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Snapshot: Super GT slant-nose Porsche 911

29 October, 2015

Twilight sessions are back at Hampton Downs, a good opportunity to get in a few hours of testing, or simply smash out some some after-work laps. While there on assignment for an upcoming issue of NZ Performance Car, the unmistakable growl of a very raw, naturally aspirated boxer engine had me scouring the pits for the source. 

What I found was slant-nose Porsche 911 (RSR replica), owned and driven by Alastair Russell. It’s been a few years between laps for the 911 (close to 12, Alastair tells me), but with the Porsche festival coming up in January, Alastair has blown off the cobwebs and “given the old girl a birthday”, and was out for a few shakedown laps.

Originally run in Super GT during the early 2000s, the slant-nose was still wearing its livery from its racing days at the pointy end of the field. What the grossly underpowered, naturally aspirated machine lacked in straight-line speed against the 900hp turbo cars of the era, it made up for in off-the-mark grip and corner speed. 

Under the large-winged boot hatch lies a built 3000cc with a stack of modern technology making it howl. Although the distributor remains, it’s now not required thanks to the MoTeC engine management and coil conversion. EFI is also now taking charge of the fuelling. Compression was once well above 11.1, but as Alastair puts it, “it’s an old girl and they are just trying to make it last”, so the freshly built block’s compression is well below the 10s.

The cockpit is 100 per cent a GT racer, with Kevlar Racetech seats and that extensive roll cage. The wheels are period-correct three-piece Simmon FR17s wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza semi-slicks. 

A MoTeC dash also takes the place of the gauges he would have once kept an eye on when chasing down the likes of ‘Racing Ray’ Williams. 

Out on track is where the 911 really looked its best. That slant front is, to me, one of the coolest-looking fronts in racing. Especially the sprint version, which is devoid of the headlights that would occupy the lower corners of the bumper. 

Sadly things didn’t go to plan for Alistair, with a seal blowing out of one of the throttle bodies, which was throwing off the tune. After using a bit of old-school tuning technique to diagnose, out came the laptop to crack into the MoTeC. 

Although its competitive-racing career was left behind years ago, its great to see such a beautiful car returning to the track, complete with battles scars from its life as a door-to-door warrior. Good luck to Alistair for getting the car ready for January, it’s going to be great to see all these old girls going at it one more time. 

Coaching from the bench: Casting plastic knobs and rubber parts

16 July, 2026

Casting rubber items is simple if you have a good original to work with. The item doesn’t have to be perfect. You can use plasticine to smooth out cracks, and you can even make whole prototypes out of low-fire modelling clay available from craft stores if you need to. Prototypes can also be made of wood or metal.
You will need mould dams to contain the liquid urethane moulding solution until it cures. You can build boxes out of strips of wood, but I have found that small plastic boxes and bowls such as those you would use for leftovers in your fridge work well if you spray them with a mould release agent.
Temperature is important to the chemical processes involved, so work in an area that can be maintained at around 20 degrees. You will also need adequate ventilation because the fumes can be dangerous to breathe. And you will want to wear latex gloves to protect your hands.

Fraser Cars – low flying into the fourth decade

10 July, 2026

With almost three and a half decades under its belt, Fraser Cars is one of New Zealand’s longest-surviving car manufacturers. The company first opened its doors for business in 1988, during the boom time for kit manufacturers. During the ’80s, around 40 different companies were building kits and turnkey cars for this niche market. Of those, only Fraser and Almac Cars (established 1981) are still in business today.
Most of the new kit car companies were killed off in the cradle by the threat of new legislation that never eventuated and definitively by the sudden availability of high-performance Japanese cars when the floodgates to second-hand imports were opened. The now long-retired founder of the company, Neil Fraser, first came across Lotus Seven replicas while racing Lotus Cortinas in the early ’80s. He regularly found himself racing against a little Caterham, a Lotus Seven–styled car built in England. He was very impressed by its simplicity and handling. In 1986 Fraser built his own Lotus Seven–type car, using the knowledge he had gained from several close looks at the Caterham.