Rikard and his love for driving Porsche 911 RS's hard
In this first installment of the DrivePact x Roadr series we portray Rikard Asbjornsen, a true petrolhead with a distinct love for the RS products from Porsche's 911 range.
The video is embedded at the bottom of the article.
Watch video about Rikard and his four Porsche 911 RS's first.
It's around 11:00 in the morning when I pull up in Rikard's neighborhood. The sun is out and a few kids are playing with a frisbee. They look up when they hear my engine and one kid points at my car. The other kids don't seem to be interested in my black 911. It might be because they don't enjoy cars as their friend does, but it's probably got more to do with the fact that they often see more impressing 911's in their street.
While we sip at our coffee and enjoy some of Rikard's wife homemade cornbread in his kitchen, a puppy fights for our attention. Rikard is a tall guy so we can see why he got a Great Dane: his 1,5 year old 'puppy' weighs 70 kilograms and is as high as the kitchen counter already. 'He won't harm you when I'm with you guys, but he's very protective,' Rikard mentions. We'll have to take his word on that one.
When you get to the garage, you'll understand his comment. We knew in advance about the cars of course, but seeing the four of them jammed into the three car garage is an amazing sight by itself. We move out one of them, to make room for the interview.
The car being driven out is the Porsche 911 GT3 RS from the 997.2 generation. It's a white car, with red decals custom made to match Rikard's 911 996.1 GT3 RS, which for now remains inside next to the '72 project car. That 911 T is actually a much sought after Ölklappe which has been converted to an RSR tribute, including a 911/83 magnesium case 2.7 RS engine which has also been converted; to a 2.9 RSR engine to be precise. This car is on jack stands though, awaiting restoration, with the -on its own amazing looking- engine laying in the corner of the garage.
At the opposite side of the garage, we have 'Minty', a mint green Porsche 964 RS-tribute mainly built by Rikard. It's the car we'll be focusing on today, since it's the car that shows us most about Rikard. The 996 and 997 RS are great cars, but they are mostly stock. Minty tells us so much more about Rikard.
Rikard bought the car in the US, where he lived for a few years. Born as the son of a Norwegian dad and a Dutch mother, he was probably destined not to stick to one country. We won't go through the complete timeline of Rikard living abroad, but let's just say he saw a lot of the world eventually, spending a big chunk of his life in Trinidad and Tobago. For those who don't know where that is: it's the southernmost island country of the Caribbean. It's also the place where Rikard experienced two life-changing events: he found a car there and a girl.
The girl is still in his life today and 25 years later is his wife, and they have one daughter. The car he found in Trinidad is no longer in his possession, but it did stand at the beginning of what Rikard now has in his garage. A long, long time ago Rikard found a 1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS in Trinidad, with a unique story. He eventually sold that car, but it sparked something in Rikard. Since then he bought the cars you see in this article, that at first sight seem quite similar in a way: they all have a huge RennSport-influence.
So why those uncompromising RS-models, then? 'I'm not a good driver in any way, I just enjoy the cars with a racing heritage. Ever since I was a kid anything with a rollcage in it, to me was fantastic.' Rikard says.
The Porsche 964 started its life with Rikard as a white racecar, based on a 911 Carrera 2. Where most people would have seen a beat up track day car, Rikard saw potential. The story of buying the car was unique too. When he agreed a price with the seller, they had to agree on how to arrange the payment. So the seller told him: send me $1000 dollars, and I'll send you the car. Then you send me the rest of the money and when I receive the money I'll send you the papers. So essentially, Rikard received the car for a thousand bucks. Needless to say Rikard sent the rest of the money right after receiving the car, but it's a great story.
So after receiving the car, Rikard started personalizing it while using it on the streets. Since buying it, not a screw has been left untouched. The car has been completely stripped and a clubsport cage and a carbon roof were fitted. After that the car was completely repainted to his favorite Porsche color: Mint Green, or Mintgrün for those who love the German color names.
But the color change was not where it ended. It had to be as close to racecar as possible, so the car got all kinds of modifications to realize just that. The exterior is still fairly stock, although the car sits a lot lower thanks to fully adjustable suspension by JIC California who revalved the set specifically to Rikard's preferences. And yes: JIC is a Japanese brand, because before getting into Porsches, Rikard was mainly into the JDM side of the car universe. Which might also explain the color-matched wheels: WORK Meister S1's.
