News
in (more or less) descending time order.
Photo credits : New
World Motorsport Paul
Cherry Peter
May Michaela
Greene juice
photography
Ancient Mariners of the world rejoice
Our noble leader featured in
Motor Boat and Yachting`s November issue. That`s impressive I hear you all
shout, was his luxury 4 million pound super yacht being reviewed ? Had he just
circum-navigated the globe ? Had he rescued the crew of a sinking vessel in
their hour of need ? No the fat old git was waddling around the southampton boat
show and just happened to get in the way of an otherwise excellent shot !
(Prizes (for anyone who can actually be bothered to look) if you can spot him.
Famous Car
Bought the original 911 Turbo
4 (velvet red used to wear 911 HUL), the other day, still looking resplendent
and drove like it had just left the showroom. Strange to see articles and
posters of the car and then look at it in the yard ! Also bought a strange
orange 944 with a roll cage the other day as well. Turns out the car was given
away 4 years ago by performance car magazine after they had featured it being
built. Keep your eyes open, we`re thinking of keeping it as one of our track
cars as well as possibly a 964 RS we sold a little while ago which is coming
back as a p/x soon.
911 & Porsche World
The recent article on buying
a 993 featured some wise words from our noble leader, sadly no photos of the
great man (couldn`t fit his ever widening frame into the standard format
publication )! We`ll have to invite them down soon for a look round and a chat
!!
Trackdays 3 and 4
Both 911 and Porsche World
events at Bedford Autodrome were well received by both Tom and our noble leader
who drove the events. Our noble leader even managed a 2 inch photo in the
specialist Porsche publication, though he did comment that the camera seemed to
put a few pounds on you around the stomach, (are you going to tell him or shall
we!). Good to see some old customers there as well as a few specialists from the
world of the independent Porsche people.
Trackday 2
Many thanks to Paragon for
inviting us to Castle Combe for the day one Monday after the power tour had
passed through town. Masses of track time in a relaxed atmosphere and a delish
lunch.Our noble leader was forced to allow the "much slower" hosts
past on several occasions although he did comment that their Mark Sumpter
progressed well throughout the day and by close of business was really getting
the hang of driving on a race track !
Who says the French Smell ?
Had a wonderfull long weekend
in France near Reimes. Drove (or was it flew !) down in the company of brand new
911 turbo, Ferrari 355, 348, 993 3.8 RS, Turbo S, 964, turbo 2, 3.2 Carreras, to
name but a few with some Alfa SZ Zegato, Merc SL, BMW coupe shrapnel thrown in.
To the good people of France we thank you for your warmth and general waving as
we passed through the villages. To Bernard we thank you for the Champagne
tasting (or was it drowning), and to the man who built Folembray Race circuit we
thank you for providing us with a base on which to play for 6 hours on the
Monday - now that was a track day, 14 cars open pit all day in the company of
lovely people. Many thanks to Nick Duncan of Late breakers for the organisation
- he counted us out and he counted some of us back ! There is a short video of
the trackday if anyone wants to see us all in action next time you`re round,
just ask.
Our most maddest customer ever ?
You may have seen the 718RSK
we had for sale recently. A little gem, a historic replica of a 1950`s race
Porsche. No heater, tiny aero screen (stops the wind hitting your nipples but
your face still takes a full on hit!) You will also see it`s sold - to a lovely
bloke from Ireland. He bought it on spec and we duely collected him from
Heathrow airport. He then drove it all the way back to Ireland - the week before
christmas !!!! Our noble leader managed a test run of 800 yards with the chap
before his ears froze, tears streamed down his face and his nose dropped clean
off!! (well almost). At least it didn`t rain. You`re a top bloke Dennis (and
your equally mad friend that just came along for the ride!!!!!) So if you saw a
funny looking silver thing going down the M4 that Sunday it was them.
Track days
We may well be offering a
limited number of track day places in 2001. At around £150 each they will be
very informal affairs, small numbers will mean lots of time on the circuit and
there will be no competition from other drivers. If you want to find a quiet
spot and tootle round at 55 that`s fine by us. It gives you the chance to get a
feel for the car flowing round bends without worrying about oncoming traffic and
if you do want to put your foot down a little the boys in blue won`t have your
pants down! Nothing definite yet but watch this space and / or the stock page.
Traffic update
As 2000 draws to a close we
are welcoming an average of over 2,500 people onto the site every week. From
humble beginnings the site is now proving to be the shop front we were hoping
for. We are obviously generating hundreds of sales from the site but we are also
using it to give advice for potential Porsche owners and so have included lists
of service and insurance specialists. This is an avenue we will be building on
in 2001 to try and keep us ahead of the game in the 3rd millennium. Don`t forget
if there are any specialists you`ve used and think worthy of inclusion do let us
know henry@911virgin.com
And another new arrival
We`ve got another person
joining the team from March. Tom Harris joins us fresh from his studies at
Newcastle University (drinking tax payers hard earned wedge in the student
bar!)He will be joining the sales team as well as helping out with the myriad of
other jobs around the yard. You will see an even more up to date website and you
may well see the site promoted even further afield with a bit more time
available for promotional activities. Up to then you may well see him around
from time to time as he pops in for a day or so to familiarise himself with the
coffee machine and office floor mop (only kidding!!!!!). Some of you may have
already seen him but for those of you who haven`t he`s a cracking bloke, very
helpful, friendly and efficient (but we`ll soon change all that!). We can`t wait
to get him on board full time.
