Curb and Canyon: A Porsche Podcast
Curb and Canyon: A Porsche Podcast
Exploring the Legacy of Porsche: From the iconic 911 ST to its modern day 992 reimagining
Ever wondered about the secret sauce behind the enduring success of the Porsche brand? Prepare to have your curiosity satisfied as we talk through the history of the iconic Porsche 911 ST, to the engineering marvel that is the Porsche 992.
Get ready for a wild ride as we slay the Dragon with motion sickness and make bold decisions on whether to hold on to a beloved car or pursue a new project. We also delve into the nuances of car modifications, the beauty of Porsche colors, and share tales from personal adventures. Our friend Chris’s recent acquisition of a 991.2 GT3 Touring sparks a thought-provoking debate, leading to the decision to auction off Bluey and pick up something new for the Auto Amateur garage...!
This episode is a tribute to the test drivers who tragically lost their lives on the Nortschlifert recently, reminding us to follow our passions and love what we do every single day, and a tribute to the love of all things Porsche. Buckle up and enjoy the ride with James and Andy in this latest episode of Curb and Canyon.
Good morning evening, james McGraw. How are you sir?
Speaker 2:Andy G Funk Gorns. How are you doing?
Speaker 1:G Funk. I'm gonna wow. I mean, there we go straight off the bat. I'm changing my Instagram name to Andy G Funk.
Speaker 2:So much drama in the Mel B C. It's really hard being Mr Andy G. I've spent the past few days on the West Coast and so, of course, I've been listening to loads of West Coast rap.
Speaker 1:Listen to you, yeah, and there's nothing more West Coast than a palm in the states, is there?
Speaker 2:Exactly. And look, I'm all set up. Look, I've got my big gulp, I've got my coffee. It's 5.30 in the morning and I'm like, wired, I'm feeling good. Look at you, you lay back.
Speaker 1:I'm up to whiskey already. There's me and look if I got the phone and tilt it's Choco that's Sullivan.
Speaker 2:Sullivan yeah come on, was it? Is it really Sullivan, or is it Choco?
Speaker 1:Not if you can dignify that with a response. Guys, we're back. Welcome to Kerbin Canyon. So I have to be honest about something you know, your good friend Dennis Philnerv.
Speaker 2:Yeah, legendary F1 driver.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or the other, dennis Philnerv. So I was. I didn't actually think this recording was gonna happen. If I'm honest, I gotta be honest. I didn't think it was gonna happen. So I was in the middle of watching June when you messaged me and said, yo, I'm up, and I was like, oh shit, be right there.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, it's been one of those occasions, hasn't it? Well, the past couple of weeks, we tried, we haven't made it. We tried, we haven't made it. And yeah, you're in the middle of a pretty epic movie. Are you enjoying it? Am I ruining your Friday nights?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it is. It's good work because Kath and my daughter, indy, were out riding busy playing video games, as he always is, and I thought I reckon there's a good chance. I will not hear from you. I'm gonna sit down and watch June. So yeah, it's. Wow, it's the thinking man sci-fi, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Well, not really, because I spend the best part of three and a half hours just thinking about Rebecca Ferguson. So if that's what you mean by a thinking man sandwich, Okay, so that's your point, isn't it?
Speaker 1:so you enjoyed the film Rebecca Ferguson? Okay, I was about to say, if you enjoyed it, then it's clearly not a thinking man sci-fi. Well, hey, do you know what? It's been a while. We've we got a lot to get through and, interestingly enough, you know, what I always love is when I look at my show notes, things that we're gonna talk about and everything in there is so incredibly out of date. So we're gonna wing it a little bit in this episode, right, but we got. We got stuff to talk about. There's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's loads to talk about. And look, let's face it, you always follow the show notes. I'm lucky if I open the show notes, so I'm always winging it. It's gonna be great, andy. It's gonna be absolutely awesome. I'm gonna pick the first topic. Let's talk about the 9-11 ST. Can we talk about that, or do you want to go somewhere else first?
Speaker 1:Do you know what I did actually just want to mention and pay tribute to, if I could, the two good year test drivers who tragically lost their life on the Nortschlifert just today. An entire test driving a Porsche, so Chris Down, frank, and we don't know who the other passenger was. But yeah, just awful. You know, no one, no one should, no one should die doing that and yeah, very, very sad news.
Speaker 2:Yeah man, really, really sad news. I guess they say you know you should go out doing something you love. I hope that's what they did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hope so too. I mean, it's funny, that phrase, isn't it? I find that a difficult one, because I don't want to die behind the wheel of my car, I just want to die old and in bed and asleep if I can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well yeah, but anyway yeah, we're gonna go back to the show notes. Yeah, we're. Our thoughts are certainly with their family and friends and all the people who were there. So I felt we should start with that acknowledgement. I like that. You're a good lad. One tries, one tries. So on to other topics. Yes, let's talk about the thing that's been dominating, dominating the Porsche landscape for the last two weeks the 9-11 ST. Can we just start with the very simple thing are you a yay or a nay?
Speaker 2:That's so difficult I'm.
Speaker 1:What do you want? The fence?
Speaker 2:It's not that I'm on the fence, it's I'm a yay and a nay. So if that means I'm on the fence, I'm on the fence.
Speaker 1:But it also means Dude, you're so far on the fence. You it's like right up your crack, yeah, like if you're gonna pull down to the side of it exactly.
Speaker 2:I've got like splinters up my ass, crack, basically. I'm so on the fence with this thing I mean. So first of all and this is my ignorance I didn't know there was a 9-11 ST. Has there been a 9-11 ST before? From the marketing photos, I would presume yes, because there was a old blue Porsche parked next to this beautifully brand new blue Porsche. Actually, I've never come across the 9-11 ST for for all, for all I know Dieter Hansen, fritz, sitting around in the Porsche marketing department, were like what should we call this new 9-11? I don't know? Sugar tits, that's great. Let's call it Porsche 9-11 sugar tits, I don't. I don't know what is what it's like. They're coming out with so many variants right now.
Speaker 1:It's like I'm suspicious and you think that in the midst of that, on drys pointing is said you know what we haven't had?
Speaker 2:we've not had 9-11 sugar tits, just think, if we go to sugar tits, we can charge 300,000 euro. You know, there's my awesome German accents. This chair you know and shoddy gun to the German listeners.
Speaker 2:But no, I didn't. Honestly, I, you know, I've heard of the R, I've heard of you know, all of the other stuff, the. It's like every couple of months they're coming out with these new variants and I'm excited. They're awesome, they look fantastic, but at the same time they're only going to make a handful of them. The majority of them are going to sit in rich people's garages and not get driven the way they should be, maybe down to cars and coffee and back. I'll probably never get to see one. So as much as I'm like drooling looking at the press and looking at the media, I'm also sitting there thinking, you know, I might as well be watching the Starship Enterprise, because I probably got more chance of hitting warp 9 in the Enterprise D than I have of actually driving a 9-11 sugar tits.
