A TRUE AIR COOLED DEVOTEE

Pierre Armspach is a seasoned club racer who long campaigned a 2.7 RS in French championships where he came across FVD Brombacher-prepared cars. He was already running his own business, Air Cooled 911, but after meeting Willy, they agreed to turn this into FVD Brombacher France, and Pierre represented the Freiburg tuner for ten years.

In 2004 his family circumstances changed and he had to give up his business. But rather than retire, such was his commitment to FVD Brombacher that he came to work at Freiburg where he is the air-cooled guru as well as the main point of contact for French-speaking customers. He says the company can supply virtually anything for the 356, but its heart, or certainly his, is in the air-cooled 911.

The French VHC (Véhicules historiques de compétition) series now includes the SC and Pierre sees a demand for rebuilding these cars for the track. Historic competition at top level can be almost as expensive to enter as GT3 because of the cost of preparing a fortyyear-old 911, but once race-ready, running costs in VHC – tyres, suspension and engine parts – require far less outlay, and maintenance is relatively simple. He has even seen well-heeled GT3 exponents turn to VHC out of a sense of having missed something by not competing in historic 911s.

It is a long time since Pierre Armspach has done any serious racing himself, but he still does the occasional sprint or hill climb, ʻpour le plaisirʼ, with his RS replica and is always pleased to take customers along to give them a taste of historic motorsport, which, though he of course does not quite say so, you do have the distinct impression he thinks is altogether more fun!