Windblown Witness November 1998.

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"The most memorable race, of course, was winning the 12Hours of Sebring, 1st overall! "

Nancy and Wayne Baker at Monterey with 718-007 (photo Christy Eastridge)

Wayne Baker and I (Nancy) started Personalized Autohaus in 1974, two weeks before we were married. Personalized was and is a Porsche service and repair shop. Wayne worked with Dieter Vognher for a year prior to this. Dieter commented one day "if I let you stay here one more year and you leave, you'll take half my customers with you. So you need to start your own business now." And we did.

In 1985 Personalized added BMW and Volvo to the menu due to business expansion and a slow down in Porsche sales.

We became PCA members when, after a couple of years of participating in club events, Bea Cole came up to Wayne and told him it was about time for him to join This was somewhere around 1975.

Some customers were time trialing and auto crossing. Wayne became involved with their toys. Peter Zarcades, going to Greece for a year, had Wayne take his 2.0-liter 914/4 and develop it to run SCCA D Production national races. Plus, Paul Haas, brought his E Production 914/4 for engines and service for his SCCA racing.

In 1978, with Peter's 914-development project, Wayne won the Southern Pacific Division, SCCA National Championship. Mr. Robert Kirby came in one day with a 914/4 racing chassis and asked if we'd put Wayne's race motor in the chassis and run the 12 hours of Sebring in 1979. Co-driver, Tom Winters of Tucson, Arizona, brought the necessary funds to run the race. We finished 4th in GTU and 16th overall. Not bad for a 2.0 liter, VW bus motor (ha, ha).

Ultimately Wayne developed the 914/4 to run GTU full time in 1981 and finished 4" overall, starting with 6 poles and winning Sears Point. Doing R&D and racing is impractical while trying to win champion- ships. We moved on to GTO in 1983 with a Porsche 934, going with proven reliability. It finished all races entered and won the GTO Championship with co-driver, Jim Mullin. The most memorable race, of course, was winning the 12 Hours of Sebring, 1st overall. Co-drivers, Jim Mullen and Kees Nierop sharing the victory.

Wayne retired from IMSA February, 1985 to get kids through college, and my home in order, etc.... (sound familiar?). We were glad to have had racing, but moving on to a "normal" life was great. Through all this, Personalized Autohaus' doors were always open to the regular service and repair work they did so well. (ed: this was primarily due to Nancy holding the reins while Wayne was on the road racing ten months of the year.... ).

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In October 1997 when we heard that Porsche was going to be the featured Marquee at the 1998 Monterey Historic Races, and it was the 50" Anniversary of Porsche, we knew we wanted to be part of the biggest and grandest Porsche event ever. Even as spectators, it was an event not to be missed. We made plans with friends Ed and Christy East ridge (past PCASD members and Trans Am/ Club Race friends). Ed and Wayne go way back to the days when Wayne raced the 914/4 and 934. Ed was crew chief and always the first to volunteer for any task that needed to be done. They had never been to the Historics or the Pebble Beach Concourse, so we were excited they were joining us.

In April of 1998 something exciting happened. One of our customers, Bill Bauce of Rancho Santa Fe, had bought a rare 1958 RSK Center Seat factory race car (chassis 718-007) from a collector in Germany. It was bought through Mark Leonard of Grand Prix Classics in La Jolla.

This car filled the request of Bill who wanted a car rich with racing history and built prior to the fiberglass era. After purchasing the car, Bill wanted it kept in San Diego for service and repairs. Since we had taken care of his other early 356's, he brought this one to us with Mark Leonard's recommendation. The first step was to get the car running.

Our background was pretty thin on 4-cam racing engines, but we explained to Bill that we would search out the information and consult with experts in the field such as Al Cadrobbi, Dave Coleman, Bill Doyle and Jacques LeFriant.

That first evening Wayne was so excited he stayed up to the wee hours going through his library of Porsche books looking for any information about the racing history of this car. For anyone who knows Wayne, they know he goes to bed pretty early. So it had to be something pretty special to keep him up. Little did we know how special this little gem of a car would become in our lives.

It was the first RSK 550 Spyder built in 1958 and ran the 24 hours of LeMans in the 1500cc class in 1958.

It was hit by another car after 18 hours and left the race. It returned to the factory and converted to a center seat Formula 11 car (the rules allowing closed wheeled cars to run with open wheeled cars at that time). This was the first of only five center seat RSK's and three factory werks race cars. It was also Porsche's first venture into Formula racing and, with Jean Behra driving, it won the 1958 Reims Formula 11 race. The car finished 11' overall at the Targa Florio that year with Edgar Barth driving, and finished 2nd overall at Reims with

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Von Tripps in 1959 and was used for hill climbs and many German Championship races. The car's current setup is the left seat road-racing configuration.

The car continued racing with various other factory drivers through 1959 before being sold to John Von Neuman at Competition Motors in Los Angeles. It passed to several other owners before being bought by avid Love of San Francisco, who did most of the chassis restoration work. David sold the car to a man in Germany in 1977 where it raced at Nurburgring several times.