Speaker 1:Far out, far out. Well, I mean, look, it may have been that sugar tits live somewhere in the original genesis of this car. But let me educate you a little bit. I don't know a whole lot, but you don't know shit I can see. It worries me.
Speaker 2:You don't know a whole lot, but you know more than me, so please enlighten me.
Speaker 1:So the 9-11 ST was a lightweight racing car in the early 70s where they took and don't quote me and in fact I think as far back as actually the late 60s and it was actually a combination of the ethos of the 9-11 S and the 9-11 T, so the power of the S but with the simplicity and the lightweight of the T. This is pre-73 RS, remember, and it is a car that has been replicated many a time. Your classic singer certainly references the 9-11 ST with its flared arches, and I know our good friend Rick from Rico Customs his builds really referenced the ST, as to some of Magnus Walker's build. So this is a car with a storied motorsport Porsche history around it. So it's one of those ones that if you know, you know, and so for them to rebirth that badge, so to speak. I think that's a little piece of marketing genius.
Speaker 2:Okay, I genuinely do. That's a big deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And actually you know it's always been a car that I've loved and you know a lot of. It's no accident that a lot of back dates find their way into having sort of that ST, that ST. Look, as for the car itself, I I'm not on the fence but I have some issues. So I am an absolute like I'm such a fan. I'm a massive, massive fan from the get go. You know I wasn't actually paying so much attention when the 911 R was released. That was sort of in the, let's say, the Porsche wilderness at that in that moment. So the hubbub that came with that car at its launch was lost on me. I wasn't, I wasn't involved, I wasn't paying attention. So when I first started looking at buying a Porsche, I consumed every piece of 911 R content there was because suddenly I was able to, and I remember watching Kameez's review on it and Joey from Friends and just thinking this thing looks amazing and I loved I actually loved it with the green stripes.
Speaker 1:I just thought that just looks killer. So big fan of that, but I didn't get to experience the moment when it was released. This ST. I love the fact that the release car that they dropped in the videos was black Porsche.
Speaker 1:Don't, I can't do another black press release car they've had and I know they had that cool new blue that they've released as well that had the heritage graphics back on it. But there was something about that black and it's not even a metallic black black 911 with the silver Porsche script. Those silver wheels, which are BBS wheels, are here. I just, I just think it looks perfect and you know the ethos behind it of more power, less weight. That you know, james. The car weighs less than my nine six four really less than my nine six four by a good margin.
Speaker 1:By a good margin, like I think, it's like 70 kilos lighter than my nine six four that really surprises me wow yeah, yeah, and with what is it?
Speaker 1:550 horses, so yeah and then to hear Pronega talk about it. You know the fact that they've done and obviously we haven't seen a road test of this yet, but it's the suspension setup is a road bias suspension setup versus the GT3 RS is very track bias suspension setup. I like, I say we yet to see any. You know any, any test, any reviews? But it seems to me on paper to be the ultimate road going 9-11 and as my as my pal Anthony said to me. He said it's literally like Porsche reached into my head, grabbed everything.
Speaker 1:I've been thinking about that would make the ultimate road driving 9-11 and built that car. So that's my foot in the absolute yes camp. But, like you, there's 1,963 of these things going to be made. You know who's who's going to get them all the people who buy a shit ton of McCann's and 9-11's for their families and get special, special treatment, you know, via the dealers. Are we ever going to see one tearing up the hills, other than when Chris Harris or Henry catch pole or any number of these guys drop a video? No, I think I will never see one in the wild. I you know a couple will make it to Australia at best and if I'm lucky I will see one at Cars and Coffee, or three years from now I'll see it at Dutton's garage where I get my morning coffees, where there's often incredible cars. But I don't expect to ever see nor hear, let alone experience one in the wild so that's a very interesting perspective.
Speaker 2:The, the combinations of the s and the t, literally the s and the t I hadn't considered that, I just went straight for the joke. But when it was described originally I think I heard from a friend somebody it was either in one of the press releases or somebody mentioned it's it's basically the GT3 RS, but without the wing and like a slightly more aggressive touring package, which is basically what Jerry Seinfeld did with his 991.2 right. He bought himself a GT3 RS, he took the wing off it and that was his car. So another reason why I'm on the fence because I really don't like Jerry Seinfeld at all.
Speaker 2:You don't like Jerry Seinfeld no, he just is an arrogant prick, jesus Christ anyway, and you call yourself a comedian, okay.
Speaker 1:So here, look at this. So 964 C4 now, granted, the C4 is heavier than a C2, right so? But my car is a C4 which weighs 1450 kilograms. The new 911 ST weighs 1380 kilos, so on the flip side, yeah, and so 964 C2, I think, is 100 kilos less than a C4, meaning that would be 1350, so it's it's only 30 kilograms, which is what? 10 pounds, something like that, no no, it's like it's 60 pounds.
Speaker 1:That's about 60 pounds, yeah about 60 pounds heavier than a 964 C2. So, but with all of that power, I think, I suppose the only question I have is should Porsche be making more of these cars? Well, should they make it available to us?
Speaker 2:selfishly. Yeah, I think they should.
Speaker 1:I mean, you and me can't buy one anyway. But if we had the means, if I said to you, james, I'm going to move to Minnesota, what about you and me? Go Harves, and we will buy a 9-11 ST. Don't you think we should be able to?
Speaker 2:Let's go Harves and buy a set of wheels for the 9-11 ST. We'll build a paper mache frame around a set of wheels that we own and we'll call it.
Speaker 1:Well, it'll be like that episode of Friends where Joey had the cardboard boxes under the Porsche car cover.
Speaker 2:We'll call it the SB, the ship box, the 9-11 ship box, that's sugar box. You know the sugar Well, sugar bum, who knows? Alright, let's move off. So, like I'm split, I love the fact that, even though this means that I won't get one, I love the fact that you know they're picking the number that they're making intentionally, and it's a limited run.
Speaker 2:There aren't too many of them. At the same time, though, I feel like if somebody can afford that car, they should be allowed to buy that car. And if Porsche, you know, planned on making 1,963, but there was enough demand for it and they ended up making, you know, one more or ten more, or a hundred more or a thousand more on demand, I think that should be the way. I think that's the way it should be, and so I'm not saying they should bring the price down, I'm not saying that they should just saturate the market with an endless supply of cars, but if you can afford it, if you're that much of an enthusiast that you want that car, you should be allowed to place an order for it and get it.
Speaker 1:And what sort of number plate would you put on it? Like SUGA, TIT or?
Speaker 2:I think I just go straight for the TITS.
Speaker 1:So here's my thing as well. Okay, so if you put aside the frustrations around allocation and you know the same old, same old thing we talk about every time one of these special Porsches drop, that we're never going to see it and it's going to be bought by old mate Rich Dude who keeps it in his garage. Cast all of that to the side for a second. In evaluating the car in just objective terms, based on my reaction, my first response to it, I think it looks amazing. I think, on paper, the spec, the philosophy behind it, sounds amazing. So, all of the issues aside around build numbers and allocations, I think the car, having not seen a review yet, I think it's incredible.
