As the Goodwood Festival of Speed has officially gotten underway, we expect news (and hopefully some video) to start trickling out from the event itself. For now, however, we'll just bring you up to speed on what Porsche has in store for festival-goers.
Road Cars
First off, they're letting fans get in on the action. A donation to the Richard Burns Foundation will secure aficionados a spot in one of the passenger seats of a Cayenne S as it's taken for a demonstration ride through a grass-surfaced dynamics course by an instructor from the Porsche Driving Experience.
On the hillclimb course, the big-brother Cayenne Turbo S (521 hp) will join the new 911 GT3 (415 hp) and 911 Turbo (480 hp) as they participate in the Supercar Run. It's only fitting that the public gets their first up-close looks at the new 911 variants in this venue. Instead of looking at them on a rotating tray and imagining their performance based on what they're reading off of the spec sheet, the fans will see them in all their glory as they streak up the Goodwood hill at full tilt.
Racing Cars
As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Targa Florio, the Porsche Museum has sent along two of its residents that participated in the event: the 1962 Type 718/8 RS Spyder and 1970 908/03 Spyder. Vic Elford, the '68 Targa Florio winner, has been tapped to drive the 908/3 up the Hill. In addition to the two targa Florio cars, the museum also provided the 1960 Type 718 Formula II race car and the '62 Type 804 Formula 1 car.
There's more, too. The 1973 Targa Florio-winning 911 Carrera RSR and a 959 Rally-Raid car will also be on hand. Drivers Gijs van Lennap, Jacky Ickx, and Richard Atwood will all be participating in the hillclimb competition. God knows they'll be driving quality hardware.
We at Autoblog envy any readers who will be witnessing this spectacle in person.
(Pics, release after the jump)
[Source: Porsche]
Additional Porsches at Goodwood:
Press Release:
Experience Porsche Power at the Goodwood Festival of Speed
Exciting passenger ride experience in Cayenne S for visitors on purpose-built course
Porsche will once again be participating at this summer's Goodwood Festival of Speed (July 7 - 9) with a mix of cars from its illustrious past and powerful present. New for the 2006 Festival, visitors will be able to experience the performance and handling of the Porsche Cayenne on a specially designed dynamics course located next to the famous speed hillclimb course.
The driver-oriented chassis of the Porsche Cayenne has been designed to combine sports car handling on the road with the added versatility of extreme agility off-road. The grass-surfaced course around which the V8-engined 340bhp Cayenne S models will power is intended to demonstrate perfectly the outstanding dynamic ability of the four door Porsche.
A donation to the Richard Burns Foundation, established in memory of the British 2001 World Rally Champion who died last year, will secure an exciting ride in the Porsche Cayenne S. Members of the public will be able to jump into the passenger seats with a Driving Consultant from the Porsche Driving Experience behind the wheel, and enjoy an exciting run in the all-wheel drive Cayenne S.
Complementing the Cayenne dynamics demonstration will be the V8 twin-turbocharged 521bhp Turbo S that will be participating in The Sunday Times Supercar Run up the hillclimb course, a high-octane display of horsepower that celebrates the ultimate in performance road car engineering. Joining the Cayenne Turbo S on the hill and making its public debut will be the exciting 415bhp Porsche 911 GT3, and the new 480bhp Porsche 911 Turbo.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed each year celebrates a motor sporting anniversary, and invites manufacturers and private owners to demonstrate cars of historical significance relating to the events being commemorated. In 2006, the centenary of the Targa Florio race in Sicily is celebrated and Porsche is bringing two cars that raced in the classic event – the 1962 Type 718/8 RS Spyder and 1970 908/03 Spyder - from its Stuttgart Museum.
Also visiting from the Porsche Museum will be the 1960 Type 718 Formula II single seater race car, and the 1962 Type 804 Formula I race car, winner of the 1962 French and German Grands Prix.
A further unique feature of Goodwood is that the event seeks to reunite famous cars with drivers from the original factory teams. This year, Vic Elford, 1968 winner of the Targa Florio for Porsche, will be taking the wheel of the 1970 Porsche 908/03.
Porsche enthusiasts visiting Goodwood will be pleased to learn that there are many more examples of the marque, and former factory race drivers, participating in the Festival of Speed. The winner of the 1973 Targa Florio, Dutchman Gijs van Lennep, will be reunited with his victorious 911 Carrera RSR during the weekend. Belgian ace Jacky Ickx will drive an example of the Porsche 959 Rally-Raid car, and Richard Attwood, winner of the 1970 Le Mans 24 Hour race in the fearsome Porsche 917, will also be competing.
