The 996 Turbo basking in the beauty of the Western Cape
How our man, Richard Wiley, came to be the custodian of two Porsche 911s over a period of nearly nine months. Porsche Road & Race contributor, Richard Wiley, has spent many hours of his life in aeroplanes, travelling primarily to or from motoring-related events or motor races. Apart from the fact that these travels have extended across five decades, there’s been nothing especially remarkable about any of his flights with one notable exception. Some eight years ago, he was seated next to a gentleman who came to share a passion for Porsches. Contact has been maintained ever since and in 2020, Richard’s chance encounter led to a Porsche 996 Turbo being entrusted to his care. Here’s his story, one that can have few parallels in the annals of high-performance motoring.
996 Turbo shows off its extended rear wing, an unusual feature two decades back
Way back in the sands of time and long before Covid19 started to germinate – I’m guessing the year was 2012 – I was on a mid-morning domestic flight between Johannesburg and Cape Town sitting in the first row of an SAA 737.I’d just disembarked from an 11-hour international flight so was not overly disposed to making small talk with my neighbour who clearly felt much the same way.
