RS 451 at Pukekohe Park Raceway

[fryardds]

GeorgeK in Switzerland put me in touch with Hanspeter Stoecklin , the first owner of my RS. I sent him a photo of the front cover on the Pflegegass that came with #451 and he found Hanspeter's phone number and called him up. Interestingly he lives in the same house he lived in when he first took delivery of the RS on 03/23/73 at the Porsche agent G. Lafferma in Basel.

Hanspeter speaks German, but no English so I sent him a fax with several questions and his son did the translation for us. I found out that Hanspeter owned a 911 and 911S before ordering the RS. He had the following things done before he took delivery:
-The car was put "deeper/lower"
-stronger sport chassis (I think this means larger torsion &/or anti-sway bars)
-other springs and shock absorber
-sport steering wheel

The first photos are from a "driver-cours in Hockenheim"



(#451 being used as intented by Hanspeter)




The next photos were taken later after he had changed to a rear wing and changed the wheels to 7 & 8" Fuchs. He told me that he changed to the wing for better high speed stability.







Hanspeter sold the RS because it got too small for his family. He sold it to a mechanic/race car driver, Mr Madoerin. The car still has stickers on it from his garage.









The third owner of the RS was the president of the New Zealand Porsche Club, Alan Bremner. He owned the car for a few years then sold it to Dudley Watts also of NZ.



I thought you guys might enjoy this. I just recieved this article, which came from an Auckland newspaper, from the editor of the New Zealand Porsche club publication Spiel (he also an Early S Reg. member). It is from a DE event at Pukekohe Park Raceway in August 1986. My car spent most of it's life in Auckland and Western Australia so the person who sent me the article knew my car and both of the owners there.

As the article states, Dudley Watts was the owner at the time. Even though the car has only traveled 101,000 km to date it was certainly used as intented.

Sorry for the large photo but that is only way I could post it so it was readible.

[Cornpanzer]

Thats very cool! Typically if our cars are in the newspapers, we are pictured being cuffed and stuffed.
How sthe resto process coming?

[wolfturbo]

Brian,

You continue to be the Dalai Lama (sp?) of finding out the history of cars. Great Article.

I'm good at finding these cars and you're good at researching their histories. Someday we'll make a good team! See you in a few weeks.

Rob

[fryardds]

Hi Dave,

It is going well at this point. My mechanic has the case back from the machine shop, Competition Engineering, and it looks great. Walt is still working on the heads though. The suspension stuff is slowly coming along also.

After reading this article I can see why the engine and suspension were so worn out. One thing the author didn't know was that Dudley had the displacement enlarged to 2.9L around '84 or '85. This was confirmed by Ian, the person who sent me the article. That certainly helped him stay with the '79 Turbo that day on the track.





Rob,

I know we both get a lot of satisfaction from finding these cars and finding out about their history. I have been lucky and also have had alot of help from 2 great guys in tracking this stuff down. I'm not done though. I want to get in touch directly with one or both of the PO and get photos or whatever from them.

[911kiwi]

Brian & others who viewed this thread - decided to resurrect this thread from one year ago rather than start a new one .... more exciting that way!

Brian, I had drinks with the first NZ owner of your car this evening - Alan Bremner. He has pictures of the car in Switzerland with one of its earliest (maybe original) owners. He still has the Swiss registration plates from way back then.
He has stacks of photos, (racing & glamour) & all of the history of your car from his ownership up until & maybe including that of Dudley's ownership.
(included this to tease the others reading this thread! )

Pm me with your email address please, so I can begin the story for you ...
there's some very interesting stuff here ...

regards,

Gary

[fryardds]

Wow! Gary, what can I say except 'thanks from the bottom heart'.

This is so cool. I have really dreamed of getting photos and documents from Alan and Dudley of #451. I will send you my email address right away but I am away from my home computer on a ski holiday so I may not get the info. for several days. Does Alan have an email address? If so please include that.

Please tell me the only way I can get ahold of those Swiss plates is to travel to New Zealand. I really want to visit you guys down there some day. Thanks again!!!

[fryardds]

Boy would I like to put the original Swiss plates back on the front. Here is a photo from the original owner.



Thanks again.

[gulf908]

I really want to visit you guys down there some day

Brian,

You will also be coming to the 'best' island of course !?!
You could meet an original one owner RS and its driver !

Cheers,
Dennis.

[fryardds]

I thought I would add some color to the B&W newspaper photo above. Just a day ago I received these 2 color photos taken at Pukekohe Raceway about the same time as the article. One of participants of that track day, Paul Higgins, saw my RS on the RS Registry and sent them to me out of the blue.







You guys from down under are really great. I am making plans for a visit in 2007. I have told myself for several years that I want to see NZ and AU so next year is the time to go. What and when are the fun car events during the year? Looking forward to it.

[fourteenten]

Fantastic Sherlock Holmes work on your car Brian!
I'll be in New Zealand for three weeks from April 3th, travelling the South Island. Anything I can do in order to reveil more history on your car?

Best regards,

Cees
RS#1410