Speaker 1:I want one. I would sell my kids to get one. Happily, probably not the dog, but I would trade the kids for sure. Yeah, I would definitely want one, definitely want one. It's to me. I can't remember a new Porsche launch and, as I say, I wasn't really paying attention when the car came out. I can't remember a new Porsche launch that has excited me the way this one did. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's fair enough. I get this excited every time a new one is released, frankly, and I'm like I've never been this excited about a Porsche before, and six weeks later it comes the SB. Oh my God, it's amazing. But like I don't want to beat a dead horse here and we talked about this a couple of times already though, how on earth have they managed to make a car which is quite literally twice the size of your 964, lighter than your 964? That's amazing to me, absolutely amazing to me. I mean, I'm presuming they've got all the lightweight glass which shaves off a few pounds here and there.
Speaker 1:They've probably got. Yeah, they do, it's all carbon fiber.
Speaker 2:Magnesium or carbon fiber everywhere. Yeah, magnesium, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:Right. Yeah, no rear wheel steer, because that's A they've got a quote, unquote, pure driving experience but B it adds a ton of weight. No PDK option, because that's obviously heavier than the manual. But yeah, it's clearly a feat of engineering and it is funny. You know, I've been seeing a lot more 992s on the road of late and it's funny how you just over time adjust. So if I see one of those, or even a 991 next to something like a 964 or a G body car, yes, they look comparatively massive, but on their own, or even compared with other cars on the road, they're not that big and they're barely any bigger than a 991.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah, fair enough.
Speaker 2:That's true, that's true.
Speaker 1:I'd take one. I'd definitely definitely take one.
Speaker 2:Absolutely would not kick one out of bed and I absolutely love the and this is going to be a nice interesting segue actually to the next topic of conversation the color, the sure blue metallic color. I really like it, I really like it.
Speaker 1:I like it a lot. There's a new green as well. There's a sage green or something. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Shade, shade green, shade green.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've got the configurator up as we speak. That's right. You did a configuration, though right you did Oslo blue from memory.
Speaker 2:I did. Yeah, that's pretty much my favorite Porsche color of all time, actually, I think. What about you? What would your favorite?
Speaker 1:color be? I've configured a few. Do you know what? Again, I've said to a few people I would just take that launch spec car, that'll do me. I would. I like a raitium green. I'm a big fan of that, sort of like a leaf green. Yeah, yeah, leaf. And actually I really like forest green metallic. I know I've already got a car that color, but I love that, but I love it on a modern 911. I think it looks really really good. Oh yeah, and imagine that garage.
Speaker 2:I honestly think forest green metallic is top three, maybe at most top five of all time Porsche colors. It's absolutely gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, indeed. So what other colors are piquing your interest at the moment in the Porsche world, even outside of 992s?
Speaker 2:I would say graphite blue metallic. It's a pretty special color and it just so happens, andy, it's a pretty special color and actually it's not too dissimilar from that shore blue metallic, according to the configurator here. So yeah, all right, let's move on to the next topic of conversation.
Speaker 1:Fess up, fess up. What's going on with Bluey first Can.
Speaker 2:Bluey, hear you? I can't hear me. I've put it in the soundproof box in the garage. You can't even hear kids scream, so it's pretty special. So, bluey, I've just come back from the tale of the dragon right and it was incredible and absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1:Let's park that we're going to talk about tale of the dragon in a minute.
Speaker 2:I want the full rundown on that. We'll talk about that in a minute. But I walk into the garage. I see Bluey. My eyes light up, absolutely love it. But I feel like I've got to the point with Bluey where I have with my Black 997, where I just I don't want to touch it anymore because it's done. It's like I've done all the mods I've done to it. I've been, it's been up on the lift, it's been down, it's been into the garage, it's had this done to it, that done to it. I've driven it on some of the best roads in the country several times. It's time for a new project.
Speaker 2:And I didn't think I was going to get there with Bluey, because I've actually had Bluey now for two, maybe three years, which is the longest I've ever held on to a 9-11. And I thought I was going to keep Bluey forever. But then I've just come back from the tale of the dragon and actually that's not the real reason. That's part of the reason. I came back from tale of the dragon and I thought you know what? All right, I've done it. Now I've taken, I've taken Bluey to tale of the dragon twice. That was awesome. I'm looking forward to going out to Wren Sport reunion with it in California in the summer. You know I'm sort of getting to that point where I've had enough, but no, I'm going to keep it forever. I taught myself into keeping it forever. My mate Chris, what does he do? He's just finished his project turbo. He and I have spent the past year or so modding his turbo up to the tops. Chris has gone and got himself a 991.2 GT3 touring.
Speaker 2:It is perfect, it is, andy, it is. I haven't even seen it yet. In fact, I'm seeing it later today. I've got to take Bluey in to get a few things fixed and into the store and he and I are going to hook up for lunch and he's going to eat lunch while I sit, basically, in the parking lot licking the center lock wheels, drilling over the touring.
Speaker 1:Stay away from the exhaust pipes, exactly. So he went and bought himself a touring yeah amazing, and I think you shared a picture of it right on social.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's put a couple up on social. It's white, so not the most exciting color in the world.
Speaker 1:But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter in a touring.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah and big congratulations, big congratulations.
Speaker 1:What a skill.
Speaker 2:Massive. Yeah, so the thing was he went to Porsche and Minneapolis to buy a bolt, to buy like a $12 bolt.
Speaker 1:It came out with a GT3 touring.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, he's trying to fix. I think he was trying to either take off his tailpipes to clean them or I don't know what, but he basically threaded a bolt and he needed a new bolt. So he went to Porsche and Minneapolis. As he pulled up in the parking lot, he's actually taking this touring off the back of a truck. They haven't had it for more than, like I don't know, like let's say, an hour, and he walks in and he's like is that, is that a touring over there? And they're like, oh yeah, yeah, it's just commenced. And he was like, huh, can I take it for a test drive? And they were like, oh well, I mean, I guess, so we haven't fired it up yet. You know, it literally just took it off the back of the truck, gave him the keys. 10 minutes later he's back in the dealership sitting down, he's selling his turbo, he's buying his touring. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:Good on him, good on it Well played Absolutely good on him.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah yeah, but it's like it's got everything he wants. Anyway, long story short, chris has got this touring. You should go and check him out on Instagram. Carbon fiber, chris. And of course, there is carbon fiber everywhere in this touring. He probably doesn't need to do anything with it. It's perfect, it's. It really is a dream spec. We can talk about that separately, but so Chris tells me about this touring. I'm absolutely amazed. I'm blown away for him. I'm happy for him. I go to sleep. I can't sleep. I start looking at auto trader and I'm like maybe I should get a new car. So so, as it happens, the the car that I talked about about six months ago, you know when.
Speaker 1:I went to a media. I remember All right.
Speaker 2:So the so that graphic, graphite, blue, metallic 911 is still on the market for better or worse, five months later, and the prices come down to a spot where you know it's kind of in my striking zone. So you know again, three in the morning, can't sleep. Send the dealer an email hey, is it still available? I wake up in the morning and this guy has sent me like three videos and a hundred photos and I'm just like lying there, not getting out of bed for work, drooling over this thing.
