How our man, Richard Wiley, came to be the custodian of two Porsche 911s over a period of nearly nine months. Porsche Road & Race contributor, Richard Wiley, has spent many hours of his life in aeroplanes, travelling primarily to or from motoring-related events or motor races. Apart from the...
JoinedSeptember 21, 2021
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From the age of seven, and with the aid of numerous cushions, Richard starting driving on his dad’s 45-acre small-holding in a 1948 Chevrolet Coupe Imp. His dental-surgeon dad was also very mechanically-minded and taught Richard everything he knew about car maintenance and about German engineering.
At least one VW has been in the family ever since 1951 and to this day, there are two Golfs in the home garage while son James has three VWs and daughter Sarah, a VW and a Skoda.
In between an obsession with motorcars, Richard spent 35 years in the same advertising agency in Harare but much of his spare time was devoted to writing about his passion for motor cars and motor sport.
He has provided a weekly motoring column in a Harare business paper for 22 years and was enrolled as a member of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists in 2000. Today, Richard freelances for various on-line and print motoring titles based in South Africa and is a regular contributor to Top Gear South Africa and to a monthly motoring mag, Motor, published out of Cape Town.
He acquired a new 911 Carrera Sport in 1989 and in the absence of any dealership in Zimbabwe, he fully maintained this car over 19 years of most happy ownership. Adjusting valve clearances was not his favourite task, though!
His passion for Porsches was nurtured at a young age and accounts for why he has attended no fewer than 25 Le Mans 24 Hour events and numerous endurance races from Spa to Road Atlanta. The presence of Porsches in the field was the lure but in a related field, so too was Michael Schumacher which accounts for why Richard has attended 20 F1 races but none since MS left Ferrari at the end of 2006.
As I’ve explained on the few occasions I’ve burst into print in Porsche Road & Race, my enduring love affair with the Porsche brand was developed and nurtured from the late 1950s. My father, a dentist by profession, was very mechanically-minded and owned Beetles – and Mercs – from the...
Over the years, the Goodwood Festival of Speed has hosted hundreds of historic Porsches in its paddocks and up Lord March’s sinuous driveway, but this year the limelight was usurped by a newcomer from Weissach – the 95% new 992-based RSR for the upcoming WEC and IMSA campaigns. The fact...
When you were last with Richard Wiley, we were hurtling around a damp La Sarthe in 1988 with Stuck in the Shell Dunlop 962, trimming the grass and setting up great plumes of spray as the Porsche barked its flat tones in a relentless but ultimately fruitless pursuit of a...
In Part 1, Stories from Le Mans – with a Porsche flavour, our intrepid scribbler who hails from that beautiful part of South Africa, the Western Cape, shares with us some hilarious and revealing stories from his many trips to Le Mans. Richard Wiley, a lifelong motoring journalist, has always...







