you've always wanted to ask these people.

3. Be respectful of others in the chat. Do something stupid and you'll get whacked from the chat. I think we'll be fine with this group but... just in case you're thinking about taking your wienie pills before the chat, don't. There are no stupid questions, some might not get answered but there are no stupid questions, don't pretend you know everything there is to know about racing 914's.

4. Allow for breaks in the action. – We may need to take some question breaks so the guest can catch up. Be cognizant of the tempo of the chat. If we ask for a break, “TAKE A BREAK” from the questions.

5. Have fun. - Again, I want to reiterate; relax, enjoy, if we get a hick-up, laugh it off and dig back in. Your hosts have gone to great measures to bring you something cool and meaningful.

See you tomorrow.

So where is it?

Whut kinda tires are best?????

Right here, 6:00 p.m. Mountain time tonight.

I'm going to try and get off work early so I can be there to see Z ask the wax question.

So "Whats the differance between a Porsche and a Porcupine?" would not

be a proper Q? Got it.

Where can you aquire the chat applett?

it loads inside a thread window. if you have java, you are good to go.

we had a test session last sunday....

here is the thread ... we're ON !!!

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=68880

Andy

Wow, thanks to all that made this possible, what a great time, thanks Ralph....

Talk about a time warp, took me back to my chatting on AOL days....

Thanks guys. Great idea and it came off very nicely.

Twas great. Thanks guys.