Speaker 1:To quote, to quote here we Lewis, you woke up this morning under a tent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so so I basically spent the past week convincing myself day to day. Stay with bluey, sell bluey. Six, keep bluey, sell bluey, get this car as well as bluey. Anyway, long story short, I'm going to be putting bluey up for auction. It's going to go on P car market and I'm going to be picking up this 991.2 in a couple of weeks when I'm on my way back from a business trip in the south of the country. So I'll fly there, I'll do my job, I'll pick up the car and I'll drive it home and hopefully I mean it's not a done deal yet I still find myself going backwards and forwards and my car isn't on P car market yet. But like I'm cleaning it tonight, I'm getting some photos taken off in the morning, so like once you do photos, it's done.
Speaker 2:Man once you take photos.
Speaker 1:For me that's always the thing. It's like you take photos and at that point, yeah, yeah, you go.
Speaker 2:So, but I think, just completely by accident, not by design, I'm getting excited about the Porsche 911 sugar tits, and I'm looking at this 991.2 and I'm thinking, okay, well, the color is not too dissimilar, the wheels are not too dissimilar. The wheels don't look too dissimilar from the Carrera S wheels and they're in chrome and the interior, which in the, at least in the you know the press release it's black with white DV8 stitching. My interior of this new blue 911 is white with black with white DV8 stitching.
Speaker 1:You don't need to connect it to the ST. To make it rad, it's rad.
Speaker 2:No well, it's fair enough.
Speaker 1:But so tell me, speck, what are we talking? What are we talking? Let's get into it. Because and first of all, I mean big congratulations. It's funny to me, I don't know why, and maybe it's because when I first came across you and your channel, you had the Agate Grey 991. I just, I just always picture you in a 991. It just seems like your car to me. So that just feels right to me, and I think you know we've spoken on the show before numerous times about the 991.2 being. You know that's just the sweet spot and, yeah, I'm pumped for you. So tell me, speck, let's get into this.
Speaker 2:Well, it's exciting in that it's not so exciting. It's another Carrera, perfect, yeah, I mean. So I, you know, I've been flirting with the idea of getting a GT3. I've been flirting with the idea of, you know, potentially moving into turbo territory and actually this is a base Carrera, rear wheel drive Carrera coupe. It's nothing fancy from that regard, but I've got a friend here in the Twin Cities who has a base Carrera and actually I think it's the same color, graphite, blue, metallic, but with black wheels. This has got chrome wheels. He has that thing tuned and it's easy, fast, as a lot of the other cars that are out there with the wings and you know some of the GT specs do the team manage job?
Speaker 2:It's a 10 minute job and he's taken a 370 stock engine and pushed it close to 500 horses. I mean, that's turbo territory, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Turbos what 500?
Speaker 2:I mean, we're talking here about the ST, that's 520 or something horses. So just by doing a simple tune, spending you know $1,500, I can take a base Carrera and get sort of turbo level kind of performance out of it. That is really exciting to me. And why the 991.2? I haven't had a turbocharged engine before. All the ones I've had previously have been naturally aspirated. All of the mods that I've done to the cars that I've owned before have largely been sort of aesthetic changes. You know, I've changed the wheels, I've put stripes on, I've changed the color Apart from bluey, of course, when I had to replace the engine and the transmission. Look and feel of this car that I'm picking up is basically just perfect, apart from putting a few stripes on it maybe and sticking a set of yellow seat belts in the interior. Apart from that, I might not even do that. What I'm interested with the 991.2 is actually trying to play around with performance tweaks this time. So, do the engine tune? Do the PASM? Is it the DSC controller? Maybe lower it, maybe figure out suspension.
Speaker 1:Yes, let's lower the car Please can we? Lower the damn car.
Speaker 2:I will concede. So I'm actually looking forward to doing a bunch of mods that I've never really paid attention to before, with a new engine, with a generation that I haven't had before, because my 991 previously was the.1. So it feels like new territory, it feels like a little bit of a breath of fresh air. Getting myself into a slightly younger car as well is going to be fun, and it's a good excuse to make another year's worth of YouTube videos, basically 100%, and I think I sent you just this week Tommy L Garage.
Speaker 1:He dropped a video of doing one of these tunes to his 991.2 Carrera T 125 horsepower. Plug in a laptop, boom Done. Now he's running soul performance exhaust. He's got the cats, that whole setup, which kind of struck me as being the James McGrath spec. So I'm really excited for this. I think this is just going to be the perfect car for you.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty excited. Now the challenge is I've got to get Ruthie on board.
Speaker 1:Well, you know the old phrase. You know the old phrase could ask forgiveness, not permission.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought you were going to say happy wife, happy life. No, you're right, I'm going to follow your one. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But also just talk about you're actually doing this for her. You know you've been enjoying these cars, you've been enjoying getting out on the road. But doing this sort of spirited driving it's not safe doing it in an old car, you know the 996 has been around a while now.
Speaker 1:What you need, you need, you need all of the safety the airbags, that cell, now the crash structure. You know the cars have come such a long way and you know, as a husband, as a father, could you? I mean, how would you sleep at night if you're not driving a safe 911? If anything, she should be thanking you.
Speaker 2:Mate I, you know I appreciate that and you can probably expect a phone call from her in about three days. Is I tell her to speak to you? She's no longer listening to me and throwing plates at me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Listen, to be honest, if, if she does call me, I would love to chat to Ruthie, We've we've never really had a conversation. I feel like I feel like I feel like she's my kind of gal, we get along and, honestly, if she called me, I'd say I don't ever said that I think James is losing his mind.
Speaker 2:I don't know why he wants a new car.
Speaker 1:I certainly wouldn't buy a new car. I'll just throw you well and truly under the bus.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that, good sir, and I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:So well, that's, as I say, great news. I believe, in spite of you being, let's say, a little circumspect about this absolutely going forward, there's a whole lot of things to me that say this absolutely will go ahead Once you're taking photos of your car, that's it, it's done. There's a little, I think there's a little psychological line that gets crossed when you take the photos to sell your car. So I'm certain that's happening and you know this particular car has been swimming around in your head now for months. It's very exciting.
