Nick Jeffery
Surrey, UK
I’ve started 2024 very much as I mean to go on, with three events done and dusted in the first two weeks of the year. The first was a TIPEC Kent and Southeast London Region midmorning brunch at B Road at The Stag in Challock, Kent, on New Year’s Day, followed by a spirited drive to Folkestone Harbour. The GTS was the weapon of choice for the drive and was joined by all manner of Stuttgart’s finest, including a few GT cars, a brand new 992 Turbo S in ‘stealth mode’ matt black PPF, together with plenty of mid-engined and transaxle cars. It was a brilliant way to kick-start the year.
The following week I attended the first Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble of the year, followed by lunch with good friends at The Akeman Inn in Kingswood near Aylesbury. I took the 718 Spyder as I’m desperately trying to run it in at the wrong time of year on Cup 2 tyres. It didn’t help that it started snowing on the M40 on the way there while I was leading a 9WERKS Driven Not Hidden Collective mini convoy. My anxiety levels were high as the snowflakes started hitting the windscreen!
The Scramble itself was as good as ever, but while the crowds were in their thousands there didn’t seem to be as many cars on display. Perhaps it was just my imagination? It didn’t spoil the event, which is as much about the people as it is the cars, and I’ve already booked up for the next one taking place on Sunday 21 April which, thankfully, should be a lot warmer.
As I write this, I’m just back from the first official 9WERKS event of the season, 9WERKS at The Warehouse at Heritage Parts Centre in Shorehamby-sea. What an excellent morning full of old friends and new. All manner of cars turned up despite the bitterly cold weather, including a really cool, handpainted 914, plenty of air-cooled 911s, including a one of only two-right-hand drive Slate grey 964 Turbo 3.6 and a superbly specced GT Silver 992 GT3 Touring with Exclusive Manufactur brown leather interior, which I was fortunate enough to have a passenger ride in.
I wanted to check out the ride quality on the local roads as I had heard horror stories from other owners, but it was perfectly acceptable even in Sport mode. We mulled over whether we would be saying the same thing if the car had the 918 carbon-backed bucket seats? Probably not, but the more luxurious leather did seem to help insulate the driver and passenger and bring about almost non-gt car levels of comfort to the road. A most worthwhile exercise.
Back to the event itself. Andy at 9WERKS set up a Hot Wheels drag racing track and we all set about selecting what we thought would be the fastest cars on the track. Some even applied a little silicone lubricant in an effort to find an advantage. It was totally bonkers, really. Former Living the Legend columnist Max Newman kindly lent me a matt black RWB 911 and I was convinced I was in with a chance. Unfortunately, the RWB scale model car didn’t even complete the course and we ventured it was just too low to compete. The event was eventually won by a 928.
We were then treated to a live recording of the first 9WERKS Radio podcast of the year, which was themed around a question: “In 2024 I will?” This got me thinking about the year ahead. I’m determined to attend even more events and participate in more road trips this year. I also remain on the lookout for a Peridot green 987 Cayman R. It should be a manual with PSE and extended leather to the dash and door cards, ideally with hard-backed sports seats. They’re a rare beast with only circa 47 coming to the UK out of around 250 UK cars split 50/50 between manual and PDK. If you know someone with a good example who’s looking to sell, hook me up!