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The GT3 Cup Car no one wanted


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A brief story on my 2004 996 GT3 Cup Car that no one wanted until i found it...

Starting out as a brand new 1 of 5 Australian delivered 2004 996 Cup Cars for Jonathon Webb (Tekno Autosports) he successfully raced it in the Australian Carrera Cup placing 6th in 2004 & 3rd in 2005. During its 2 year racing life it was looked after with no expense spared receiving mechanical rebuilds several times over during the years just to get the last 1% out of it the head mechanic tells me, on one occasion after an incident at the Gold Coast Indy $180k was spent rebuilding absolutely everything to brand new spec.. when it finished racing & was sold off at the end of 2005 it was in literally brand new condition with very low hours.

Now the interesting part after Carrera Cup. It was sold to a Qld guy that drove it twice on a club track day then as the story goes he either sold it or had it repossessed. The car then went to a guy in WA & was not driven & suffered the same fate, it was handed back to the finance company. The finance company couldn't sell it in WA as no one wanted it, after a few years in storage they sent it to VIC & auctioned it via Manheim Auctions in 2010. The Cup Car was bought by a Victorian car dealer & was used as a display car for several years then went into storage, they attempted to drive it once at Sandown but a fuel line failure didn't even allow them to get a lap in so the car went back to storage. 

After a few more years in storage the car dealer decided to sell it in 2016 via Manheim Auctions as they do with all the trade ins, it went to auction 3 times with no one wanting it... I was in Europe at the time & was watching the Manheim website with interest, after the 3rd auction & no sale i sent the auctioneer an email with a offer on the cup car subject to an onsite inspection by me & a mate who is an ex Porsche race mechanic, when i arrived back in Melbourne i went down to the auction yard with my mate & had a look, under the dirt & dust from sitting for so long we couldn't believe just how good it was, it looked like a new car. We took a battery & some fuel & attempted to start it.. it fired up for a second then died we did this a few times & knew something was wrong with fuel delivery but the engine sounded very crisp even for a brief second.

I did a deal on it & picked it up the next day, all it needed to race it was new fluids, new tyres, a new fuel line & clutch master cylinder thats it! 

I had taken a huge risk as no one knew any history or anything about it at that stage.  A few mates & i were part of several Porsche race teams so we did some digging around & asked a few people, the story just got better & better with the car. The short is, its in new condition with very very low hours & totally original as raced condition, i have driven it about 8 times & its just brilliant (I'm glad i found this car)

Porsche have confirmed its the first customer delivered cup car built in 2004 with chassis number 002

Now the somewhat reason for this post apart from me being proud of it.. i was contacted by Porsche Cars Australia as they are looking for an original 996 cup car to put on display as part of Porsches 70 years celebrations at the Melbourne F1GP, they were after a 996 cup that raced in the early days of Carrera cup in Australia (yep I've got one just need to put the original stickers on it) 

So anyone going to the F1GP feel free to have a look at my car it will be on display in front of the Carrera cup paddock & Carrera cup lounge alongside other historically significant Porsche race cars that raced in Australia 1 from each decade.

I even get to do 2 display laps on Sunday morning at about 10am at the F1GP as part of the historic display :)  (100km/h max :()

22_Webb_PCR_R205_2849_zpsnjtfa3v5.jpg2005 Carrera Cup as it was raced by Jonathon Webb2_Richards_JRR_NC05_0086_zpshdmoaqoq.jpg2005 Melbourne F1GPCC_Action_R705_6055_zpsn0nbs2y9.jpg2005 BathurstIMG_6115_zpsdaslipga.jpg 

2016 loaded up for for the drive home 

IMG_9824_zpsnut5zymu.jpg 

2018 Me driving at Phillip Island 

IMG_0010_zpsmllrwpog.jpg

My car as it sits today after all the graphics were redone last week 

 

 

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1 hour ago, symsy said:

Good on you mate ... As Delboy would have said   - he who dares wins

I can imagine you rolling the Dealer.. with your mate, did you wear your green jacket

No green jacket mate just 2 old racers that have been around these cars for a long time.. ill let you know I've had this good luck twice with cup cars, i purchased a white 996 cup car from a NSW dealer that traded it in (who trades in a 996 cup car?) low balled him & got it. The dealer told me he lost $15k on the trade but it was more important to sell a new car (not sure if i believe that) I wanted the second cup car for all the spare parts it came with, I drove it once at the PFA Sandown track day that you were at then sold it to a collector  :)

 

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10 minutes ago, James P said:

No green jacket mate just 2 old racers that have been around these cars for a long time.. ill let you know I've had this good luck twice with cup cars, i purchased a white 996 cup car from a NSW dealer that traded it in (who trades in a 996 cup car?) low balled him & got it. The dealer told me he lost $15k on the trade but it was more important to sell a new car (not sure if i believe that) I wanted the second cup car for all the spare parts it came with, I drove it once at the PFA Sandown track day that you were at then sold it to a collector  :)

 

Love it !  I remember that car , made the 997.1 look slow ..very slow

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Love the story.

I remember it at the auctions at around the time I did my license for 12 months and sold the 996 Carrera.  I were very tempted as it seemed like a great way of staying sane while not being able to drive on the road - but I know bugger all about running these cars so let it go - glad it went to someone who does!  

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4 hours ago, James P said:

All set & on display in the Carrera cup paddock.. Thanks to Porsche Cars Australia 

Great story,would love to view the car,but currently driving down the Carreras Panamericana Hwy in Panama..........

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