Speaker 1:I'm really pleased for you.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, thank you, Thank you. Yeah, it's going to be an interesting couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:It's interesting, isn't it? The acquisition thing too, because you know, obviously, frank Chris with his GT3 Touring, what a car. And I feel like every time you and I record I am congratulating yet another friend of mine for scoring a car and I'm sure the audience just thinks Jesus, what is with these people? But my pal, pj, just picked up a 993 C2 coupe, in manual, in speed, yellow, and this thing is the last, the last year of the 993. So the yeah, yeah, the most fully realized and developed version of the air cooled 911 engine is that car. And this thing's a peach. I'd actually seen it a bunch of times at nine auto it's, it's had its life being serviced there, it's, it's gorgeous. I've not seen it on the road yet, but yeah, pj, well, well scored my friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good job, PJ. Let me ask you this I've I've come across a couple of people recently that have a similar opinion of the 993 owning 964s as people owning 993s have with 996 owners. So these 964 owners have essentially said you know what I don't like the 993. They've changed it too much. You know, just the 964 is where it's at. That's the true Porsche when 993 owners have been telling me I mean we, you know the whole. Everybody knows that when the 996 was released, the whole world blew up because everybody was gutted that it wasn't the 993 anymore and it was water cooled and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think the 993 is gorgeous. I think it's. I love the 964 on its own. I love the 993 on its own. I can see where Porsche have decided to make some changes, Tweaks. Obviously there are some differences between the cars, but it's still a 911 for all of the things we love, 911s or four. You're a 964 owner. What do you think of the 993?
Speaker 1:Well, it's a really interesting phenomenon that you mentioned because I actually think it goes across all the generations. Actually, I think G body owners tend to talk about how they never liked the 964 because they thought the bumpers kind of looked bulbous and weird. And certainly, you know, you hear 997 owners talk about it being the sweet spot and the 991 suddenly got too big and the 991 owners talk about the 992.
Speaker 2:Right right right.
Speaker 1:We always talk about that generation that came after our car with a level of dismissal.
Speaker 2:Jealousy? Yeah, maybe it is.
Speaker 1:So the 993, I love the 993. I think a standard straight out of the box 993 coupe can at times look a bit apologetic, just on the stock ride height, yeah, okay. So look, I'm going to say this about the 993. I'll be very honest about one thing I don't like Cup two wheels. I really love Cup ones, but I don't like Cup twos and I particularly dislike them when people put them on 964s. It's just me. If you've got Cup twos on your car, more power to you. I'm sure it looks amazing and it's terrific, but I'm just not a fan of them. So yeah, a bog standard 993 can sometimes look a little bit underdone on those rims, but that said, I do.
Speaker 1:Some of my all time favorite cars are 993s. You know the C4S. I remember the first time I saw that with the wide body just blew my mind. And that 993 turbo in arena red which was the launch color. Oh man, I have my whole life obsessed over that car and actually just this week I posted. In fact, two days ago, yesterday, day before again at Dutton's garage where I get my coffees in the morning, they just took delivery of a guards red 993 turbo. It is odd to with that wing, the kind of melted cheese rear spoiler. I love it.
Speaker 1:I really, really love a 993.
Speaker 2:So melted cheese.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, because it's like they took the whale tail and just suffer. Just everything about that car looks amazing and I genuinely believe that, for the kind of driving I do in terms of air cooled 911s, a 993 turbo would have to be the car that would perform best. All wheel drive, insane power, small, yeah, so. So no, I'm not anti 993 at all. I'm actually a big, big fan, and one of my favorite, favorite favorite cars to follow on a drive is my friend Kale. He has a silver 993 on speed lines and that car is hot.
Speaker 2:I'm all for the 993 turbo. I think you know, if you think I've said it before, if you could take the 993 turbo and basically just you know. Photo shot it elongate it and the headroom elongate it in both ways. Oh my God, that would be an absolute dream. In fact, somebody asked me once I think it might have even been you If I could have Porsche make me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was on this part of my friend Anthony. It was right. My friend Anthony posed that question.
Speaker 2:I would have them build me a 992 sized 993.
Speaker 1:See, I was about to say can you imagine how ridiculous that would look? But that's, that's basically what roof's current cars look like. They're big nine, six, fours.
Speaker 2:Right, it's just like ordering, you know, the latest set of Jordans in a size 16 because you got big feet. That's all it is to me, sure.
Speaker 1:So you've mentioned Taylor the dragon.
Speaker 2:Let's get into it, because it looked like it was pretty epic, oh yeah, such a great time and for the first time we had a cabin that no one could complain about. It was absolutely baller. It was just outside of town, gatlinburg in Tennessee, which is like Dolly Parton has taken Disneyland and thrown up all over it, but it's still a very nice mountain kind of city. But yeah, dude, before we talk about driving this cabin 10 bedrooms, three levels it had a cinema, its own kind of like you know cinema room in the basement with the big screen and the and the big lazy boy chairs.
Speaker 1:You just sat there watching last rasp videos.
Speaker 2:Exactly the whole time. It had a game room with air hockey table and a pool table and it had a hot tub and it had this epic view of the mountains and it was a really great play. Everybody loved the cabin, so that helps. The weather was great. I think we had a little bit of rain on the way there. I was actually thinking about you, talking about your rally, and how every time you do it it's in the rain. We drove like 10 hours through what was basically a hurricane, a one soon.
Speaker 2:We had 80 mile an hour winds. We had our iPhones. We had our iPhones blaring alerts at us every sort of half an hour, basically saying find shelter, and we were like we got to get to this cabin, let's keep going. We got to get to this cabin, so that was pretty hairy, but while we were there beautiful weather, there wasn't too much traffic. I think on the first day we got to drive Taylor the dragon. I think it was four times, maybe even six times, because I set the meat on the opposite side of the dragon to where we were staying, you know, unintentionally. So we had to drive the dragon to meet people and then we drove across the dragon and then the place I picked for lunch was on the other side of the dragon. So we drove back across the dragon, we had lunch and then, in order to get back to our cabin, we had to drive back across the dragon. So yeah, we did the dragon four times on the first day.
Speaker 1:How long does a? How long does a lap?
Speaker 2:take. So it can take anywhere from maybe I don't know 15, 20 minutes to half an hour, just depending on how busy the road is. You know what is it? 11 miles, 330 turns. The first time we did it there was like nothing on the road and we absolutely just went for it. It was our first mountain road. Basically we absolutely went for it and I've never gotten sort of motion sickness before. But as we got about three quarters of the way in, I had to just like back off a little bit because I was starting to feel it. So I decided to just back it off a little bit. On the way back, a couple of bike cops decided today was the day that we're going to catch people, and so our radar detectors were going off like nuts. So we had to just, you know, behave ourselves. I even got pulled over. I got pulled over doing 45 in a 35, which, after you've done the dragon a couple of times, doing 45 on the dragon feels.
Speaker 2:It feels like you're walking, you know the pace, and when he pulled me over, I almost said to him are you joking? Yeah, are you out in the lightning anyway? So he gave me a warning, didn't give me a ticket, which was nice. I have to say, though, this time I think it was probably because, I don't know, my tires are relatively fresh, but there was just something about something about the conditions of the road that was like just preventing me from like pushing it to 105, 110%. What are you? You're pissing yourself, giggling at me.
Speaker 1:So I saw, I saw photos and because, yeah, there's obviously photographers on the dragon, right, yeah, and I assumed they just you get on their website and you find one of the corner there on. Yeah, yeah. And when you were talking about driving through these sort of apocalyptic conditions to get there, I thought, well, hey, at least you've got the sort of post apocalypse ride height on on the zombie apocalypse 9, 11. So maybe, maybe that was, maybe that was holding you back. What, what, what, what. What tires are you running on, Bluie?
