James Vellacott By James Vellacott 1 year ago

My Porsche Story: the ‘911 SPY’ Sport Classic

As part of our series where 9WERKS members share their Porsche journey, 'Porsches by the Lake' co-founder James Vellacott explains how Stuttgart sports cars have helped him get married, tow a speedboat across Europe, and visit the inner confines of the Exclusiv department during his epic, 20-year ownership experience…

I’m James Vellacott, @911_SPY on instagram. I am an ex-professional photographer that owns film & photography studios and a video marketing agency in London. As a side hustle I’m also about to launch an enthusiasts car storage facility in Essex for those of us petrolheads that struggle for garage space. I also run the popular ‘Porsches By The Lake’ event with my friend Guy Feltham!
My Porsche story started the same way as many of you I suspect, in 1985 with a poster of a Guards Red 930 Turbo poster on my wall (alongside my Iron Maiden “number of the beast’ poster).
After an eclectic history of cars including a terrible Austin Allegro in beige (sorry, I mean ‘Harvest Gold’), Audi 80T, Fiat X19 and brilliant Honda S2000, at the age of 35 I found myself in a position to buy my holy grail car, the Porsche 911. It was a manual 2006 997.1 4S. Shortly after taking ownership I decided to try my perfected S2000 powerslide with  the 911. Switching off TC,  revving the engine and dumping the clutch on a 4 wheel drive, rear-engined 911 caused a full on adrenaline-brown fishtail where the 911 ended up pointing the opposite way to my intended route. Thankfully the only damage was to my ego.
This heralded some new thinking in my driving style. A style for me where traction ruled as any 911 slippage events could end up in an unretrievable manoeuvre defined as through the chaos theory.

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    This 350hp Porsche 911 quickly became my then-favourite driver of all time. I looked for a fun registration plate for it and bought 911 SPY from a DVLA auction… as an excitable Porsche enthusiast in an auction room of plate traders, they soon realised I was unlikely to let it go and I won the plate at £6,600 plus fees .

    The 997.1 C4S was so good: it was so planted and sure-footed. So good, in fact, that I did feel maybe my next 911 should bring back a little two-wheel-drive excitement.
    I’ve always loved the manual ‘box but in 2009 the double clutch PDK box was announced on the 997.2 and I was very interested in trying it. I was sitting on a side road in a white 2009 992.7 C2S PDK ex-demo car at Porsche Cambridge with the salesman. He told me to use the launch control to start my drive. Just, Wow! After 15 minutes of blurry vision and adrenaline, I had agreed to buy the car. 
    In 2010, I was getting married and drove the white 997.2 C2S from London to Port de Pollensa church in Mallorca. Getting married to my beautiful wife Michelle was incredible obviously, but the other highlight for me was driving the 997 with my bride on board from the church to the party at the golf club, whilst stopping off at a couple of locations for photos.
    Michelle loves a Porsche and after the honeymoon on the island we drove the car back to London together. 
      James, Michelle and their wedding car, 2010
      In 2012 we were expecting a daughter and I could see my 911 days diminishing with every pram, nappy bag, high chair and all the other clobber required with first child ownership. 
      Rather irrationally, I swapped out the beloved 911 for a 2011 Cayenne diesel. Brilliant vehicle and surprisingly fast and agile on those “21’s. I missed the 911 but consoled myself by buying a speedboat to keep in Mallorca. I bought the boat in the UK and used the Cayenne to tow the 7.5m boat all the way to Pollensa with child and clobber on board. 
        In 2012 my urge for a 911 became so great I bought a 1978 911 SC. Originally restored in 1992, I had the 110,000-mile engine rebuilt by the genius that is Neil Bainbridge of BS Motorsport. The idea was to make it almost an everyday driver for me whilst Michelle used the Cayenne. I still own the 1978 SC today, and after the rebuild it never missed a beat. Myself and a friend had a fantastic trip to Le Mans Classic in 2018. With the late 70’s theme of the car we decided to dress up as Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe and dress the 911 in tennis livery.
          In 2014 I was drawn to the new 991, and I specced my first new Porsche. My wife Michelle was really keen on owning a Cabriolet – we agreed on a black PDK C2S as the black car was less shouty with the roof up.

          With several road trips to the Alps with this car I soon started to really get into a rhythm on the mountain drives, to a point where I really started to get very fast with the passes. I found the 991 was a great car but I hankered for something much more focussed for the mountain twisties and had the urge to go back to the engagement of a manual gearbox.

