Porsche at Le Mans celebration
British Formula One hero, Martin Brundle, took to the Goodwood track in his 1990 Jaguar XJR-12 some 30 years after winning the 1990 Le Mans 24 Hours in the very same car. Martin himself had previously won the 1988 World Sportscar Championship title in the earlier XJR-9, which used the same Group C chassis, arguably making it one of the most successful Le Mans racers of the era. Martin said: ‘It was good fun and like meeting up with an old friend, though the car slid around a lot at first as I tried to get some heat into the tyres.’
SpeedWeek hosted eleven XJRs from the Tom Walkinshaw racing era, each of which requires at least one full-time member of staff to keep up with mechanical maintenance. With six to seven races a year in the Peter Auto Group C racing calendar, the maintenance team sometimes need to manufacture new parts simply to keep the cars racing.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Porsche winning the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time with the 917. SpeedWeek celebrated in style with 15 of the finest Porsche classics to touch Tarmac and some memorable greats from the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. The 1974 911 RSR 3.0 driven by Take That member, Howard Donald, was a real head-turner. A petrolhead himself and regular at classic racing events, Howard fell in love with Porsches after seeing a 356 racing at the Le Mans Classic a few years ago. He went on to buy a 911 after being told that it would be a perfect track car, which he demonstrated during his SpeedWeek appearances.