Places: Another Teloché street scene

Porsche traditionally prepared for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a borrowed garage in the small town of Teloché. The cars were lined up in the street before making their way to the circuit and a picture or two would typically be taken. The image below is from 1973 and shows the three factory prototype 911 Carrera 2.8 RSRs.

Photo credit: Porsche AG

Races: Two-litre International GT race, Goodwood August 1964

A while back we wrote a magazine piece covering the Porsche cars that competed at Goodwood in the 1950s and 1960s. We found some fabulous period photographs to go with the text and have discovered a few more since. The images below, from the two-litre International GT race in August 1964, are among the best.

Dickie Stoop’s 904 qualified on the front row with an Elan either side. The green car made a good start, and took the lead, but the race was won by Mike Spence in the black-and-white Chequered Flag Elan with Stoop second and Mike de’Udy in another 904 third. Great photographs and a great race.

Races: RHD SWB Porsche 911 at Snetterton, May 1966

There was an early UK circuit appearance by a Porsche 911 at Snetterton in May 1966, when Paul Vestey drove an Aga blue car, registered LGK 4D, in a Marque Sports Car race. It’s likely this was the first time a 911 raced in the UK, beating the more celebrated GVB 911D by a number of months. The car went on to compete at Mugello in July of the same year, where the final photo was taken. The car still exists and is currently under restoration.

Photo credits: Paul Vestey

Places: Street scene, Teloché 1964

There are many fabulous images in and around the local garage in Teloché that Porsche used to take over every year as part of its preparations for Le Mans. This is one of our favourites. The garage is to the right as we look down the street and parked opposite is the Scuderia Filipinetti 904 together with a couple of support vehicles. Beyond that, village life appears sharply unchanged.

Photo credit: Porsche AG

Cars: Dickie Stoop’s Porsche 904-045

Porsche 904-045 was Dickie Stoop’s Irish green car. It was first seen on German export plates at AFN in March 1964 and soon after at Snetterton. The car then took the registration YOU 4, previously seen on a 356 Carrera. Its first race was at Silverstone in early-May, alongside the SMART 904. A race at Brands Hatch in July followed, before a fifth overall and a class win, ahead of John Morris in the MEFCO Racing 904, in the Archie Brown Memorial Race at Snetterton later in the same month.

Stoop led the two-litre International GT race at the August Goodwood meeting, but finished second to Mike Spence’s Elan and ahead of Mike de’Udy’s 904 in third. After that, it was back to Snetterton for the 3-Hour Autosport race in September. Stoop also fitted in some German hill-climbs and a race at the Nurburgring during a busy season. After his ownership, 904-045 went to the US, and from there to Australia. It returned to the UK some years ago and has since made regular appearances at Goodwood.

Photo credits: Keith Seume, Peter Bulbeck/Bill Bates and Ted Walker Archive

Cars and races: Porsche 904-025 at Goodwood, March 1964

Porsche 904-025 was ordered by Stirling Moss’s SMART outfit in metallic green to look better in black-and-white photographs. The first 904 to race in the UK, the car was driven by John Whitmore in the Lavant Cup at Goodwood in late-March 1964, finishing sixth overall. Next it was driven by Innes Ireland in an International GT race at Silverstone in early-May, finishing ninth overall and first in class. Then Trevor Taylor took it to seventh in the Whitsun Trophy back at Goodwood in mid-May.

At some point in this sequence - most likely between its first Goodwood appearance and the Silverstone race - the car was damaged in testing and went back to the factory for repair. It reappeared with the body and chassis from 904-088. The repaired car raced again at the Nurburgring in late-May and seems subsequently to have been known by both numbers. More recently, cars claiming both identities have been seen in historic racing, with 904-025 apparently rising from the remains of the original car.

Photo credits: Peter Bulbeck/Bill Bates and Ted Walker Archive