Type 7 | A Return to Glory

A 911 E 2.4, chassis 9113200382 was delivered new in Britain in January 1973, originally finished in Gemini Blue Metallic. By the 1980s it had been transformed into a competition car, racing in Britain through the Pirelli Porsche Championship and later the BF Goodrich Championship. When Marika discovered it in Ireland in 2019, it was dusty, rusty and partially disassembled. It was also exactly what she was looking for.

Born in Lapland and raised in Finland, Marika grew up around cars. Her father was a DIY mechanic, and she learned early how to repair and work on cars. Modified BMWs, an E34 M5 and an E46 M3 followed before she moved to London in 2014. There, motorsport became a bigger part of her life, with Brands Hatch, Brooklands and Silverstone becoming familiar territory.

Within months of arriving in Britain, she bought her first 911, a 997 Carrera 2S with the factory Aero Kit. She had never driven a Porsche before and bought it from Belgium sight unseen. The experience confirmed that these cars were going to become a permanent staple in her life.

For her next one, Marika wanted something very different: an air-cooled, long-hood 911 with character and, ideally, a racing history. One night, while browsing online, she found this very car. The photographs showed it neglected and partially dismantled, but the description revealed its past as a race car with a modified engine. “I was sold” she says.

Its competition history proved remarkable. Under Jon Chappell, the 911 raced extensively across Britain and Europe during the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing at circuits including Zandvoort, Zolder and Spa. It later moved to Ireland, where it returned to racing in orange and won the Irish Porsche Championship in 2005.

First Marika found literature proving its 2005 Irish championship win. Then, after posting about it on Porsche forums, former competitors contacted her, some with photos of the car racing in the 80s and 90s.

She has only recently begun driving the finished car, but the first impressions have been unmistakable. “This thing has a soul,” she says. With no sound deadening and no electronic assistance, every movement is communicated directly. “It feels like it wants to get to business, meaning racing.”

That is exactly what Marika intends to do. She plans to drive it on the road, but ultimately wants to return to the track. Her approach is simple: learn the car, understand its limits and let it misbehave. “More back to basics. No assistance, just a me and the machine.”

Her Finnish background prepared her well for this kind of car. Growing up around snow and ice meant learning to understand what a car was doing rather than relying on electronic systems. Today, living near the Italian-Swiss border, she has the Alps on her doorstep and some of Europe’s best driving roads within reach.

After more than four decades of racing, modification, neglect and rediscovery, this 911 has found an owner determined to preserve its history by doing the one thing it was built to do: drive. For Marika, the next chapter is not about preserving the past. It is about discovering what this remarkable old race car can still do.