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...
JoinedSeptember 21, 2021
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From the age of seven, and with the aid of numerous cushions, Richard starting driving on his dad’s 45-acre small-holding in a 1948 Chevrolet Coupe Imp. His dental-surgeon dad was also very mechanically-minded and taught Richard everything he knew about car maintenance and about German engineering.
At least one VW has been in the family ever since 1951 and to this day, there are two Golfs in the home garage while son James has three VWs and daughter Sarah, a VW and a Skoda.
In between an obsession with motorcars, Richard spent 35 years in the same advertising agency in Harare but much of his spare time was devoted to writing about his passion for motor cars and motor sport.
He has provided a weekly motoring column in a Harare business paper for 22 years and was enrolled as a member of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists in 2000. Today, Richard freelances for various on-line and print motoring titles based in South Africa and is a regular contributor to Top Gear South Africa and to a monthly motoring mag, Motor, published out of Cape Town.
He acquired a new 911 Carrera Sport in 1989 and in the absence of any dealership in Zimbabwe, he fully maintained this car over 19 years of most happy ownership. Adjusting valve clearances was not his favourite task, though!
His passion for Porsches was nurtured at a young age and accounts for why he has attended no fewer than 25 Le Mans 24 Hour events and numerous endurance races from Spa to Road Atlanta. The presence of Porsches in the field was the lure but in a related field, so too was Michael Schumacher which accounts for why Richard has attended 20 F1 races but none since MS left Ferrari at the end of 2006.
Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Clubsport (1985) in the Museum workshop As I’ve explained on the few occasions I’ve burst into print in Porsche Road & Race, my enduring love affair with the Porsche brand was developed and nurtured from the late 1950s. My father, a dentist by profession, was very...
Goodwood Festival of Speed, 4-7 July 2019: Porsche 911 RSR (2019/2020 model year) Over the years, the Goodwood Festival of Speed has hosted hundreds of historic Porsches in its paddocks and up Lord March’s sinuous driveway, but this year the limelight was usurped by a newcomer from Weissach – the...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 10-11 June 1989: Just after the start of the race, the #15 Richard Lloyd Racing Porsche 962 GTi of Steven Andskar, David Hobbs and Damon Hill passes the pits When you were last with Richard Wiley, we were hurtling around a damp La Sarthe in 1988...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 31 May-1 June 1986: Start of the race – Porsches dominate the lead group In Part 1, Stories from Le Mans – with a Porsche flavour, our intrepid scribbler who hails from that beautiful part of South Africa, the Western Cape, shares with us some hilarious...