Specialist section to feature fifteen of the finest Porsches on the market, including a 911 S/T ex-Walter Röhrl
Chris Routledge, Managing Partner at international auctioneers Coys, said: “Nurburgring promises to be a spectacular sale. We are featuring a specialist section, ‘The Excellence of Porsche’, offering some of the finest Porsches available on the market anywhere in the world today, including an ultra-rare and original 1970 911S/T, formerly the property of Walter Röhrl, and a highly genuine Porsche 934 RSR Turbo, triple Le Mans entrant in 76, 77 and 78.”
Arguably the most exciting car in the auction, the Porsche 911 S/T competed with its first owner in 1971 at the Avus Ring in Berlin where it was placed 6th and 7th in the GT class and Group 4 respectively. No expense has been spared in the restoration of this car, achieving the standard exactly as it left Werk 1 in 1970. All the engine parts are original S/T specification and not re-manufactured, there are engine bills amounting to €150,000 and paintwork bills totalling over €25,000.
Estimated at €900,000 to €1,100,000, this car was most significantly in Walter Röhrl’s ownership between 2009 and 2011, who is named on its current FIA HTP papers. This is one of the rarest and most sought after 911s in the world and surely worthy of a place in any Porsche museum or to be seen in any significant worldwide motoring event.
Another feature of the specialist Porsche section is the 1976 934 RSR Turbo, estimated at €900,000 to €1,000,000, which started at Le Mans in 1976 with drivers Nick Faure and John Goss. The car did not finish the race due to problems with the turbocharger and was subsequently sold to well-known NSU and Porsche tuner Jean-Pierre Gaban. This is indeed one of the ultra-rare (1 of 31 built) Porsche 934 RSR Turbos with documented period race history, FIA papers and race ready, and certainly one of the most significant survivors from this important period of racing.
The sale will also feature a very exciting ex-works BMW 2002 competition car, originally fitted with a Grand Prix engine by the factory and raced by none other than Jean Todt. This car, estimated at €180,000 to €220,000, was the second of two cars built by BMW Motorsport in 1974/75 and fitted with a modified M12/7 Formula 2 engine. The vendor first remembers seeing the car competing in June of 1975, where won the Donegal International Rally with drivers Warmbold and Davenport.
On the more contemporary end of the spectrum, Coys will be selling the now world famous Works – built Ferrari Tipo 458 Italia, best known as ‘The Niki Lauda Car’. As one of the most striking Ferrari’s for a long time, the 458 mixes delicate lines with aggressive styling combined to form one of the prettiest cars on the market with visual drama from every angle. The 2014 Ferrari 458, estimated at €210,000 – €250,000 is a one-off special edition created by Ferrari’s Tailor Made personalisation programme, commissioned by a customer to celebrate the marque’s 1970s F1 racing heritage and more specifically the two-time World Champion Niki Lauda.
A Porsche 356 Speedster featured at the auction left the factory in Stuttgart in 1958 and is one of only 552 made that year. As one of the most iconic styled sports cars of all time, this fine example is finished in silver with a stylish black interior and is estimated at €250,000 at €300,000.
Another stunning example being offered is a 1971 Ferrari Dino 246GT, estimated at €270,000 to €300,000. The definitive 246 Dino, with its 2.4 litre V6 appeared in late 1969 and fewer than 4,000 were built (about 1,200 of them had the detachable roof Spyder version). This example underwent a full restoration during 2011 and was then sold to a collector in Spain where it has spent the last couple of years.
Auction: Saturday 9th August 2014 at 4:00pm
Viewing: Friday 8th August from 10.00am to 7.00pm. Saturday 9th August from 10.00am
Location: The Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany
For further details about these and other lots, please contact:
www.coys.co.uk
Volkswagen shouldn’t sue University researchers – it should employ them
Cars are now a genuine target for cyber criminals and it is possible for attackers to gain control of a vehicle while it is in motion, with disastrous consequences.
Alex Fidgen, Director at IT security company MWR InfoSecurity, said: “It is feasible that an exploitation of any number of embedded devices within a car might allow an attacker to gain control. For instance, this would have serious consequences if the brakes were applied at high speed.”
The comment was made after Volkswagen allegedly sued the University of Birmingham to stop it from publishing how it had hacked anti-theft systems on luxury cars such as Lamborghinis and Porsches.
“Vendors should not try to block security research, they should work together with the researchers to understand the nature and potential consequences of the threats they are facing,” said Fidgen.
“Resorting to legal action to block such details from being published is the wrong approach. Manufacturers should instead incorporate strong security research in the design process.”
He added: “There are real concerns about the attitude of VW given they appear to be trying to suppress this information rather than working to rectify it.”
Fidgen said: “Manufacturers do not seem to have considered the security threat when using embedded computer systems. Cars are becoming increasingly more computerised, particularly supercars which sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds. But not enough thought appears to have gone into securing the systems which leaves the cars wide open to theft and the misuse of computer information.”
Fidgen indicated that such IT vulnerabilities could potentially have very serious impacts, both from security and financial perspectives, as cyber criminals target companies on a daily basis.
Fidgen said: “Volkswagen have only highlighted to the criminals out there that the problems are likely to be genuine and important, so the damage has already been done.”
He added: “There is a long track record of companies using legal action to try to prevent vulnerability information from being understood. This has probed to be highly ineffective as in most cases the security community was able to obtain the information through different research teams.”
Fidgen said: “Car manufacturers continually try to upstage each other with the latest computer ‘Gizmo’s’ for vehicles. They are on a never-ending treadmill to try and keep ahead and offer their customers the latest technology. However, they now need to take a step back and look at how security should be embedded.”
He added: “From a customer point of view, it’s not just about the car being stolen, it’s about the owners personal information being stolen from mobile phones and other mobile devices that are linked to the cars on board computer systems. From the manufacturers’ perspective, it’s about the latest ‘gizmo’ being stolen by competitors.”
About MWR InfoSecurity
MWR InfoSecurity is one of the world’s leading information security consultancies – MWR specialises in identifying, managing and mitigating Information Security risks.
The company undertakes simulated cyber attacks with organisations across different industries to help them understand the security threats they are facing.
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