Porsches at HAWK Vintage Weekend

"wisc47" (Andrew-Connor) 08/07/2013 at 15:55 • Filed to: Porsche, Car Porn, Road America

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If you go to HAWK Vintage Weekend at Road America, there are two cars you cars you are guaranteed to see over, and over, and over again; the Chevrolet Corvette and Porsche 911. Keeping that in mind, I decided that when taking pictures of Porsches I would skip the 911's and focus on some of Stuttgart's other great machines.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I thought you said no 911's?" is what you're probably thinking. This is actually a Porsche RSR...well it's a replica. Owned by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , it is essentially an old (gutted) 911 with tons and tons of racing bits bolted on. According to their website, they've built around 20 of these bad boys, so it looks like they know what they're doing. Trust me when I say that pictures do not fully elaborate how wide those rear arches and tires are.

Porsche 914's were fairly common in Elkhart Lake in both street and racing guise. In my eyes they're a somewhat under-appreciated gem, and would make a great starting point for anyone interested in vintage racing. Speaking of which, what's the greatest Porsche racing car ever made?

If you said anything other than the Porsche 917 I'll be disappointed, yet understanding considering Porsche's excellent racing history. Still, the 917 has a rich past, having dominated at LeMans and Can-Am, as well as having a role in a Steve McQueen film. It's no wonder that it helped inspire the Porsche 918. This particular model is a 917K variant, and is chassis number 037. The owner was not here but the man in charge of keeping this machine properly maintained was there to answer my questions. This model was fitted with the 5 liter V12 engine and was the last factory test chassis made. It was never raced, but was used as a prototype at Porsche. This was no doubt a special machine, and one of my favorite cars at Road America.

Despite being overshadowed by the Ferraris, Lolas, and Fords of its era, the 908 has had it's victories at 1000km Nürburgring, 1000km Spa, 1000km Monza and the Targa Florio. This is chassis number 011, and has raced at the 1000km Spa and came in 3rd. This car has also been through a lot as it had been crashed back in 1972, stripped of it's drivetrain and sold to multiple people over the years. It was finally fully restored back in 2005.

The Porsche 356 is no doubt a beautiful car, and as you can tell by the lead image it was well so well represented at Road America that they couldn't be bothered to fit into one shot, even when all parked next to each other. My favorites were the blue one above, as well as the the red "bent-window" Continental variant, of which less than 2000 were made.

I'm not a huge 928 fan, but this image was worth taking.

I'm more of a 944 guy and this racing example was among the best ones there. Like the 914, the 944 is an easily obtainable Porsche that would be great to take racing.

Let's all just take a minute to bask in the mechanical glory of a Porsche flat six.

Okay so I lied. I was always going to include at least one 911 in here, and this blue example was my favorite of the weekend. I'll admit to not being a huge fan of the Gulf decal on the hood, though. It would look much better if it were smaller and behind the front wheel arches on each side. Still though, the blue paint, Fuchs wheels, and even the yellow headlight covers really sell this 911 for me.

If you enjoyed this post and want to see more, you can look !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Also, you can look forward to more posts from Hawk Vintage Weekend at Road America in the near future.

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pachood - Cheap rent; fast cars. > wisc47 08/07/2013 at 16:18

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I regret not staying up there the whole weekend.

And I will also regret going to ALMS this weekend for only sunday... If only money were no object.

wisc47 > pachood - Cheap rent; fast cars. 08/07/2013 at 16:23

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I'm really quite fortunate. Although I now live in Madison, I grew up a few minutes from Road America and have been going to to HAWK Vintage for the last few years. My parents still live there, so they're kind enough to put me up for a few days and I ask off for the weekend.

pachood - Cheap rent; fast cars. > wisc47 08/07/2013 at 16:30

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Nice. BIR is my real home and I have spent more then enough time at and on that track. Im in Eau Claire so RA and BIR are ~3.5hr...just opposite directions.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > wisc47 08/08/2013 at 22:41

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That blue 911 at the end does one of the same track days I do at RA. It runs around with a lime green 911 and a dark red 911. All three are stunning cars, I love seeing them every year.