Purists might frown upon these Japanese wheels on a Porsche, but they look amazing if you ask us! Besides that, they're very light and therefore really help the handling. Rikard is considering to switch the tires back to Michelins though, since in his opinion the Yokohama Ad08R tires aren't providing as much grip as the Michelin Cup 2 tires he runs on his other set of wheels: the 17 inch magnesium Speedlines.
The engine was completely rebuilt and modified, mainly to become as strong as possible. We will point out the most important highlights: a steel syncro gearbox with a shorter final drive, paired to an OS Giken LSD. The engine also sports 993 Super Sport cams with longer duration. Everything is controlled by a custom remapped ECU, while the center silencer has been replaced by the titanium box from his 997 RS, since that car got a straight pipe in place.
In the interior everything screams RACECAR. There's absolutely not a single bit of comfort to be found in here. Recaro bucket seats are bolted to the floor for the lowest possible seating position besides leaving out the seats completely. The dash is cluttered with killswitches, clocks, a GPS-speedometer, a well worn MOMO MOD. 08 with shiftlights behind it, a controller for the intercom and much more. The intercom is mandatory by the way, because there's no way you'll ever be able to talk to your passenger without it at any speed above, let's say, 12 kilometres an hour.
It's a car made for driving. And that's exactly what it's used for. Most people would take this car out of the garage one or two times a year for a trackday, maybe. Especially when other cars with a little more comfort are available, like - for instance - a 997 or 996 GT3 RS.
But not Rikard. Granted it's not his daily, the 964 RS Tribute gets out of the garage most of all cars here. And not to be driven easy, either. Rikard drives Minty hard. He is definitely not in the business of babying or preserving cars: they need to be driven and they need to be driven hard. Pushed to and over their limits, the result of which was that a few times during the recordings, the camera car almost loses him.
Rikard needs driving. It's his stress-relief after a busy day at work. When in his cockpit with his intercom on his head, the smells, vibrations and sounds make him forget the troubles of daily life. And the faster things go, the more attention the car takes up, the clearer the mind becomes.
Besides that, the cars have another side-effect. After years of little contact with his father, Rikard can now reconnect with him through his cars. His father (now in his eighties) is not specifically a petrolhead, says Rikard. But he does enjoy the fact that Rikard gets so much joy from driving. So last year, when Rikard proposed a road-trip through his father's homeland Norway, his father said 'sure' and off they went. The Porsche 997 GT3 RS was taken for 4500 kilometres in 5 days. His dad didn't complain once. They didn't talk much during the driving, that was saved for time outside the car. But they did enjoy each other's company and Rikard truly appreciated the time spent with his dad. This year, Rikard hopes to go back. This time with Minty, though. Good luck, dad!
His cars might share the RennSport-DNA but they are quite different. The classic 911T waiting to be built with that RSR engine, we can't wait to hear that one. The 996 because it's the original Porsche 911 RS. The 997 RS because it became Rikard's dream car and at this moment the only 911 he can bring his daughter in. We're not kidding: it has seatbelts in the back and it is quite possibly the only 911 RS in the world that's registered as a fourseater. But that's a different story, maybe for a different day.
The most important car here? Without a doubt, that's Minty. The Porsche 964 'RS Tribute' street-converted track-car is the ultimate hooning machine. It's a car with so much history and memories: Rikard will never let that one go.
I don't think there's a lot of people who would take a road car to the extreme like Rikard did with this one, but you could ask yourself: why not? If it's made for driving, why not completely focus on just that? Minty is built completely to Rikard's needs and if you ask us: it's perfect in all its imperfections. We'd say Rikard's 964 has become more than a car. It has become a part of his life.
About DrivePact x Roadr
Maybe you spotted the driving gloves Rikard is wearing in this video? Cool, right? They're made by a small company in the Netherlands called Roadr, who sell handmade leather driving gloves. Like us they first and foremost are true driving enthusiasts! The driving gloves worn by Rikard are called Night Driver but there's different types, sizes and colors. So if you saw those gloves and thought 'I need those': check out the link below.
Video: Roadr / Hessel Sytema
Photography: DrivePact / Casper Heij