As I write, the 2010 Le Mans Classic is in full swing.

The weather here is incredibly hot: Porsche restaurant tent temperatures hit a reported 45 degrees yesterday and Arnage lunch was taken in similar heat. Not all that comfortable, unless you went to McDonalds for the air conditioning and free wifi, like myself and Mr Lipman.

As per usual, base for our little ImpactBumpers.com crew is the peaceful Moulin du Prieure in Dissay sous Courcillon, 37 miles south of the track, on the edge of Sarthe province. It’s far enough away to feel like real France: Le Mans town becomes a tourist meltdown and traffic nightmare for this event.

That said; I got my first taste of Le Mans camping this weekend, by visiting the Dutch contingent at Karting Nord for the R Gruppe BBQ, and last night’s Leftovers Special. Their set up of tents around bivouac, with inflatable sofas and permanently active grill is perfect: food for thought in 2012.

I also had my first taste of ACO this weekend, as I arrived with media accreditation instead of my usual Porsche ‘Club Ticket Package’. Have to say I am not super impressed with the media dispensations and would probably have been as well off to travel as a paying enthusiast.

Porsche tent access is a worthy addition to the event and, despite positive confirmation of entry beforehand, it was not available to common or garden journos like me on the day. Talk about disappointed! I did get a very nice enamel badge to carry around and keep as a souvenir though, and the media girls are exceptionally pretty, so thumbs up for that.

Now I am freelancing full time, CLM is a good opportunity to bump into other writers and photographers and catch up with the news. Researching future features in 45 degree heat really shows who walks the walk!  It was good to see two UK classic magazine editors on site: Phil Bell from Classic Cars and Gary Stretton from Classics Monthly. Both were loving it, and I got an update on their own old machinery: an E-Type and a very rare Peerless.

This is the Classic Porsche Blog though, so we’ll post Porsche pics and updates once we’re back at home on Tuesday. In the meantime, check out a few iPhone shots taken in mind-bending high 40s heat. Gotta love Porsche reliability!

Today was the last day in Monaco for the 2010 RGruppe Bergmeister Tour. With no group plan for the day, I was up at 7.30 and out in the Orange 911 Carrera 3.0, to repeat yesterday’s drive up the Col De Turini, and the amazing road from Turini to Sospel.

Col de Turini is the heart of the Monte Carlo Rally. As Monte has been a dream event for me for many years, driving the core stage of this monumental test of man and machine was a must.

At just 1607 metres high, Turini is a relatively low mountain pass, but that does not take away from the sense of occasion one enjoys upon reaching the summit. Once at the top, there was no doubt in my mind: a life goal had been reached.

After driving up the Col, I spent the early part of the morning seeking out locations for a photo shoot planned for later that day. I came up with some places and plans, which ultimately did not work out anything like I’d intended but, regardless of the operational challenges, it was great to spend time with the five faithful Gruppers who returned to the mountains to help me with the work. Many thanks to Leonard, Jan, Guenter, Gerd and Martin.

Tomorrow we drive to Le Mans, for a weekend at the biannual Le Mans Classic. It’s my first time there with press accreditation, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of working at Classic Le Mans, rather than just being there as a Porsche fan and car guy in search of entertainment.

Not that there won’t be entertainment to hand! My fellow Bergmeisters are all coming to Le Mans, where we’ll be joined by the ImpactBumpers.com crowd, and the Dutch R Gruppe posse. The Amsterdam massive includes good buddy Arjen Bosman, who has rented a (British) caravan to camp at the event: bound to be unmerciful fun.

The exception to the attendees will be little brother Sam, who flies back to Dublin from here tomorrow. He has been to every CLM with me so far, so it’s going to be strange not having him with us this time around.

We leave Monte Carlo at 7am. After today’s drive down from the mountains through Castillo and the other lovely villages overlooking the bay, I’m missing it already.

Crazy day today, moving cars around and dragging my Carrera 3.0 out of storage, to give it a quick service before tomorrow’s departure on the RGruppe Bergmeister Tour, followed by Classic Le Mans.

Today was the first time I had done valve clearances on a 911. I was using a standard feeler gauge and I can tell you it’s not so much fun. Eventually got through it – hopefully the Orange will sound good when the fresh oil goes in tomorrow. I put the rocker covers back on with 100% silicone gaskets.