It`s a girl
It`s
a girl and she is absolutely gorgeous..... 6lb 7oz, born 22-11-00 at
4.27pm.....mother and baby fine. Name pending but definitely not Portia, Porsha,
Carrera, etc! Many thanks for all the e-mails of congratulation, you lovely
bunch. Click on the photo for a bigger picture.We`ll pop it in a plain brown envelope for you sir
We`ve got our first bit of
e-commerce on the site. Go back to the stock page and click on the magazine link
at the top of the page, you can order a subscription from over 1000 titles with
more new ones coming by the day. It`s lovely getting you favourite read through
the post and if you are struggling to find a good present for someone they make
a killer gift. Every week or month the person gets to think what a lovely person
you are !
All right John - I might have a nice bit of business to put your way?
Do you sell a Porsche related
service or product? Insurance, parts (new or used), servicing, books or
magazines, driving courses or trackdays, clothing, wheels or tyres, memorabilia
or models, interior trimmers, cleaning products even artists or photographers
(cars of course, I`m sure none of our customers would be remotely interested in
the naked body!).Don`t worry if you`re not Internet wise, you don`t have to be
an e-commerce giant (though you might be) we`ll do as much or as little as you
want. The fact is we get nearly 10,000 people a month on the site and they all
have one thing in common they all either own or want to own a Porsche. If you
would be interested or want a chat then give us a call(01895 255222) or email us
henry@911virgin.com
We`ll be producing some layouts and ideas over the next few weeks so keep you
eyes open !
We need to build a roundabout with all this traffic
All right so it`s not exactly
setting new records in bandwidth usage or phone line blockage but we`re up to
around 2,000 "distinct hosts" served a week now and we`ve had around
300,000 page hits over the site. Not bad for a bunch of dimwits from the
country. The proof of the pudding is of course always in the eating and sure
enough last quarter`s figures to the end of April were (in profit terms) not far
behind the whole of the year before last. The best bit is that we`ve managed to
do it all with increased turnover of cars rather than increased prices. We
really do get asked by some people why we don`t charge more for the cars, well
there`s the answer. Once again many thanks to all customers and visitors to the
site. In particular thank you to the many customers who have recommended us to
their friends. We may well look to arrange some social events in the future to
reflect the growing army people flying the company flag. This increase in sales
does mean of course that we are always looking for more cars to sell so if you
do come across any let Henry know.
They`re havin` a laugh
A
letter came from Virgin Enterprises suggesting we might have been passing
ourselves off as part of their lot. Our noble leader went ballistic. He wishes
it be known he`s never been in a hot air balloon, doesn`t even own a knitted
sweater, sports no facial hair, has the body of a Greek god (we only write the
stuff!) and rarely smiles (too true). We are of course nothing to do with the
great bearded man`s emporium and don`t sell records, CD`s, cinema tickets,
popcorn, holidays, would struggle to fly you to Luton let alone America,
broadcast no light entertainment programmes - though our
leader did once work as a disc jockey - an altogether different and embarrassing
episode. Her highness our noble leader`s wife does
make wedding dresses though. We think their
airline is very good, their holiday`s excellent value, the premier screen in
their Slough cinema is the absolute business and a worthy spend of anyone`s £10
- you get free popcorn and nachos and the staff are lovely!!! For legal reasons
we have to point out that the dresses at virgin bride may not actually be made
by sir Richard Branson himself he probably employs people to make them for him.
Move over Colin McRae
Our
noble leader fresh from his Welsh Rally driving is currently hovering around the
phone waiting for the call from Subaru offering him the works drive. Sadly (for
us), he somehow managed to win the competition at the end of the day and we
haven`t stopped hearing about his featherlite throttle control and knife edge
cornering ability that combined with his nerves of 
steel gained him vital competition seconds
that clinched the title. Seriously an excellent day out. The school is the Phil
Price Rally School, all the top teams practice there and they are an excellent
bunch. Telephone 01547 550300 or http://www.kc3.co.uk/rally
. Thanks also to Tony Cuming of Grosvenor Butterworth Financial services Ltd for
inviting him along. Have a peek at their site http://www.grosvenor-butterworth.co.uk/list.html
Yet more free chocolate products for you
First
we gave you free peanut m&m`s, then we offered a non peanut alternative and
now we are fattening you up with mini chocolate eggs as well as the ever popular
and highly addictive cream eggs. Ever careful of over-spending, our noble leader
has managed to track down cream eggs smaller than a pigeon`s egg (which for you
city people is very small). A small step maybe but a giant stride for a man
who`s wallet is harder to open than a Porsche 944 oil filler cap!Our customers are the best in the UK
It`s official. Steve and
Kerry who run La Foret restaurant in Odiham near Hook, Hants have just been
awarded Les Routiers restaurant of the year. Having had the pleasure of dining
there on several occasions our noble leader can confirm the award is more than
justified. Steve and Kerry currently have a Forest Green (how apt),964 coupe,
their second 911 from us. Well done. Book a table with them on 01256 702697 or
see their website at www.laforet.co.uk
they are just off junction 5 of the M3.
New office
The
new office is just about up and running and the m&m`s flowing. Early reports
are that the normal Ribena is the most popular drink with diet Ribena and Coke
following up a close second, if we can fathom out the coffee machine hot drinks
may prove flavour of the month!
In the press (again)
We
managed a little mention in the March edition of Car magazine on page 136. Our
noble leader was quoted with regard to the website. Sadly the article refered to
him as a computer dinosaur, this is of course totally untrue. Why only recently
he managed to wire in a new printer, (although it must be said it did take 2
days). Anyway top blokes them fellows at Car.