And for visitors wishing to re-fuel themselves, the Porsche Café Le Mans will be once more situated on the outside of the track near the footbridge, offering meals and refreshments.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed takes place in the grounds of Goodwood House, near Chichester, Sussex, between July 7 – 9. Admission is by advanced ticket only. For further information about the weekend's activities and admission prices, visit goodwood.co.uk, or telephone 01243 755000.
Additional info:
The Richard Burns Foundation
Goodwood this year will raise money for the Richard Burns Foundation - a new charity aimed at mobilising the rally community in support of people suddenly struck down by serious illness. The foundation will also include the Michael Park Fund, named in honour of Burns's friend and fellow competitor who was killed in a crash during the Rally of Great Britain last September. This will lobby for improved standards in road safety.
1960 Porsche Type 718 Formula II Race Car
In 1957, Porsche converted its 1500 RS-K race-sports car with four cylinder, four camshaft engine, which had been so successful, into a centre-seat Spyder. Formula 2 regulations then permitted fully enclosed vehicles.
Its Grand Prix premiere was successful: on 4 August 1957 at the Nurburgring in Germany, Edgar Barth was fastest in practice and won the race as well. In 1958, at the Grand Prix of Europe at Reims, France, Jean Behra produced another victory. A second place at the Nurburgring and victory at Avus, Germany, rounded out the season and prompted Porsche to build a thoroughbred, monoposto (literally 'single seat') race car.
With this car, the Type 787, Porsche sought victories in Formula 2 throughout 1960. British drivers Stirling Moss and Graham Hill, along with Swede Joakim Bonnier, celebrated a triple triumph at Aintree in England, while the Nurburgring, Zeltweg (Belgium) and Modena (Italy) also witnessed Porsche successes.
These drivers, joined by Barth and Hans Herrmann, Wolfgang Count Berghe von Trips, Bonnier as well as Dan Gurney, faced strong competition from Lotus, Cooper and Ferrari but nevertheless Porsche in 1960 won the desirable 'Coupe des Constructeurs', the unofficial Formula 2 World Championship for Makes. A year later, new rules for Formula 1 brought a fresh chance for Porsche: in 1961, these modified single seaters served as the company's entry into Grand Prix racing.
Technical Specification
Engine: Four cylinder, normally-aspirated, air-cooled, two-valve engine, four shaft-driven overhead camshafts
Output: 190bhp at 8,000rpm
Displacement: 1,498cc
Fuel system: Two Weber dual-downdraft carburettors, electric fuel pump, 100 litre fuel tank
Driveline: Six-speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive, imited-slip differential
Chassis: Steel-tube space frame, independent suspension, torsion bars in front, coil springs in the rear, dual circuit drum brakes
Wheelbase: 2,300mm
Weight: 456kg
Top speed: approx 155 mph (250 km/h)
Chassis number: 718-2-03
1962 Porsche Type 804 Formula 1 Race Car
When the engine capacity for Formula 1 cars was reduced to 1.5-litres in 1961, this change of regulations helped to motivate Porsche to enter the Grand Prix arena since these new rules scarcely differed from those of the previous Formula 2 class.
Porsche nearly achieved its first Formula 1 victory in 1961 with its modified Type 787 F2 chassis, with Dan Gurney finishing second at Reims in France, and at the Grand Prix of Italy and the USA. However, in 1962, Porsche developed an eight-cylinder Grand Prix racer intent on claiming that first outright win.
In concept and chassis, the Type 804 was similar to contemporary mid-engined racers. It also used an interesting disc brake design and a horizontal cooling fan on top of its air-cooled eight-cylinder engine.
Everything came together in July 1962. Following a promising Monaco, the American Gurney won the Grand Prix of France at Rouen with a lap lead over South African Tony Maggs in a Cooper. A week later, Gurney beat Jim Clark's Lotus to win again, this time in front of 300,000 enthusiastic spectators, at the the Solutide track in Stuttgart.
Towards the end of 1962, Porsche ceased its Formula 1 programme. Such technology, with only minimal carryover to production cars, required heavy financial outlays. Since motor racing was always the basis for new developments and improvements to production sports cars at Porsche, the company concentrated instead on GT cars and long-distance events once again.
Technical Specification
Engine: Eight cylinders, horizontally-opposed pistons, normally aspirated, air-cooled, two-valve, four shaft-driven overhead camshafts
Output: 180bhp at 9,200rpm
Displacement: 1,494cc
Fuel system: Four dual-downdraft carburettors, 150 litre fuel tank
Driveline: Six speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive, limited-slip differential
Chassis: Steel-tube space frame, independent suspension, torsion bars, Porsche disc brakes, 5.00 x 15 R front tyres, 6.50 x 15 R rear tires
Dimensions and weight: Wheelbase 2,300mm, length 3,600mm, weight 452kg
Performance: Top speed 168 mph (270 km/h)
Chassis number: 804 - 04
1962 Porsche 718/8 RS Spyder
During four active years as a sports car prototype, this 718 RS Spyder, chassis number 718 047, visited virtually every race track in Europe and travelled as far afield as the Americas.