Speaker 2:I? Oh, that's a good question. I actually don't know, oh man. Can you? Yeah, I don't know they were um Michelin, I think so. Isn't that embarrassing? I don't know, I like I'm I'm drawing a blank, I can't remember. I think I think they're Michelin's so like a.
Speaker 1:That'd probably be a PS4. I would have thought is is available in the sizes for year 996. Michelin sizes are always tricky, but I would have thought PS4, which would be fine. I would have thought that's absolutely shocking.
Speaker 2:I can't believe. I can't remember what tires are in my car, but yeah, let's say that.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry to expose your lack of tire knowledge, but so so. So go back to it. You just didn't feel confident pushing. Was that also cause you were feeling a bit under the weather? You got a bit of motion sickness, is it?
Speaker 2:Well, maybe so I don't know. I just, you know, sometimes you're in the zone and you feel like there isn't anything that can take you off your line as you go in through the chicanes and you go from corners. And then there are other times where you're either second guessing the turn or you're second guessing the gear change and you just maybe it was just a mental thing, but I kind of felt like there were a couple of scenarios there where I sort of thought you know what in my mind, I was going to take that corner this way and I ended up a split second decision the other way and it didn't quite turn, you know. So I was kicking myself that way, I think a little bit. Maybe it was because of the motion sickness, I don't know.
Speaker 1:But you know what though? Because I have that you have some days, like you say, where it's the whole to the old flow state thing, right, Like some days the car just feels you know if you've ever been go-karting and when you're in a go-kart you can just chuck the thing around, you don't even think about it, it just does whatever you want it to do. And sometimes your car feels like that and on those days, yeah, it's like you just do anything. You feel so comfortable driving at speed. And there are days where it just you're sort of having to force it. And I just do the thing now where I think if I'm having to force it, no, I'm just backing off, and even if philosophically that doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 1:And I'll give you an example when we're in Tasmania last year, the last day, the last afternoon, we're driven what I thought were our last set of twisties, and we got onto a highway and I thought, okay, we've got an hour and a half to get to Devonport, where we're going to get on the ferry and come back to Melbourne, and it's just a cruise up the highway. I put on a podcast I just got into a zone of. Now I'm just cruising, we're done.
Speaker 1:But then we still ended up on this, on this set of twisties, and it was big and high speed and I was behind a couple of cars that theoretically, on paper in my GT4, I should have had no trouble keeping up with and certainly through the course of the weekend had not had any trouble keeping up with. But for whatever reason, I just felt like I was on the edge. I felt like I was pushing harder and I don't know what it was, but it just felt. No, it didn't feel right to me. So as soon as there was an opportunity, I just pulled to the side, let a few people get past me and thought I'll just sort of hang down the back because I don't want to try and push it if I'm not feeling it, because you make mistakes and it's not worth it.
Speaker 2:Exactly yeah, and I didn't pull over because there really isn't too many places on the tail of the dragon to pull over. But big shout out to a couple of our friends that were with us, mark and Matthew, driving a gorgeous I think it's speed yellow, speed yellow 997 cab. Mark really goes for it and last time we were there together, you know every time you go around a corner he's right behind you and not uncomfortably so, but he drives pretty close to you and you're both going for it and you feel like, okay, I'm going to push it a bit more and he pushes it a bit more. Well, he was behind me on this run of the dragon and even he told me afterwards. He was like, were you backing off? Are you okay?
Speaker 1:You know like he got the sense that you can tell. You can always tell.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he could, him and his son. They could even tell it was something wrong with me and I was like actually, yeah, I backed off a little bit, wasn't feeling it. You know, hope I wasn't holding you up, and of course I was, but they were very gracious about it.
Speaker 1:Do you guys have? Do you run radios? Do you have radios?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause I'll usually just, we'll often just get on and say, like I might just say, or someone will often just jump on the radio and go, hey, do you guys want to get past me? Cause I don't know if it's like this with your group, but we have not a pecking order, but you kind of know who drives at what speed and you know that there are people like your mate with the yellow cab who, yeah, we're going to be around the same kind of pace and we'll push each other and that's a good place to be, and so therefore he can tell if he's behind you that, okay, james isn't having a day today. Um, but yeah, do you have that natural sense within the group of who who sits where and who travels at what speed, or do you sort of have to be at the front because you've organized?
Speaker 2:everything. That does happen a lot, you know. I think maybe this time was the first time. I think that sort of dynamic has been, I guess, identified because this. So Jay and I have been to Taylor the dragon maybe together three or four times now, um, but he's usually at the front and I'm at the back, or vice versa, so we don't drive close to each other very often. Um, chris and I drive together all the time and Chris's car is always a monster, so I know that he's going to be faster than me and I try and go behind him if I, if I can. Um, but yeah, this is the second time we've had Mark and Matthew there. Um, I think we probably. You know we had Adam and Richie, who have been with us a couple of times before. Um, I think we're still trying to figure out. Yeah, it takes some time.
Speaker 1:It takes some time.
Speaker 2:I think we're still trying to figure that out. If we all lived in the same place, I think it would be a different thing, but because we're all coming in from all over the country once a year, Um, we have, but yeah, I think, I think we'll figure that out. But but yeah, I do often go to the front, um, and lead the way.
Speaker 1:That's a bit of pressure, though it is.
Speaker 2:Um, actually um, because I wasn't feeling it. Uh, I think on the first day of the second day, um, I volunteered to go to the back, or uh, and it was actually quite enjoyable to be at the back for a change.
Speaker 2:And so the front um, or the middle um. What's funny, though, about the radios is nine times out of 10, we're driving all over the mountains, you know, and we're driving to and from the radios are really useful. When you're on the tail of the dragon, there's no opportunity really to get on the radio. You know it's if, if your radar detector goes off, it's easier to just like honky horn than it is to get on the radio, because there were just so many, so many twists and such Like. You're quite literally, it's almost like doing the slalom when you're skiing, you know it's like left right, left right, left right. So to get on the radio you're probably risking driving off a cliff. Um, but they, they, they're really useful. I'd say anybody that goes on a rally together, get, get some walkie talkies, they're really useful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, massively. We're actually pretty good at using them, even in the really tight, twisty stuff, because you know so often here you'll have there's potholes or there'll be a cyclist or a something, and just to be able to send that warning back down through the group, I think is really important. But, yeah, we're, we're lucky. I think that we have, um, you know, with that core driving group that I drive with a lot, just a good shorthand where we all know how we kind of sit comparative to one another, and that that kind of automatically creates a pecking order. And, um, at least to my knowledge, I don't think anyone has an issue if I'm not leading.
Speaker 1:Uh, yeah, cause I I kind of figure, hey guys, I've done, I've created the route I've, I've set it all up. I want you to enjoy today as much as possible. So I'm happy to lead, but equally, if you guys want to drive quicker than I'm going, well, the nav's there, it's doing its job. So you know, feel free to be in front of me. I have no, I'm sort of happy being being mid pack most of the time, that's good.
