Almost single-handedly kept the 911 rallying, with notable success

Porsche is synonymous with victory in competition, and true enthusiasts will know that applies as much to the rally stage as it does the race track. Though Porsche is happy to remind us of previous exploits at, for example, the Paris-dakar in the 1980s, its commitment to racing on gravel had tailed off by the mid-nineties, focusing since on track-based prototype and GT racing and, latterly, electric single seaters.

Yet historic rallying and safaris remain popular sports, and the 911 continues to be well represented at both historic events, with the best of these specially re-engineered Porsche classics more often than not hailing from Tuthill’s Wardington premises near Oxford, England.

Though Tuthill Porsche was essentially founded in 1977 by Francis Tuthill, today it is son Richard who leads the Tuthill operation, now world famous for building competitive 911 rally cars for historic rallies all over the planet. Highlights have included no less than three East African Safari Classic Rally wins for the Porsche 911, deemed one of the hardest classic rallies anywhere in the world. The first victory by a Tuthill-prepared car came in 2011 with the late Björn Waldegård at the wheel, then again in 2015 with Stig Blomqvist. Tuthill’s latest victory came in November last year, with three-time Austrian rally champion Kris Rosenberger at the wheel of a Tuthill 911.

Tuthill has emphatically succeeded here where Porsche famously couldn’t in East Africa, but the company under Richard’s stewardship has also made an impact on contemporary rallying, building customer cars in the RGT (GT cars in Rallying) category of WRC. Based on 997 or 991 GT3 911s, in 2014 Richard himself entered a 997 RGT at the Rallye Deutschland, becoming the first Porsche to finish a WRC event since 1986. The RGT championship was won outright the next year by François Delecour in a Tuthill-prepared 997.

Tuthill Porsche has quite simply kept the 911 rallying, finding success where the factory itself couldn’t, in both historic and contemporary competition. Richard is the driving force behind this, and absolutely deserving of a place in our top ten.