Here at MaydayGarage we are always on the prowl for wicked cars on the street. Imagine if you will, you are sitting at a starbucks with a couple of your “boys” talking about cars when you hear a rumble that sounds like it was sent from the God of Bomex. To your suprise it is no ricer, nor domestic prey, but a Bavarian beast wrapped in red clothing driving to … a movie theater. This scenario is an exact replica of what happened to MaydayDavidD, Fabio and I as we were hanging out on a crisp night discussing rice when Carl Fehres hammered his menacing Carrera like a bat out of hell right by the Starbucks we are at.

Glancing at each other, we yelled “holy shit” and jumped into my GS300 and yelled, “follow that Porsche!”. We didn’t have to travel that far because the Movie theater was literally right down the street from the Starbucks. When we arrived to the Porsche however, there was something odd about the situation at hand. The front lights on the Porsche were off, it had a full cage, and was tailing a hammered E46 M3 with a tow hook very closely. As we pulled my car around the corner we jumped out with a couple of mayday stickers and ran to the Porsche. When we approached the bright red 911, we realized that there was a woman (Carl’s girlfriend) driving the E46 followed by a gent (Carl) providing light for the Porsche with none. Gangster.

We quickly exchanged info, and the rest was history from there.

After having some coffee with Carl and finding out more details about the car, we fell in love with the Bavarian purity that the 911 had to offer. Being number 404 out of 523, this Carrera looked even more eye pleasing when we saw the imperfections in it’s paint from competitive racing. I was fortunate enough to roll around the freeways of Houston for a bit with Carl and I must admit, it felt like we were straight out of a scene from Wangan Midnight. The 911 provided such a raw in-touch feeling with the road, being all mechanical and not electrical, combine this with an all race suspension, it gave a pure feeling that most hardcore drivers would kill for. This is why we love this car.

Words by Carl Ferhes:

“I started attending high performance driving schools around 18 months ago in my old 1999 BMW 328 when a good friend of mine, Guillaume, convinced me that anything can be taken to the track and driven to it’s limit. You don’t need a fancy expensive sports car to learn to drive. I started modifying the suspension, wheels, tires etc. It didn’t take more than one weekend at the track to know I was hooked. After spending near 7k on a car that was worth about 7k to start with I decided my money was better spent modifying something that was really meant for the track. I bought a used 2004 E46 M3 in November 2009. I modified the car for the track working on tires / wheels, suspension, motor and transmission mounts, brakes etc. I drove it happily for 9 months advancing my skills at the track. I worked up to the white run groups in Porsche Club as well as the Motor Sport club at Texas World Speedway. The instructors there told us in class that at this level we really needed to start thinking about safety equipment like roll bars and race seats if we planned to continue. Big dilemma – modify my street M3 for the track and buy another street car or buy a race prepped car. All my race friends told me it was far cheaper to buy something already prepped. I’ve wanted a 911 since I was a kid so I started to shop. It wasn’t long before I found the Red Devil

I’ve been driving it for several months now and I can say without hesitation I’m having far more fun driving this race prepped Porsche than anything else I’ve ever driven. It’s just an incredible track car!! There is NOTHING more fun than passing some 500 hp high dollar sports car in my little old Porsche that puts out 200 RWHP.

The car has a serious heritage. It’s been a race car for nearly 10 years now. Steve Marshall built the car up and raced it for many years in PCA events. He’s had MANY podium finishes. Everywhere I take the car racers and instructors start staring about the car whispering.. I know this car.. isn’t this Steve Marshall’s car?? I drove the car at Eagle’s Canyon Raceway this past weekend. One of the instructors there told me Steve built the car not for straight line performance but to drive sideways through all corners! He told me he had several videos of Steve in front of him driving sideways in races.. awesome driver!! I keep in contact with Steve barraging him with endless questions about the car. Each time I have a question we end up talking for an hour about the car, racing and driving techniques. I look forward to taking a driving lesson from him sometime early next year.

I have a couple of upgrades planned. I’m taking out the bolt in cage and having one welded in over the holidays. I’m planning an exhaust upgrade that should give me a bit more horsepower. Other than that I just have to feed the devil an endless supply of brakes and tires.