I also changed the plugs from yuk Bosch (just don’t like Bosch plugs) to platinum NGK B8-EVKs. I ran these spark plugs in my SC Cab and they made a nice difference, so let’s see how they do in Orange. I installed some ultrasonically cleaned injectors too, though I doubt they’ll have a huge effect. I saw the buildup of gunk through the open ports of my metering head a while back, and think that needs to come apart next: no time to do it just at the mo.

Bye Bye Bosch Plugs

Got lots of bits to finish off tomorrow: grab a Knecht filter and a pair of drain plug washers at Tuthills, get some oil and a couple of new fan belts from my spares place in Banbury and go get a cigarette lighter to throw in the glovebox, to power the sat nav. It needs a tyre change and perhaps a bit of a wash. Then I need to throw my luggage in and the other stuff I’m bringing for people: t-shirts, badges, number plates and the like! I just spent tonight sorting out my camera bag.

We’ve had the TomTom-friendly RGruppe Bergmeister routes through from RallyAtlas and they all look pretty good. I’ve already modified my Day One file to pick me up at Rotterdam and take me to way point 5 on the list, close to the Belgian border. Don’t want to get sent to Amsterdam first. I also booked my return trip with SeaFrance which I am really looking forward to. The Tunnel is fast but it has no romance: I’d like to round this trip off with a little bit of style.

Split Fan Belt: got to find a pair of these tomorrow

I’m looking forward to getting away and getting down to work. I’ll be diarising/photographing the Bergmeister Tour for a feature and then covering the IB boys’ fun at Classic Le Mans for a separate piece, so should be some great stories in there. We might also find a feature car or two at Le Mans: I’m hooking up with Jamie down there so the pics for those are gonna be good.

Hope to bump into some Classic Porsche Blog readers at Classic Le Mans. Definitely say hi if you spot me. If I go a bit quiet on here, it’s just a lack of wi-fi. I’ll post when I can!

Things are absolutely flat out here, as I try to get two US features and a pair of magazine columns done, before readying my Orange 911 Carrera 3.0 for the 2010 RGruppe Bergmeister Tour, and our subsequent trip to Classic Le Mans; back to our beautiful gîte in Dissay-sous-Courcillon.

The Dutch posse leaves Amsterdam at 07:30, heading for Belgium. The original idea was for the latecoming members of UK RGruppe (i.e. me and Hamish) to hook up with the German and Dutch cars (and the US IROC car which has been shipped in especially) somewhere south of Brussels at around 09:30, but that would mean getting an 05:30 train, so my leaving home before 3am.

Little brother gets in to Brum from Dublin at 8pm the previous night so, between getting the car done all day Friday and the Saturday night arrival in Geneva, I was staring down a double-barreled all-nighter. Not impossible with two drivers, but not much fun for either.

I considered missing the convoy and going straight to Geneva from Brittany Ferries’ Portsmouth to Caen route, which is actually quite a bit shorter, but a: it was booked solid and b: it kind of felt like cheating. I also considered an 11pm Chunnel crossing, driving to a hotel south of Brussels and getting 5 hours’ sleep before the Dutchies arrived, but that didn’t feel quite right: the tunnel is quick, but it’s a romance-free zone!

Then the thought occurred: what about sailing to the Netherlands overnight? Take a leisurely drive from Birmingham Airport to Harwich, slip onto Stena Line’s midnight boat to the Hook of Holland, which would get us into Rotterdam at around 08.30 CET as close to the tour start as possible, fully relaxed and rested. I ran the idea past Chaptermeister Stolk and he liked it too.

So that’s the plan. Pick up little bro, head to Harwich, put the Orange in the safe hands of Stena Line while we head upstairs, have a bit of dinner and chill out. We’ll then squeeze in some zeds in comfortable beds, before kicking off the 2010 Bergmeister Tour with enough energy to really get the most from the drive south to Thonon-les-Bains, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Day two brings us to Briancon. Day three then takes us to Monaco, where Bergmeister Base Camp will be established at the Novotel in the old town. From there, our ten classic Porsches will spend three days running along some classic Monte Carlo routes and also the the famous Mediterranean Corniches: those unbearably photogenic roads, carved into the mountains where they meet the glistening sea. James Bond: eat your heart out! I’m looking forward to more France Porsche pictures like this:

Don’t miss the story of this sure-to-be magnificent event. Follow it here, on The Classic Porsche Blog’s Facebook page and on The Classic Porsche Blog Twitter feed.

