Peter Empson
PCGB Member
[Apologies to any Titanic members with long memories as I’m sure I posted this at the time, but the chance find of an old somewhat out of focus photo reminded me, so thought I'd share it]
Twenty or more year ago I used a firm called G Force for maintaining my then newly acquired 944. A business famous under its original name of Dage motorsports for flatnose 930 conversions (and apparently producing a lot of the high quality slotted rear valances for 944s too), they later changed the name and became very well known for GT racing. When I used them they mostly worked on race cars. Mine was definitely the least interesting car there, always over shadowed by all sorts of exotic vehicles, but they did a good job and didn’t seem to mind my lowly 944 getting in the way.
The most exciting cars that called the unassuming industrial unit home were their pair of iconic blue and yellow liveried 993 GT1 race cars that made British GT racing so incredible to watch during what to me was an unequalled period for sports car racing (McLaren F1 GTRs, Marcos LM600, TVR Speed 12, Vipers etc).
One day, during some routine maintenance, I had a phone call to tell me my car had been involved in an incident. It transpired that someone had lowered one of the GT1s on its lift without realising that my car was still partially underneath. It was during this phone call, and without the greatest of timing, that I was told words to the effect ‘well you now have probably the only 944 that has been hit by a GT1’... Too soon!
Anyway, the damage was thankfully superficial, two of the carbon fibre blades inside the rear diffuser came down onto the front of my car
(you can just make the blades out in this pic of the GT1 https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/pic/3174/Porsche-911-GT1_6.html)
My attached pic of the damage isn't very clear - not so easy to get this sort of thing right with film cameras! It needed a new badge panel, headlight cover and some realignment of the headlamp assembly. I was never happy with the repair (not their fault, but that of the useless official Porsche bodyshop who I got to do the work, but that’s another story), but since none of those pieces are on my car now it hardly matters.
Needless to say the GT1 was completely undamaged!
Twenty or more year ago I used a firm called G Force for maintaining my then newly acquired 944. A business famous under its original name of Dage motorsports for flatnose 930 conversions (and apparently producing a lot of the high quality slotted rear valances for 944s too), they later changed the name and became very well known for GT racing. When I used them they mostly worked on race cars. Mine was definitely the least interesting car there, always over shadowed by all sorts of exotic vehicles, but they did a good job and didn’t seem to mind my lowly 944 getting in the way.
The most exciting cars that called the unassuming industrial unit home were their pair of iconic blue and yellow liveried 993 GT1 race cars that made British GT racing so incredible to watch during what to me was an unequalled period for sports car racing (McLaren F1 GTRs, Marcos LM600, TVR Speed 12, Vipers etc).
One day, during some routine maintenance, I had a phone call to tell me my car had been involved in an incident. It transpired that someone had lowered one of the GT1s on its lift without realising that my car was still partially underneath. It was during this phone call, and without the greatest of timing, that I was told words to the effect ‘well you now have probably the only 944 that has been hit by a GT1’... Too soon!
Anyway, the damage was thankfully superficial, two of the carbon fibre blades inside the rear diffuser came down onto the front of my car
(you can just make the blades out in this pic of the GT1 https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/pic/3174/Porsche-911-GT1_6.html)
My attached pic of the damage isn't very clear - not so easy to get this sort of thing right with film cameras! It needed a new badge panel, headlight cover and some realignment of the headlamp assembly. I was never happy with the repair (not their fault, but that of the useless official Porsche bodyshop who I got to do the work, but that’s another story), but since none of those pieces are on my car now it hardly matters.
Needless to say the GT1 was completely undamaged!
]