          I had developed a great relationship with my dealership in East London. The 991.2 GT3 was about to be announced and, with this in mind, I thought I’d chance my arm and asked them how I might go about being considered for 911 GT ownership? 
          The dealership said that they would register my interest but the likelihood of being offered an allocation was slim due to the fact allocations were already earmarked. I was then offered the opportunity to go to Geneva with other customers from the dealership to see the 991.2 GT3 unveiling. Although I was not due to be offered an allocation I went anyway as I love to meet fellow owners on the trips and enjoy the banter.
          Weeks later I took a call from my dealership who said that one of their customers had canceled their GT3 allocation (in view of getting a GT3 RS at a later date) and would I like to take the allocation? 
            Yes please! I specced up the GT3 in Carrera White with folding buckets and found myself walking on air. Some time later I had been reading about the possible 991.2 GT3 Touring package option. This new option was a delight as it really ticked a big box for me as someone that likes a less shouty car with no wing. Two days before my spec lockdown with Porsche, the Touring Package option appeared on the UK car configurator and I re-specced my GT3. 
            My Carrera White Porsche 991.2 GT3 Touring arrived in January 2018. After pestering the dealer I discovered which transporter lorry it was arriving on and I watched it arrive and be unloaded. This 911 was everything I had hoped for. The GT3T is a big widebody 911 and I decided to add some decals to break up the large panels in a similar way to the rarer 911 R, but they had to look different and not too shouty obviously.
            After discussing with Rick from Highgate House vehicle graphics, I decided to go with twin GT silver stripes and the classic Porsche side graphics also in GT Silver. The paint protection film Maestro Janis at MaxProtect fitted the graphics underneath the ppf (controversial) and they helped to break up the size of the GT3T panels yet were still delicately subtle, even invisible in some light.
              James outside his Porsche liveried camper with Andreas Preuninger and Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser at Goodwood in 2018
              After the run in-period, I took the GT3T to the Alps. This was next level driving pleasure. The GT3T absolutely wraps itself around the driver. I could feel every bump and camber through the steering and body roll of the car. On Michelin Cup 2’s my confidence in the grip was huge. Overtaking on a mountain pass straight never felt more exhilarating, one hand on the wheel, the other on the stick and both feet working the 3 pedals. Bliss!
              As we came out of lockdown I settled into driving back to my office at Cherryduck Studios  in London. With our own car park and Government incentives for business owners to own an electric car, I put an order in for a Carrera white Porsche Taycan 4 Cross Turismo. With the uncertainty of the future of electric cars I opted for the Porsche finance with a guaranteed residual. It arrived December 2021 and I’ve now hit 24,000 miles as a daily driver. It’s been relatively fault free with a couple of recalls but a very fast and comfortable London commuter.
              Meanwhile, I was really enjoying the GT3 Touring for the trips and events but my 10 year old daughter was also keen to join Michelle and myself at Goodwood and the 2 seats of the GT3 denied her a place. I had been hearing about a 2wd manual turbo being spotted out testing in Germany. This car was likely to be a new Sport Classic, with a 2+2 seating arrangement.
                I registered my interest with East London Porsche who said that they were very pleased that I had used the GT3 Touring as intended and had enjoyed the photos of the car on my instagram. They told me that they would consider me for the Sport Classic if it was announced.
                Months later the 992 Sport Classic was indeed announced and the dealership would be receiving two cars. I was offered the opportunity of having one of the allocations.

                A short while later, I attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed and went to see the Sport Classic on the Porsche stand for the first time in the flesh. On spotting the car my heart jumped into my throat and a wave of emotion hit me. This was the new 911 SPY. As a photographer I was hit by the overwhelming beauty of this 911. All I could think about was getting into the car and just sitting quietly for a while. After explaining to one of the Porsche team members that I was one of the very lucky customers, I was called back later to sit in the car and allowed to just absorb the environment and appreciate the thought that has gone into the design.

                As I sat in the driver’s seat the passenger door opened and a very well dressed and polite gentleman sat next to me. This was Boris Apenbrink, Head of Vehicles at Porsche Exclusive, and designer in chief of the Sport Classic. He had followed my story on my instagram page and made the effort to come and say hello. 
                  I was with him for an hour or so going over the car… he then went on to invite me to the factory to see my car in production and fulfill my request for him to sign the car under its carbon bonnet. It was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime trip for Michelle and I.
                  I am no collector of cars and I took the difficult decision to find a new owner for my spectacular GT3 Touring in lieu of the Sport Classic arrival. It has been 22,000 amazing miles and every one a memory.
                  The 992 Sport Classic arrived late January this year. The PDI was undertaken whilst I waited. The registration 911 SPY was transferred and fitted and with 11 miles showing on the odometer, it was Friday night and I drove the car home very slowly, avoiding potholes and gravel chips but with a huge smile. 
                  I spent the weekend sitting in the driver’s seat learning the tech and personalising the settings, only venturing out before sunrise to a quiet local road on Sunday morning for some photos.
                    On Monday morning I met my great Porsche buddy Guy Feltham, who incredibly as a side note, was born exactly the same day and year as me. He jumped into his cracking Rothmans liveried 997 GT3 and we drove in convoy once again to see the paint protection film Maestro Janis at Max Protect.

                     The plan was full ppf and to add the PORSCHE heritage decals to the door without the numbered racing roundall. Porsche only offered the decal with the roundall and although it looked great at Goodwood, I knew it wouldn’t pass the Tesco’s car park discretion test for me.
                    It was March this year and after the initial running in period I gave some thought to where the first road trip should be. With the promo shots of the car taken on the French Riviera and on the coastal roads of Monaco, I spontaneously decided to do a ‘run to the sun’ trip with Michelle to Saint Tropez and then head west through Toulon to the Camargue, home of the white horses and flamingos, before heading back through Provence and the Loire valley. Making great memories with great cars; definitely driven not hidden. 
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