Things are crazy around here at the minute. Millions of words to write since landing back in the UK post California, trying to tidy up loose ends on my day job so I can leave with a clear conscience, and also trying to get moving on clearing out some of my projects. I figure it’d be better to put some cash back into the house at the minute and get my extension going. Realistically, that leaves little time for projects.

First one advertised is my 911 T on eBay here. (edit 19/04: the Buy It Now has just been pressed after I took the price down to £10,750 – it is sold).

The car is a non-sunroof ’71, originally from California. A few years back, it sold to a guy up in Canada who wanted to build an RS replica. He spent a lot of money on the body: new sills, RS arches, hours spent on prep for paint and a decent enough job on the finish, in lovely Gemini Blue.

The engine is a 2.2E motor which we were told was recently rebuilt with S pistons and cams. It runs MFI. It came on a pallet and was just bolted in for transport so I have never fired it up: lack of time really. My plan was to buy a past-it SC targa in less than pristine condition out in California and drop all the running gear into this. I hasd planned a rally interior with a cage and all nicely trimmed. I seriously am never going to have time to get stuck into this so it has to go.

I’ve put it on at €12500, which is £11,000. It would cost more to buy an average LHD T, sort a non-sunroof roof out and then do the body and paint it all. I think it’s priced right but we’ll see. The pics are a bit crap (dusty dash and loose headlining) as I didn’t even clean it after I picked it up, just put it straight into storage. If it doesn’t arouse some interest, I’ll bring it home, give it a clean, do some reassembly and put it back on a bit higher.

Failing that I’ll advertise the Orange. £30K would see my 1976 Carrera 3.0 Coupe off to pastures new: Australia maybe. They love 911 Carrera 3.0 coupes down there and mine has some nice light bits following a full bare metal resto. I think it’s old enough now that the LHD doesn’t matter. I have lots to move on, lots and lots. Busy busy busy!

I’ve been looking for door pockets for my Varmint SC for a while with no joy. Lots of black ones, but my car is trimmed in lovely blue, so not for me. Luckily, I have some very sweet people keeping their eyes out too.

I got an email from good 911 buddy Al Wood of Dragonfly Boats UK/Multihull Solutions yesterday (Thursday), to say he had spotted some pockets on the 911 and Porsche World website. I jumped along there to check it out, found an email address and quickly whizzed something off. A quick reply said the pockets and accompanying door panels and handles were all still available (woohoo), so I agreed to buy.

Sending my address for delivery, it turned out the seller was coming up to my neck of the woods – Turweston, near Brackley – today. He offered to bring the bits up with him. “Meet me at Turweston Airfield at lunchtime” was the arrangement.

I pulled into the aerodrome this afternoon and dialled the seller’s mobile number. Yes, you guessed it: he’d flown the parts up in his plane. The transport was a Europa two-seater in white over silver, with an orange on the tail. Sounds like a cue for a photo op.

The gorgeous little Europa was flown by Peter Kember, who has just finished backdating his 3.2 using a Paul Stephens kit. Peter’s plane was such a beautiful thing to look at, I was really surprised to hear that he had also built this himself. No disrespect to the pilot, but I always expect home builds to be a little bit shonky. Far from the case here.

Powered by a Rotax 912 flat four motor, I was also amazed to hear how economical it was: 50 mpg! The owner reckons it is cheaper than a motorcycle to run. Peter describes flying it as a joy and ‘like sitting behind a sewing machine’, thanks to the quiet little 1352cc engine and the step up gearbox.

Tunbridge Wells to Silverstone in 40 minutes on £20, versus 2.5 hours and who knows how much petrol in a car. What an absolute no-brainer!

Since our first visit to the Essen Techno Classica back in 2006, I have always wanted to drive my own car over. The sight of all those great old classics on show and for sale made me miss my 911s, and Dusseldorf city centre seemed an ideal place for a cruise around amidst ancient German money. For 2010, I vowed to get across under Porsche power.