Speaker 2:Have you got any more rallies coming up? What's going on with you at the moment?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we've got Tasmania coming in November, but actually day after tomorrow we're doing the second running of the winter rally, which is a concept I came up with last year.
Speaker 1:There's typically when we drive on a Sunday morning, there's a set of roads that we drive that do go through the hills, through the mountains.
Speaker 1:So during winter you kind of want to avoid them because you just get, you can get snow or you can get black ice, so they can be a little bit, a little bit sketchy. So there's a set of roads that exist to the southeast of Melbourne that are probably not quite as technically challenging as the roads we typically drive. But sorry, that's my dog shaking, if you can hear that sound they might not be as technically challenging as some of the roads we drive, but they're actually elevated, they're out of the bush, so you actually have lovely views and they're kind of flowing and they're just a change because we don't drive them most of the time. So I've organized a single day rally on these roads. So it's a big day, oh nice, and we've got a lot of people coming on that rally who don't come to like Alpine Range Rally or the Tassie trip. So I'm really looking forward to driving with some of these other people yeah, most of them.
Speaker 1:I've driven with at various other times before and good dudes, so I think that's going to be great. I'm really looking forward to that. And then, yeah, tasmania is the big, that's looming large. It's still a good couple of months away and honestly, I feel like it can't get here quick enough.
Speaker 2:I'm really November's going to get here quick. I can't believe it's the middle of August already, man. No, I know November's going to be here in no time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree. And look if I'm really honest, I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit anxious about Tasmania in little green. You know that that was a when I did the trip there last year. I remember saying to a few people, the roads down there, the setup down there, I could imagine being down there in a 992 GT3 and that not feeling like too much car. So I think my little 33 year old 964, you know it's going to fit, it's a knife to a gunfight. But that said, you know my pal Gerard, he was there in his 964 last year and was driving the doors off the thing.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, my buddy Erwin was in his 993 same thing, steve was in his 930 same thing. So you know it's so funny with little green. I always underestimate how good that car is. Always, constantly, I do it all the time and then I get in the car and go for a drive on the weekend and I keep up with everyone that car is. It's amazingly capable. So I think it's going to be I think it's going to be an absolute hoot in Tasmania. Can't wait can't wait.
Speaker 2:If you ever start making videos again, mr Absent, last rest, I think what would bea great video would be taking a sample of sports cars of similar age, of little green and putting them on those roads and just seeing how capable the other cars are compared to the 911, because I suspect that you know you get yourself a comparable Mercedes or BMW or Jag or who knows what. That 9-11 is gonna outshine, all of those being 33 years old.
Speaker 1:But for whatever reason, I think you'd need to put it against. It'd be things like the NSX, which are similar age, that I think would genuinely give it a run for its money. But look, the truth is as well. The car is not what it was out of the box, and particularly the chassis set up on that car, and that's the thing that makes all the difference. And I remember getting back into it a few months ago and going on a drive and I was keeping up with GT4s and dropping a GT4. So it'll do it the right road. It's a weapon in its own way. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. But I've been going through, oh, so we've spoken about me doing the interior on that car, right.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah yeah, and actually you last time we spoke. I mean, we need an update on the suspension, we need an update on your wheels and yeah, you've been working on the interior as well and actually, I think since the last time we were on the pod, you've tidied your garage.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, the garage has definitely come a long way. It's not there yet, but it's definitely come a long way. So suspension all sorted, kw all sorted. They did a great job. Got the car back. It was great.
Speaker 1:A little bit of frustration and to and fro with the wheel alignment. I don't think the previous specs had been recorded, so we've just had a bit of trial and error on the alignment and it's not been perfect. And actually just this week. So I drove last weekend or the weekend before, I think it was last weekend and towards the end of my drive suddenly the rear end of the car started to feel a bit strange. Well, I got home and it had like 12 PSI in one of the tires and so I filled it back up and I know that tire has had somewhat of a slow leak. And then, yeah, it was losing three or four PSI every day. So I don't know what had happened. I'd pumped it up literally that morning before I, before we went driving to 3035. So I took it to my tire place on Monday and they got in touch with me and said actually, the BBS, the seal, has gone, so it's leaking air. So actually what I did yesterday was I put my original Cup ones back on the car and, yeah, they look great.
Speaker 1:However, however, I'll say this so they're a replica Cup one. They're not the real thing and the real Cup ones are actually magnesium, so they're lightweight. That difference between lightweight BBS, the 88s, and replica Cup ones in terms of the way the car feels on the road and, in particular, small bump compliance, is actually quite dramatic. Oh really, yeah, I remember thinking when I was getting the BBS that I was going from 17 inch to 18 inch, so lower profile tires, it's probably going to be a little harsher in terms of ride quality, but in fact the opposite was true, because they're just lighter and so the suspension works easier. It does its job better. So, yeah, it doesn't feel as nice on the Cup ones and actually, to be fair, the alignment is probably optimized for the E88s rather than the, rather than the Cups as well. So, yeah, not ideal, but anyways, the BBS is actually getting fixed. I'm collecting it tomorrow, so they'll be double back on the car a lot sooner than I thought.
Speaker 2:But you know it's funny, it actually looks like a different car it does. When you, when you sent me that shot, I was like, wait a minute, is he showing me a mate's car? That kind of looks similar, like even the color through me. You know that I was like I'm not even sure that's. You know, whatever green it is that you've got, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, it's true, I agree, and actually because it's the first time I've had the Cup ones on the car with the amber turn signals. When I bought the car I had a phrase who owned it before me had put on the clear turn signals and I'd run them for a long time with the E88s. But then going back to amber, and one thing that kind of annoys me actually is that the cars green, the wheels are, let's say, yellow, and the amber turn signals, there's a lot of color going on, and so to have these silver cup one wheels on the green, and so you just got the green with the little pop of orange, it actually looks really, really good and it made me want to get silver E88s actually. But I do like the look of it, I love how it just looks classic nine, six, four, you know, kind of RS vibes.
Speaker 2:But then the other thing I did so.
Speaker 1:I bought turbo seats two years ago and I've had them sitting in storage and I decided I thought I'm going to put them in the car, even though they're on color I knew they're blue so they're going to look ridiculous but I just thought I just want to put them in because if I'm going to have those seats recovered I want to know that actually like how they feel.
Speaker 1:So, first up, I had to find them right, because I bought the seats and they came to the country disassembled. So I went to storage. I found three boxes. I'm like, okay, there's one seat back, there's one base, there's another base, where's the other seat back?
Speaker 2:Oh man.
Speaker 1:So, dude, I went to my businesses storage unit. I'm in the roof of the house, I'm out in the shed and the garage. I can't find this seat back and I'm like how do you lose a seat?
Speaker 2:back in it.
Speaker 1:It's not a small box and it's not something that you go oh, that's right, I put it in this cupboard because you would know it. It's the kind of thing that's in the way if you have it in your house.
Speaker 2:Yeah right.