Driving with the Lone Star Region Porsche Club of America (PCA) has been a great learning experience. The instruction there is fantastic. I’ve become great friends with many of them. Every Wednesday night many of us meet up in Haas Folgle’s garage to work on cars and talk about driving (among other things). Haas himself has been a pro racer for over 20 years and has become my mentor teaching me how to work on the Porsche and how to REALLY drive one. I’ve been out with him a couple of times just to see what a car can really do… mind blowing! Haas is a truly gifted and insane driver and now my primary driving coach. Ex pro racer Mike Merritt has also been a great friend and mentor teaching me how to work on my M3 and training me in the fundamentals of driving physics. Mike enjoys kicking my ass at MSR Houston in his nearly stock E36 M3. Both Haas and Mike have been long time Porsche Club instructors. Others who join us in the shop are Mike McMahon (crew chief), Robert Hendrickson (PCA Instructor and ex pro racer), Hollis Hendrickson (car freak and detailing master) and my great friend Guillaume Thomas-Collignon who is an excellent driver and got me started in all this. Guillaume is re-building a race ready 76 911 that will be a sister to the Red Devil. I could write volumes about all these guys. Suffice it to say I’ve got an extended family now.

I’m planning to enter my first real race in March with the Porsche Club at TWS. I know I’ve got a ton to learn but I’m convinced the best way to do that is by racing.”

People often ask what it takes for us to come and take photos of their rides, and while we have no definitive guidelines set, the one constant rule is personality. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have dents and drift damage, but in the case of this particular 911, it was the dumped, aggressive but super functional stance combined with the sounds of loud straight pipes emanating from the center mounted exhaust that caught our attention as we were sipping on some Lattes.

When we first approached Carl that night (we were actually walking next to him as he was slowly driving to the theater parking garage), he assured us that the Carrera was not up to show standards, and he didn’t think it was worthy of being captured on camera. Of course, we told him he was crazy, and that we loved race prepped cars, no matter what make of car. After a little bit of schmoozing, Carl agreed and we then met him near the place we originally first laid eyes on the Porsche.

Shooting Carl’s Porsche was definitely one of the more interesting shoots we’ve done here at MaydayGarage mainly because as we were trying to capture this mythical beast on a bridge over the super busy US-59, it started to rain. As Khiem and Danh were constantly wiping their lenses covered in raindrops, we patiently waited for the sun to drop from sight so that we could capture this amazing image you see below!

One more thing- if you happen to drive a pretty distinct car and you see a bunch of guys chasing you down in a slammed Lexus GS300 on TE37’s hooting and hollering, stop and talk to them! You never know where it’ll lead you.

Carl Fehres Official Modifications List:

Suspension:

Revalved Bilstien sport shocks.
Smart Racing front and rear sway bars.
29mm/31mm torsion bars (I think??)
Smart Racing monoballs in front shock towers and rear banana arms.
Delrin (or poly graphite) bushings in front and rear torsion bars.
Sway-A-Way adjustable rear spring plates.
Front shock tower brace.
Turbo tie rods.
Bump steer kit for steering rack.

Engine and Transmission:

Replaced 2.7 liter US spec motor with 3.0 liter European spec. 9.8:1 motor.
Solid motor mounts.
K&N air filter and open filter box.
Carrera pressure fed tensioner kit.
European headers with straight single outlet exhaust.
Dual turbo oil coolers behind front headlights.
Oil overflow catch can.
Replaced 7:31 US transmission with 8:31 European transmission.
ZF LSD set to 60%

Body/Interior:

Safety Devices six point bolt in cage with knee bar.
Removable steering wheel.
Kirkey Sprint Deluxe drivers seat.
Kirkey Intermmediate passenger seat.
Wired and tabbed for cool suit.
RS door panels and carpet kit.
Oil cooler scoop in place of passenger turn signal.
Oil cooler inlets in front valance.
Re-route battery to smugglers box.

Brakes:

Replaced aluminum “S” calipers with cast iron “M” calipers
Pagid Orange brake pads.
Vented brake backing plates and cooling ducting.

Wheels / Tires:

15″ Buckley Race Wheels
Front 225/45/15 Hoosier R6
Rear 275/35/15 Hoosier R6

Photos taken by Khiem Pham and David Do exclusively for MaydayGarage.
For all 40 pictures of Carl’s Porsche in High Resolution, click HERE!

— JohnP–
John@maydaygarage.com

&

— David–
David@maydaygarage.com

** Bonus Tag Team **