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A pair of Tuthill-built Porsche 911s is currently competing in the 2015 Trans-America Challenge: the SWB 1965 Porsche 911 of Gavin and Diana Henderson and the LWB 1973 2.5-litre car of Peter and Zoe Lovett.
Progress reports are positive: the Road to Mandalay Rally-winning Lovetts are in the top three, while the experienced Hendersons have already claimed their first top spot of this event in a regularity challenge and hold seventh overall. Both cars are performing reliably.
Also in the rally is a Tuthill joint project: the Porsche 912 of Mark and Colin Winkelman. The body was built here at Wardington, with the drivetrain and final assembly carried out by our friend Hayden Burvill at WEVO in San Francisco. The boys are going very well: currently running fifth overall.
Organised by the Endurance Rally Association, the Trans-America Challenge takes place from June 7-28, 2015. It is the second running of the Trans America enduro, following the inaugural event in 2012. Today was a rest day after three days of driving that has taken the entrants as far as Quebec.
The route for this twenty-two day event runs right across North America. Starting from Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast, the forty five entrants from all over the world will travel through Eastern Canada before crossing the US border and driving through Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York.
Once in New York, they skirt the Great Lakes, briefly returning to Canada just south of Toronto before hitting Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The vast Dakotas are next (both North and South), then the teams take in Wyoming, Idaho and sunny Nevada before landing in California, en route to the finish in San Francisco.
Other friends of Tuthill on the event include Alastair Caldwell of Porsche 912 rallying from London-Cape Town fame. Alastair recently visited the Tuthill Porsche workshop with his SWB 912 rally car, but decided against shipping the 912 to Canada. Instead, he is running a handsome 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II across America, with mum Dorothy on board as navigator. At a mere 97 years old, Dorothy has competed in a number of previous rallies and thoroughly enjoys the experience: no doubt the laughs are flowing.
The adventuring spirit, with every day a new adventure, is what endurance rallying is all about. We wish all of the competitors well and will share news updates on the Tuthill Porsche cars. Contact us if endurance rallying is the next adventure on your bucket list – talk to us about the Tuthill Porsche cars available for this years East African Safari Rally!
Pictures courtesy of Gerard Brown/Endurance Rally Association
