718 RSK RS60 RS61

[356]

[Stormin]

I always looked at taping seams as somewhat a waste of time. Could it really help?

[Pat]

Read about Gurney flaps--taping may help. Don't know of any studies on it, but Gurney flaps make a difference.

[Rickie]

I don't think it would make much difference at the maximum speed of an RSK. By the way, is that Ricardo Rodriguez at the wheel?

[356]

[Type550]

Recently I bought a heap of race negatives which included Behra in his RSK at the start of the 1958 Sebring race. As I have no interest in RSKs, I am happy to sell them or trade them for 550 slides - here are a few...

[JTR70]

Nice find Andrew!

[356]

[356]

[Stormin]

Really did like those tires, the ultimate in 1960

[Carrera_The_Kid]

[Rickie]

When did the Dunlop Green Spots come along? They became the hot set-up, and the CR-65's they make today are the follow on from them. Of course they are dramatically different in tread width and patch size, as well as compound formulations, of which there are several. But I raced on them for a long time and they were very compatible with the RSK's idiosyncratic handling qualities.

[Type550]

The RSK raced by Roger Penske is 718-019 - I believe Jerry Seinfeld currently owns it. Here is a video of Jerry and Kevin Hart in it - http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/kevin-hart-you-look-amazing-in-the-wind

[Type550]

Does anyone know the chassis number of the modified RSK ?

[bbspdstr]

"Back in the day" we never thought too much about chassis numbers. I do believe that Roger's 718 was originally Bob Holbert's car as shown above. Bob would get the latest and in those days, young Penske would buy the "hand-me-downs" right on through an RS61. Bob was Roger's mentor, as was Bruce Jennings. I was just a young man with a Speedster that loved Porsches and through that, knew them all, eventually working for Roger on weekends....

I had an unexpected visit from Bob's son Larry Holbert 2 weeks ago. Among other tidbits I did not know, the numbering of the Holbert cars was family birthdays...a very coincidental number of similar birthdays.

I revealed to Larry that I still have a personal letter on Holbert's Porsche dealership's letterhead from his late brother Al, telling me in early 1969 that I should jump on "the new Speedster" and not buy a new 911S. I was in Texas at the time, in OTS. The "new Speedster" turned out to be called a 914. I got a used '69 911S soon after my early exit from the military when it was discovered I could not fly upside-down at high G's....but I digress.

Weldon Scrogham has almost all of the memorabilia of both Bob and Al Holbert's racing days. Here are three photos of possible interest:


Edited to note that Dan Gurney was shaking Bob Holbert's hand first and young Roger Penske was waiting his turn. Bob had his ever-present cee-gar



Also by edit, let me say that the left-over special jack and folding top (an ugly formality) for that car were sold to a European after Bob's death in 2008. I forget who knew who, but I was at least tangentially involved and away they went for fairly serious money...and I remember thinking at the time "the only person who would want to pay that much must have one of those Porsches and theirs is missing...how cool is that!?"

-Bruce