Speaker 1:So and then it just. I was lying in bed one night and it suddenly occurred to me I thought oh, hang on, the two seat backs are in one box. They're top and tail, so there was only ever three boxes. Oh, it had just been so long I'd forgotten. So anyway, I, so I get the seats. Even reassembling the seats, I had no instruction, no understanding of how to do it. It was quite tricky, got that done and you know it was just. It was one of those projects where at every turn I ran into a problem. And getting the old seat out, the bolts are just. They go through the rails and then into a little like a spacer that's threaded and they are so the way that thread works. They're just jammed tight. I finally get the old seat out, put the new one in. The good thing is, even though they're listed as being Navy seats, they're pretty much black.
Speaker 1:So I'm like, well, it actually doesn't look that bad in the car, so I put the first one in. Took some faffing around to get it aligned, but once I did it was really good. But then taking it for a drive Dude, it sounds like an old Jag or a Cadillac or something. It is so creaky. The leather is like ehh, ehh, ehh.
Speaker 2:Oh really.
Speaker 1:I'm like this is I can't. I can't deal with this Noise drives me nuts. So my buddy Gerard lent me a treatment that he'd used to soften the leather. That didn't really work, and then I tried another one that I had and that actually worked quite well. So, but at the moment I have one black seat and one beige seat, because when I went to take out the passenger seat.
Speaker 1:The bolts they're an Allen bolt hex wrench and I put it in and I thought that feels it doesn't feel really tight to me as in there was a little bit of play and but also I needed extra leverage right, so I got a spanner, kind of wrapped it around the edge at the end of the of the Allen key so that I could actually have some leverage. I start to pull it and then I feel it just go and I'm like, okay, it's either suddenly loosened or I've stripped it and I've stripped it.
Speaker 1:Oh mother, so anyway. So yeah, at the moment the car looks ridiculous because there's these two seats, but that said, the turbo seat is it's a great seat. I wasn't convinced at first, took a bit of getting used to, but that extra support is amazing. It's really really good.
Speaker 2:So I see I, based on the way this conversation was going out, half suspecting to hear that you're going to sell these seats and just get rid of them that have been sat in storage for a while. But you've you know that was I do you know what I did?
Speaker 1:toy with that exact idea. I was like it's too hard and I wasn't convinced by them at first and I thought maybe I'll just sell them. And then I jumped from the driver's seat into the passenger seat, which is a standard sports seat, and thought, oh no, that actually doesn't have near as much support. And so you know, because the alternatives are a pole position which I love in a nine, six, four, I know your view on them, but but you know they are the seat that was in the nine, six four RS.
Speaker 1:But I have a few friends with pole positions in their cars and I just find the shoulders push forward. I can't get comfortable in them. So Rikaro sports does are the other option because they're a reclinable sports seat. They don't really look period correct and you know they've. They come as standard equipment in a modern Renault, but that's it.
Speaker 1:I've seen some really nice ones in old nine 11s. But anyway, I think I think the sports seats are the way to go. They're comfortable and super supportive and as long as they're not creaking like a like a haunted house door, they're. They're seemingly the right way to go.
Speaker 2:So anyway the cars.
Speaker 1:it's good. It's in a kind of state of flux, though, yeah.
Speaker 2:But so you got a little bit of time before Tassie to get it sorted. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. Get on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, all I'll do before Tasmania is I'm pulling. I've got kind of a hit list of stuff that I just want to address from a servicing perspective before I go. I want to replace the clutch pin because that got. That fails once every 18 months to two years. It's probably been that long, so just preemptively get that done. I want to make sure that the shifter linkage is all tightened up and secured. Yeah, yeah, break pads, all that stuff and make sure everything's Mickey Mouse before, before putting the car on a boat All right.
Speaker 2:So, andy, let's move into our last segment of the pod video of the week. Video of the week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we talked, we've. I've talked about Forest Green Metallic a little bit on the pod today and Lucas Lucas Scurron, scurron.
Speaker 2:Can't pronounce this now.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Lucas Scarponi, I think, is his name. He's an amazing automotive photographer Scarponi. Scarpon, Scarpon Lucas. I'm so sorry I've Shit. I've reached out to Lucas. I want to get him on the podcast and he very graciously said he was really keen to come on and that I've just absolutely butchered his name.
Speaker 1:This is this is worse than being late to interview Chris Clill. Anyway, lucas is a great dude and he's an amazing automotive photographer and I've been following him on Instagram for a while because he has a Forest Green Metallic 992 GT3 touring and the spec on this car is just like utter, utter perfection. And Project One, who makes some really, really cool automotive films in Toronto, I think, have made this, this, this film with him and his car, and I mean the cinematography stunning, the car spectacular, as you'd expect. But I actually really, really enjoyed Lucas's philosophy about this car.
Speaker 1:You know, he's one of these people who wants to drive it. He takes it to charity days and stuff like that so that he can, you know, share it with with, with other people, and it just. He's sort of the opposite of the stereotypical Porsche guy and in fact, he's the opposite of the guy we've been talking about who will buy the 911 ST. He's not only really driving this car and putting kilometres on it, and he's not putting kilometres on it for the sake of, you know, wanting to say he's done more kilometres than anyone else. He just decided this is what the car is designed to do. I'm going to drive it, I'm going to experience it as much as I can and I'm going to share that experience with people, and I really like the way that's captured in this film.
Speaker 2:Oh, very nice, very nice. And he has what the touring 992 GT3 touring Beautiful. Yes, stunning, stunning and, like I said, lucas, please accept my apologies for butchering your surname.
Speaker 1:We will get you on the pod and I will apologise in person. But as. I said to you on DMs absolutely, absolutely love this film and love your whole philosophy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, all right, we'll check that out. That's what it's called A culmination of passion.
Speaker 1:A culmination of passion, and we will, of course, share the link to that unless we're banned from doing so.
Speaker 2:Well, Andy, I think that's it for another pod. Yeah, I'm going to get more coffee. You can go and finish Dune. And spoiler alert Captain Kirk arrives in the last scene and saves the day.
Speaker 1:I was really hoping he would. Yeah, I mean, look, it's 10 pm now. I'm only half an hour in. There is no way I'm finishing Dune tonight, but I'm going to do. I'm going to take the dog outside because he has been sitting here, I'm not kidding, he's been farting the whole time. And this I'm in my study and it's a small. It's a small space, right Like it's. It's pretty small.
Speaker 2:You're the kind of guy that just like lets rip and then blames on the dog. I get it. Well, guys, thanks for chiming in, thanks for listening to me and Andy Waffle about Porsches, and if you are one of the lucky owners of the new 9-11 Sugar Tits, let's get you on the pod and just talk about how great it is.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, because you know what. How good would that be Like? Prove us wrong. We're such cynical old twats talking about how nobody's going to drive these cars yet. Let's. If you know someone or you're the someone and you've got a 9-11 ST, let's. Or you've got one coming, because obviously no one has one yet. We want to talk to you In the meantime, james. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2:All right, good job, andy, take care.
Speaker 1:You too, pal, and you guys all take care as well, and we will see you on the next one. Cheers.
