The team known as Tafel Racing began in 2005 in the Grand Am GT category with Porsche GT3 Cup cars. Success was not immediately on the table, but the team gradually grew. Contracting Porsche factory driver Wolf Henzler was their biggest step toward professionalism, as Henzler has proven to be an excellent driver and can certainly develop a Porsche Motorsports product toward the front of the field.
In 2007, Tafel jumped from Grand Am to the burgeoning ALMS GT2 class in the much quicker 997 GT3 RSR. Rapid growth combined with an aspirational schedule of improvement proved that Tafel was on a warpath to take down the top teams. James Tafel jr. would not stop at second best.
Henzler drove the blue and white Tafel car to a third place in the drivers’ championship, even though he didn’t win a single race. Consistency, combined with respectable finishes allowed him to accomplish that feat. Jim Tafel, while pleased with the plucky team’s results, was not satisfied with third. Looking up the grid and peering up at other racers on the podium, Tafel noticed a common theme; F430.
The 2007 ALMS season was dominated by Ferrari with 9 of 12 races being won by Maranello’s finest. Seeing the writing on the wall for 2008 being much the same, Tafel couldn’t “beat ‘em”, so the team jumped ship from the RSR and “joined ‘em” in a pair of brand new F430 GTs. The plan sort of backfired, as Tafel came very close to winning the GT2 championship in the 2008 season. The team won a quartet of races in 2008, falling short of the championship by a measly 16 points. The only team to beat Tafel? The mighty Flying Lizards in a 997 GT3 RSR by 16 points. Poetic justice?
Regardless of the outcome, the 2008 season ended with Tafel succumbing to the pressures of economic downturn. Even though they had their most successful season ever, the team could not gain sponsorship for the 2009 season, and were forced to shutter their doors. Team engineer Tony Dowe commented “”It is indicative of the current financial situation globally and in North America that the ability of a team that had such a successful 2008 to attract sponsorship is virtually non-existent”.
Fast forward to 2012 and it seems that little bits of the team have not yet been claimed, or sold into further servitude. A marketplace post on Forums.RennList.com indicates that someone in the Atlanta area still has a few OEM 997 RSR carbon pieces. A pair of hoods (one well-used and one minty), a set of fenders with beautiful carbon detail, and a carbon fiber undertray are all on offer by poster “Leeroy”. Whether you need the parts to repair your own damaged RSR track day or vintage racer, or you simply want to mount a piece of racing history on your garage wall, here is your chance. RSR pieces don’t come up for sale very often, and they are few and far between. You can rest assured that Leeroy wants significantly less for the parts than Porsche Motorsport North America would charge
Source/Photos: Rennslist
