Living the Legend

Ian Harris

Shoreham, UK

@harrisclassics

Model 3.2 CARRERA COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

Year 1988

Acquired DEC 2020

Model 911 SC

Year 1980

Acquired JUNE 2020

Model 964CARRERA

Year 1993

Acquired JULY 2021

Model 991.2GT3

Year 2019

Acquired MARCH 2021

I’ve been enjoying the 964 a lot: I love the new interior with its stripped-out look and roll cage. We removed all the sound deadening and it’s made the cabin fill with more mechanical engine sounds and the single mass flywheel sounds great.

The next stage of my build is the cosmetics. One of my planned jobs, which will be nice and easy, is to fit the RUF front lower splitter. I had ordered this from RUF direct and although it’s pretty expensive for what it is, the fit and quality is superb and gives the front a discreet lower edge to the bumper and is finished with the RUF logo in the centre of it.

The biggest and most exciting part of my list of modifications is the wheels. It was sitting on a set of genuine Cup 1s; I do love these wheels, they are my favourite of the OEM Porsche wheels and look great, however I really wanted my car to be different so had been looking at aftermarket wheels. The criteria was simple; it needed to look good, be subtle, suited for modern tyres and more importantly lightweight – a simple task I thought, but I was wrong! I’ve spent countless hours on the internet and Instagram looking at wheels and everything on offer from BBS, Rotiform and all the other go-to manufacturers, and nothing was jumping out at me.

There was one car I had seen doing the rounds on social media that was a 964 on a set of D90s, however they were larger than normal, forged 18” alloy to be precise. I followed the link and it led me to a company in Canada called AWC or Augment Wheel Company, they make bespoke wheels and seem to have found a niche with redesigning classic wheels in larger diameter and modern offsets. I messaged the company and got a response back from Dan at AWC, I gave him my design brief and over the next week or so we went through lots of designs and options, everything from a modern GT3 wheel for my 964 to something retro like the Clubsport. After a lot of thought and remembering how much I like the OEM Cup 1s we decided to go with a modern take on this wheel, but 18” instead of 17”, and 8” front and 9” rear with +52 and +45 offset, running 225/40 and 255/35 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres and finished in Porsche Satin Platinum, the same on the 991 GT3s as I liked that finish and colour.

The wheels were then designed for me and looked great, to be manufactured from forged alloy. It was at this point Dan mentioned that I might be able to get them manufactured from forged magnesium, and after some enquiries it was going to be possible, so my dream of a very lightweight wheel was becoming reality. The CAD drawings were signed off and now I just had to wait patiently for them to be manufactured and delivered – amazingly they were to be with me in 4-6 weeks from Canada to the UK! I was excited but also nervous as to whether the wheels would look nice and fit okay, without any modifications to the car, and also how the car would drive on 18s.

I opened the boxes and lifted my wheels for the first time,