Lee Sibley

Poole, UK

@9werks 9WERKS TV 9WERKS Radio Model 996.1 CARRERA Year 1998 Acquired JANUARY 2019

You may have seen in the Update section of last issue that we recently held the inaugural 9WERKS Awards with Design911 at the unique premises of Shorade Accident Repair, Cannock. The Awards was a personal project I’d wanted to execute ever since I started 9WERKS, as it feeds directly into one of the core values of the brand, and that’s excellence.

As mentioned in the Total 911 news article, we had 80 guests attending our lavish black tie evening, where nine awards were given out to businesses and individuals who were recognised for their excellence (you can find the full list of winners, plus an extended gallery and highlights video, over at 9werks.co.uk).

I was most proud to have Tony Hatter, the legendary designer of the Porsche 993, Carrera GT and GT1 race car, fly in from his home in Stuttgart to attend the Awards as my Guest of Honour. It was the utmost privilege to have Mr Hatter over, where we spent the best part of two days in each other’s company, hearing many wonderful and candid stories from his three decades at Porsche.

A particularly special moment presented itself on the morning of the Awards, when I was able to collect Tony from Heathrow airport in a friend’s 993 Turbo S (one of only 23 in RHD!). And so an utterly surreal moment took place that I’ll not forget in a hurry, whereby I was driving this stunning (and rare) Porsche 993, with the very person who designed it sitting next to me as my passenger.

Just fantastic.

My wife, Laura – who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the Awards was so successful on the night – drove up separately in our 957 Cayenne, because the 993 was to be collected by its generous owner, Paul, the day after the event. Tony’s flight home the next day wasn’t until the evening, and so the three of us – Tony, Laura and myself – spent a leisurely day visiting a cool shop selling leather guitar straps (Tony can play electric, while I’m learning acoustic) before bombing about the countryside in our old Cayenne.

Spending so much downtime in Tony’s company only confirmed the opinions

I had of him prior: that he’s the most humble, down-to-earth bloke you’re likely to meet; intelligent and engaging and, as you can imagine, possessing a keen eye for detail. His service to Porsche over 33 years is simply immeasurable and yet there’s not a shred of entitlement to his character.

Tony arrived at Heathrow a legendary Porsche designer and departed 48 hours later a friend. Now officially retired from Porsche, Mr Hatter isn’t calling it a day just yet – by his own admission, you’ll hear more on that very soon…