With Eurotunnel booked and the jdg.com Barclaycard ready to take the brunt of the fuel bill, at 3.30 last Wednesday morning, I set off for Essen.

First stop was Banbury, for a fill up for car and driver (iPhone pic above). 24 hour latte on tap is a lovely idea, especially when you’ve only had two hours sleep! Costa’s Raspberry and Almond bakes are the perfect accompaniment. My car runs the billet Airflow cupholders, which have paid for themselves in satisfying my 911+caffeine addiction many times over. With coffee and cake on board, and iPod shuffle piping through the Autocom intercom headphones, we headed for Folkestone.

Just before Junction 9, the sign said ‘M40 Closed; Junction 4 to 3′. Pain in the bum as there is no real alternative after J9 unless you want to go miles around via the A34/M4. I had also just passed the logical link from M40 to M1.

I came off at J9 and ran the A41 all the way through Aylesbury and out the other side, eventually hitting the M25 (above). The detour was a nuisance, but it was a great drive. The M25 southern section was soon dispatched, and I headed onto the M26/M20 (below), stopping for fuel at the last-chance services and arriving at Eurotunnel just as dawn was breaking.

I was sitting on a kerb taking this picture of the pink dawn sky over the terminal building, when a guy got out of a car on the other side of the hedge behind me. He called to his son: “Look, look! Look at this old Porsche! Oh WOW!” Then he must have seen the back of me sitting there being a camera geek, and British reserve kicked in just as his son came bundling out of their car and wowing excitedly, just the same. “Shush,” he said, “it’s only a car.” Made me smile.

After my first proper run in the Orange for almost 21 months (since July 08), caning along an empty A41 and then a good old blast around the M25, I thought to myself “Yes, it’s only a car. But what a car!”

The tunnel crossing was a chance to rest. Loved their note about opening sunroofs and vents seeing as I don’t have either. We rolled out the other side into beautiful sunshine and I put pedal to metal again, knocking on 160 km/h all the way to Antwerp. I stopped there to grab a bite:

Two hours later, I was checking in to Essen’s Hotel Petul. Once upon a time, I’d have downed a double espresso and shot straight on down to the show. With days of sleep deprivation catching up with me, I decided to grab a nap instead. There’s only so long a candle can be burnt at both ends!

I picked up my orange 911 Carrera 3.0 (The Orange) from Tuthills today. The boys dropped the worn steering rack out and swapped my Turbo tie rods over to a good used rack I supplied (bought from MBS Porsche Parts), fitting their re-machined rack spacers/lock stops at the same time. These allow a decent-sized spanner to be used on the tie rods, rather than the teaspoons the original pieces leave room for.

The front anti-roll bar bushes were perished, so those were changed for polyurethane ones. Then the rack assembly was refitted and the tracking was set. Total cost: 4 hours labour, plus parts, plus VAT: £275.

Tuthills couldn’t road test Orange, as the front tyres are below the legal tread depth (it’s on temporary Michelin Pilot Sport Cup track tyres and the fronts are almost slick). So I got to road test it first. The road was wet, and the worn Michies do pull down on the front a bit, but how nice to have a car that went where it was pointed! Baby’s-bum Michelin R-Compound rubber is not a huge problem in the wet: these are amazing tyres. I’ll put my road wheels on over the weekend – Kumho rubber on 8×16 and 9×16 inch Fuchs as in the pic below -  and see what it feels like. Pretty sure it’s gonna be good.

It’s booked for an MOT on Tuesday. Hopefully we can pass that, ready for the annual trip to the Essen TechnoClassica on Wednesday. I was going to take advantage of a free crossing with Norfolk Line Ferries, but the outbound weather looks a bit grim, so I’ve just booked the Chunnel instead. Cost was £104, which I didn’t think was bad for a short notice ticket over Easter.

An early start is required to get to Essen for the afternoon preview, meaning the 400 km drive on the other side should be pretty pacey. I can hear the engine’s characteristic 4500rpm buzz already.

My orange 1976 911 Carrera 3.0 is due for an MOT, but there’s been play in the steering rack for a while now. As I am exceedingly time poor at the minute, I dropped the car down to Tuthills at lunchtime to get them to do it.