The newly rebuilt RSK engine after installation. These engines R&D facility, Jurgen Barth used to look pretty simple to my (editor) untrained eye, but I've changed my attitude a little (photo Wayne Baker)

In May this year Wayne and I went to Germany and Austria for the 50th Anniversary of Porsche with the world 356 meet in Gmund, Austria. We were invited to Weissach (the Porsche R&D department and factory test track location) by Wayne’s old friend and director of customer racing for the R&D facility, Jurgen Barth Discussing the RSK, Jurgen pulled out an old book which showed pictures of his father, Edgar, driving this same RSK #007 at several races. Jurgen also gave us a few "hot laps' around the Weissach track in a Twin Turbo GT2. Believe me, his man has not lost his touch with a Porsche on a racetrack.

After returning from our trip at the end of May, our work began. Wayne and our mechanic, Brant Parsons, spent a week servicing the car and thoroughly going over every little detail. Supposedly the engine had only 2 hours of time on it and was supposed to be "race ready" even though it had not been raced since 1993.

Our tests showed the engine had 75 lbs. compression and 40% or more leak down due to wrong pistons being installed. The compression was a low 6:1, compared to the normal 10:1 ratio, which would have given you 175 lbs. compression.

Now it was time to road test the car to check suspension and gear box. Wayne chose a street in Sorrento Valley that had no crossroad traffic for 2 miles. At 6:30 on a Saturday morning, what could be more perfect?

Two of our friends, Chris Stavros (356 aficionado) and Mark Strickwerta (Fallbrook fire fighter) went along as a support team in case Wayne needed any help getting back to the shop. I'm sure they were both hoping to get a ride in the RSK for their hard work (which they did!). After several runs back and forth on this quiet street, Wayne is on his last pass before returning to the shop when he pulls up next to Chris and Mark, now joined by one of San Diego's finest. He (the officer) stated that several com- plaints had come in about somebody drag racing in the area and disturbing their quiet Saturday morning. Of course, Chris and Mark think they are all headed off to jail. Fortunately that did not happen. The officer asked if they were through and Wayne promptly answered in the affirmative and they drove back to the shop.

With the check-out of the RSK completed, Wayne decided to have it towed to Van Nuys later that day to confer with Al Cadrobbi (ace 4-cam expert) whom Wayne has known for over 30 years. Wayne enlisted the help of Mike Shirley to use his enclosed car transporter. This was a blessing because when they got to LA it was raining and there was no room in Al's shop. The trailer provided a convenient, covered space for their work that day.

By 5:00 Sunday evening Al had confirmed our worst suspicions and advised us as to the work that needed to be done.

Monday morning after a few discussions with the car owner, Bill Bauce, about what needed to be done to the car, Wayne mentioned that he saw Bill's ad in the Pennysaver looking for a driver to race the RSK at Monterey. After a long pause, Bill snapped quickly that he didn't have an ad in the Pennysaver. Wayne said "Just kidding." Another pause. Then Bill asked if Wayne was interested in driving his car. Wayne gave him some references and admitting he hadn't been on a racetrack for fourteen years, but would love to. The next morning Bill stopped by the shop with the entry form for the Monterey Historics and Wayne's name was listed as the driver. We asked Bill if he'd like to hear the car run before disassembly. No, he was late to the airport and told us to go ahead with the work.

Wayne, Brant and Jacques Le Friant of Scott's Porsche started a total disassembly of the engine, transmission and chassis. What they found was a bad crankshaft, the cam ring and pinion drives were damaged and mistimed over 30 degrees from left to right banks. Exhaust valves were hitting the pistons on one side. Intake valves were hitting the pistons on the other side. These were a few of the problems that would require a full rebuild.

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The transmission was found to have an extremely worn out ring and pinion. Bearings were all damaged and worn, synchros had been installed without the braking band and blocks as well as unusual gear ratios unusable at any track.

One thing noticed with the disassembly was the exhaust system had no scavenging effect and the tubing was so large you could probably run a big block V8 through it. This creates usable horsepower only above 6000 rpm and makes for very poor drive ability under that RPM. Compare this 1700 cc motor with two-inch exhaust tubing and, in 1980, our 914/4 2100cc IMSA racecar that had 1-5/8" to a collector for scavenging exhaust gases. Our Sorrento Valley road test showed no usable power under 6000 RPM.

We installed a dummy motor in the chassis and had Bob Butler of Tight Pipes (who does header systems for every- thing from dune buggys to boats) work with us to build an exhaust system based on the 914/4 setup.

Bob was extremely helpful, considered all theoretical possibilities and applied our 914/4-exhaust design to the chassis of the RSK. This had never been done. We were trying to do a little R&D while assembling a 40-year-old vintage racecar.

It may be noted that the HMSA vintage race association, headed by Steve Earle (founder and director of the Monterey Historics) advised me that by the rules, any exhaust system is allowed. On the dyno, prior to Monterey testing, with the original system installed, no stable reading could be made below 5800. But with the 9l4/4 RSK header system we had 120 hp at 4000 RPM, full throttle, no lag. This should have a wider usable horsepower band with drive-ability. One note, Jacques told me later that his UPS man, two miles away, dropped by to see what we were running on the dyno that early Saturday morning.