Although laid out to take the new eight cylinder engine, this Spyder, distinguished by its sleek aluminium body wrapped over a steel tube frame, celebrated its debut in the famous 1961 Targa Florio still powered by the proven 'four'. Driven by the Porsche factory's star drivers, Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier, it scored an immediate second place, behind a Ferrari. In 1962, however, an eight-cylinder engine from the Porsche F1 race car, enlarged to 2.0 litres, replaced the four camshaft four-cylinder. Thus Grand Prix experience gave the GT prototype a fresh chance in the newly-prescribed World Endurance Trophy. Following sensational class victories in the 1962 Targa as well as the Nurburgring 1000km, where this car was third overall both times, Porsche captured second place in the World Cup for Speed and Endurance.
In the middle of 1962, the RS Spyder entered another arena: hillclimbs. Producing 210bhp, the 718/8 RS Spyder was to make its presence felt in the battle for the European Hillclimb Championship, previously the domain of private drivers with four-cylinder Spyders. This RS with Edgar Barth at the wheel set everything straight during the 1963 hillclimb season. Modified and boasting a further 30bhp, it brought Porsche and Barth the European Hillclimb Championship.
The heavily-used RS was an old friend to every mechanic in the racing department at Porsche by this time and they nicknamed it 'Grandmother' in recognition of its unusually long racing life. In 1964 it extended its already legendary career further still with renewed success for Barth, who retained the European Hillclimb Championship in 1964.
Technical Specification
Engine: Eight cylinders, horizontally-opposed pistons, normally aspirated, air-cooled, two-valve, four shaft-driven overhead camshafts
Output: 210bhp at 8,400rpm
Displacement: 1,981cc
Fuel system: Four dual-downdraft carburettors, 80 litre fuel tank
Driveline: Six speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive, limited-slip differential
Chassis: Steel-tube space frame, independent suspension, coil springs, disc brakes
Dimensions and weight: Wheelbase 2,335mm, length 4,020mm, height 930mm, weight 640kg
Performance: Top speed 161 mph (260 km/h)
Chassis number: 718 047
1970 Porsche 908/03 Spyder
Although Porsche concentrated primarily on development of its twelve cylinder 917 from the middle of 1969, the eight cylinder 908 was also developed further. This 908 received a completely new tubular frame based on that of the 909 Bergspyder and its three litre engine was moved forward by mounting the gearbox ahead of the differential to achieve more equal weight distribution.
Thus Type 908/03 was basically conceived for tight twisty circuits that demanded high levels of manoeuvrability. Consequently, the size of the sports car was kept to a minimum and it weighs a mere 540 kilos. The driver's seat is even mounted on the right-hand side to ensure better weight distribution on the predominately clockwise circuits the car was to race on.
The flat-eight three litre engine produced 350hp enabling the 908/03 to obtain a top speed of approximately 275 km/h (172 mph), but it was the car's agility that was to ensure success during its racing career.
As pre-determined by its extreme 'fitness for purpose', in 1970 and 1971 the Porsche factory only entered the 908/03 in four races, yet managed to win three of them. Taking its debut victory in the 1970 Targa Florio (Jo Stiffert/Brian Redman), the only thing as impressive as the car's speed around the tortuous mountain circuit in Sicily was the conspicuous paint schemes of the factory cars. That year's Nürburgring 1000km race saw the 908/03 again finish first and second, securing the World Championship for Makes for Porsche.
The 1971 Nürburgring 1000km saw three out of the four 908/03s which started, finish in the first three places. The 908/03 continued to win in the hands of privateer teams for many years and even finished first overall in the 1980 Nürburgring 1000km.
Technical Specification
Engine: Eight-cylinder, horizontally-opposed pistons, air-cooled, two valves per cylinder, four chain-driven overhead camshafts
Output: 360hp at 8,400rpm
Displacement: 2,997cc
Fuel System: Mechanical fuel injection, 120-litre fuel tank
Transmission: Five-speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive, limited-slip differential
Chassis: Aluminium, tubular space frame, plastic bodywork, independent suspension, coil springs, disc brakes
Dimensions and weight: Wheelbase 2,300mm, length 3,540mm, weight 540 kg
Performance: Top speed 275 km/h (172 mph)
Chassis number: 908 03 009
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