INTRODUCING...THE GENERAL

Arguably one of the most exciting 91] road-to-race car conversions ever done, we take a close look at the Franco Scribante Racing 997 Turbo S-based Trace Car.

- Wilhelm Lutjeharms

The Scribante family in South Africa is synonymous with the local racing fraternity. Either on track or at the annual Simola Hillclimb event, Franco Scribante Racing is there in full force. Not only does the team run modern race cars, it builds its own, complete custom race cars, too. Franco Scribante Racing also has a love for historic racing, running a Chevron B26 in the classic division on this annual hillclimb. Whether it’s a sprint race or an endurance race, you can bet that one of its team members will be participating.

Around six years ago, the team set out to build a race car based on a 997 Turbo S. This is the ideal starting platform, especially since the class (called Extreme Supercars) in which it wanted to enter the car, permits various modifications. This class has a few rules, one of which being that the vehicle must be based on a production model. That means no spaceframe racing specials are allowed. The vehicle must also be a GT car or high-performance saloon car. Other examples of cars eligible for entry include Subarus, BMW M3s, Lotus Exiges, Boxsters and Caymans. Looking at the other cars on the list, it becomes clear that a 911 was the better choice.

The constraints of the Extreme Supercars class actually helped to focus the development of the car. Fast forward to March of this year, and it’s now lovingly called The General. Franco Scribante Racing’s conversion set the lap record of 1:08.284 for GT cars (also referred to as tin-top cars) at Killarney International Raceway, which is only a 25-minute drive from Cape Town’s central business district.