The noise ripping from this exhaust system was like nothing that Jacques had ever heard coming from a 4-cam motor, street or track. Wayne said, if my back was turned to this dyno, the sound that I hear is exactly the same as our 914/4 IMSA car. "Oh, what a beautiful sound!" So 18 years later, old technology jumps ahead to 1998 to help a 40-year old RSK's drive-ability problems.

Two months later, in July, was the next time we saw Bill. The car was apart and scattered over half the shop. With Skip Shirley's help we were repairing sheet metal cracks and modifying belly pans for the new header system. In the car was a 43 year old, dusty, 4-cam "dummy" engine being used to fit the new headers and belly pans while the RSK motor was in the machining process with Jacques. Bill walked over and looked in the engine bay asking if this was his newly rebuilt motor. Of course Wayne, red-faced, explained the need for the "dummy" motor. Bill was pleased by our efforts and hoped we could make the Monterey deadline.

A mechanical restoration of this car would ordinarily take a year minimum. We accomplished it in four months.

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Wayne lost 25 pounds in the process working long hours, seven days a week (just like the old Pro days!) This was accomplished with help from the previously mentioned people, particularly Jacques Le Friant, who had said over the years "Gee, it'd be great to do a project together." This project was incredibly labor intensive and had a short deadline for the amount of work involved. Jacques was enthusiastic and dedicated to the goal of making the Monterey deadline. He worked even more hours a day than Wayne could. It was brutal. Thanks Jacques!

Many people in the racing community claimed we were the wrong people to do the job. We wouldn't be successful or even make it in time for Monterey. With that challenge laid down we pushed as hard as possible.

The engine was assembled with many parts from various engines, creating many machining and fitting problems that Jacques solved. A larger problem loomed with the crankshaft needing overhaul. I called Bill Doyle, told him of our tight schedule asking what he could do knowing workload schedule usually booked 8-12 months ahead. He completely rebuilt and turned the crank around in five weeks. A bloody miracle!

Two weeks prior to Monterey we dyno'd the engine, finished rebuilding the transmission and had the car ready for testing. The open test day location was a long drive to Monterey and Laguna Seca Raceway. Two problems needed to be solved. First, the car needed to be sorted and the driver (rusty driver who had been off tracks for fourteen years) needed to learn the new Laguna Seca configuration and learn to drive a skinny tired, hard rubber, forty year old race car. Re- member, Wayne had been used to driving fat, sticky tired cars with a lot of grip. Would he need to learn a

Wayne in (Jon Wactor's 914/6) which Jon bad thoughtfully brought along as a backup for Wayne’s test day drive at Laguna Seca. Jon, who moved to the Bay Area with his family from San Diego a few years ago, used to be a regular with this car at San Diego events. Wayne, of course, built the car

completely different driving style? We removed the car from the trailer at Laguna Seca and while the engine was warming up and idling at 1500 rpm ticking that became a knocking noise in the left bank occurred. We immediately reloaded the RSK into the trailer. Due to his forethought and planning, Jon Wactor (another ex-San Diego PCA'er) had brought his 914-6 as backup for Wayne to drive on the track. With that accomplished we left immediately back to San Diego, meeting with Jacques at Personalized for immediate disassembling. We found the number two exhaust rocker tip had broken off and migrated to the number one cam lobe, shattering the exhaust lobe, shearing the ring and pinion drive to the left head and bending all valves in the left bank. Initially, we'd spent two months with machining, fitting and assembly, but from that Friday night to the following Thursday night we completely rebuilt the motor, totally. In six days!

Thursday night Wayne and Brant loaded and went to Willow Springs and tested from 7-8:30am the next day while it was cool (later temperatures reached 110 degrees). It turned out we did not need to use a 7800 rpm redline with the new exhaust system. We used 6800 with track times exceeding all previous known RSK times at that track. Unbeknownst at the time, a competitor showed up with cars for testing while Wayne was running his final ten laps. Brant was at the pit wall as this (unnamed) gentleman mechanic came up and noted he had never heard an RSK sound so "loud and crisp" as this engine did on the track. He asked Brant what the hell was done to the exhaust. Not knowing this person, Brant was vague and elusive in his response. This mechanics observation over the next few laps noted this car was extremely quick and asked how much horsepower the car had, which showed 146 hp at 7500 on Jacques dyno. Brant brazenly said we had 180 horsepower. The mechanics face turned stone, cold white at this remark, stuttered and stammered back that Jacques dyno was primitive and inaccurate. But Brant was in good form by immediately responding "But look how quick it is on the track."

Shortly thereafter, Wayne came in, told Brant we'd accomplished all we needed to. We wanted to load up and get back to the shop to re-service the transmission and engine. As we finished loading this unnamed mechanic came and looked under the car, stated it was his "illegal and would not be was allowed to run at Monterey with this exhaust system." This we heard as we jumped into the truck and pulled away stating "read the rules and have a nice, hot test day." Wayne and Brant went back to San Diego with a warm feeling and smiles on their faces. Two days later we loaded and were off to Monterey.

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