1985 Porsche 911 G-Body · Words: Jacek Dudasz · Images: Sam Owen
Ghost in
the Machine
Zach Hegde's 911 isn't a car. It's a 40-year argument between analogue soul and digital fury. And it's winning.
There's a particular kind of silence that follows the click of a six-point harness. It's the sound of commitment. The world outside the Perspex windows goes mute, replaced by the low hum of a fuel pump and the frantic, metronomic beat of your own heart.
For Zach Hegde, that silence is the start of a conversation — a high-speed, high-stakes dialogue with a machine that shouldn't exist. His car started life as a 1985 Porsche 911. A G-body. The last of the truly mechanical 911s, before computers started whispering suggestions to the driver.
A car that would honour
Porsche's raw heritage
while engineering out its weaknesses.
Ten years ago, Zach Hegde bought this shell from Wayne Seabrook in Sydney. Strong, honest, complete. For Hegde, "good" was just a starting point. He wanted to create a paradox.
What followed was a decade-long obsession — a rolling laboratory shared with PE Racing's Darrell and the wizards at Rennen Motorsport. The goal was simple in theory, maddening in practice.
This is not a restoration.
This is a resurrection.
How a decade-long obsession became a rally weapon
The last truly mechanical 911.
The G-body 911 — built before computers began whispering to drivers. Strong, honest, complete. "Good" was just the starting point. He wanted to create a paradox — a machine that felt classic but fought modern.
A 3.6/3.2-litre hybrid. Air-cooled. Angry.
Fed by JSR individual throttle bodies — a butterfly-less roller barrel design that flows 20 percent better than conventional ITBs. Throttle response so sharp it could cut you. Air flows directly to the injectors with nothing in the way.
Pre-laptop engine. MoTeC M1 ECU. Black art.
Making a 1985 engine talk to a MoTeC M1 ECU through drive-by-wire is a black art. A symphony of custom wiring, late-night phone calls, and the kind of profanity that only engineers truly understand.
Active, thinking suspension. 6ms response.
The TracTive ACE platform isn't passive damping — it's thinking suspension. Full soft to full hard in 6 milliseconds, responding in real-time to G-sensor data. On stage, Hegde can adjust the car's entire personality mid-corner.
A decade of decisions made visible in every bracket, wire and fitting.
Sam Owen / Retromotive V24
"Motorsport isn't about being fearless. It's about feeling the fear and doing it anyway."
Zach HegdeProof is on the stage.
Not in the workshop.
Adelaide Hills, Rally Queensland, the ARC — and what it cost
Build & Competition History
The shell arrives from Sydney
Hegde buys a strong, honest G-body 911 from Wayne Seabrook. The decade begins.
The rolling laboratory
PE Racing and Rennen Motorsport graft a modern motorsport nervous system onto a 1980s chassis. Countless wiring diagrams. Countless failures.
First stage start — the marshal steps back
Launch control fires the car at the horizon. The marshal takes an involuntary step backward. They knew they'd built something special.
Adelaide Hills Heat 1 — Victory
The classic chassis beats modern machinery. Integration of old and new — a genuine competitive advantage.
Rally Queensland — Classic Cup Champion
Hegde and co-driver Caleb Ash take the Classic Cup. The paradox becomes a champion.
Adelaide Hills, 2024. Heat 1 victory.
Sam Owen / Retromotive V24That philosophy was put to the ultimate test at a recent rally. An exhaust failure — a spray of hot fuel — and suddenly the cabin filled with the acrid smell of burning. Fire is the ultimate nightmare for any driver. Primal, visceral fear.
For a moment, it looked like the end. Flames licked at the engine bay, threatening to consume the entire car — a decade of work, of passion, of obsession. But the safety systems held. The fire was extinguished. The car was saved.
The fire didn't end the story.
Find out what happened next.
Read the complete Ghost in the Machine — the fire, the rebuild, and why this 911 is a memory-maker, not a museum piece.
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This isn't nostalgia. It's evolution.
Sam Owen / Retromotive V24