I hadn’t run the car since August 14th last year, so would the Odyssey 680 battery still have enough juice on board to start it? I needn’t have worried. Knock on the battery master switch, turn the key and into life at the first crank.

Arriving at Tuthill in Wardington was pretty hectic. The guys were getting ready for the Bulldog Rally this weekend, fabrication was busy, paint shop was busy, engine workshop flat out tuning a Belgian rally car. All sorts of stuff going on.

I had my D700 and the 50mm prime with me so I shot a few pics.

Oli Wheeler’s 3.2 Carrera with the Jenvey throttle bodies (covered by Jamie Lipman and me for 911 & Porsche World magazine) was in for servicing. Here’s Oli’s and mine with the new service van behind.

This is a very faithful ST replica that’s about to start racing:

Steve Troman’s perfect little Martini SC, just back from the East African Safari Classic Rally:

Here’s a build the guys have just finished. Nothing revolutionary, just a rust-free US import 911, rebuilt and repainted in Jaguar Green in a 3.0 RS-style. The finish is excellent: I love Minilites on a Porsche. The motor is a 3.2 with 964 cams , SSIs and a Dansk two out. Sounds great and I don’t usually go a bundle on 3.2s or the 2-out Dansk boxes.

Also grabbed a nice pic of Mark and Martin putting the driveshaft back into a Boxster S in for a service:

Inspired by all the activity and some very beautiful cars, I asked Paul to get the boys to do the rack and then drop the engine and gearbox out, as I have some long-overdue jobs to get through on the Carrera 3.0 motor and I feel like taking a day or two off to get these parts on the car. I’m going to get a list together and see what we can make happen while it’s all on the floor.

Came home in my Audi 80 Avant, which has been sitting there waiting to be picked up for weeks. Tuthills do Volkswagen and Audi servicing also, so I had left the 80 (a 2.6 manual with 150k on but in generally tidy condition) in with them for scary wear in the front suspension. They changed all the front end bushes, including new wishbones and strut top mounts, then retracked the car. It drove really well, albeit with a little bit of a knock up front still, due to wear in the struts themselves. Got my eye on eBay for some bargain replacements.

I’ve not had the Audi bill yet, but it’s bound to be chunky. No idea what the 911 will cost either, but the stuff needs doing and no sign of my being able to get to it in the next 8 weeks. Better to have these things ready to use or sell, than sitting in a garage gathering dust!

Spring has finally sprung in the UK. The weather here was a balmy 12 degrees this afternoon, so I took the opportunity to get stuck back into the jobs on my Varmint SC after two months with no activity.

The last thing I touched on this car was the fusebox. The fuel pump relay wiring looked a little scary, as well as some very corroded main terminals on the battery, and some melted insulation in the ECU loom (the US cars run a little ECU). Today was all about repairing and digging a little deeper.

First job was to repair the fuel pump loom. I chopped out the solder blobs and installed DuraSeal connectors, with a few soldered joints here and there. Rough-looking wiring was replaced with matching genuine Porsche cable. The beauty of breaking a 924 and a 944 (and stripping out all the wiring) is I now have a lifetime’s supply of proper copper. I also took the fuel pump relay apart and found the contacts pitted and slightly bent. I cleaned and realigned all that and then resealed the cover.

Fusebox refitted, I got to sorting out the ignition switch feeds from the positive battery terminal – they were in a right state. To do it properly, I pulled the (huge) battery out completely and was relieved to see the tray and surrounding metal work absolutely rot free. This car is so tidy! I cut these out and replaced the lot.

Finally for today, I boiled up the battery earth lead to rid it of verdigris, dried it with heat and drowned it in switch cleaner. I tidied up the battery posts and terminals with my cool new battery tool, fitted a Dis-car-nect for safety’s sake and stripped all the earth points back to bare metal. Everything went back together a treat.

There was nothing much wrong with the way the SC worked before I took it apart but, as the pics show, it has a bit of classic old Porsche wiring syndrome going on, so it all needed doing. Hopefully I am adding reliability: if I can get it registered this week, then I am considering taking it to Germany for the Techno Classica in Essen in ten days’ time. Fingers crossed!