‘Our Visit’ is a new monthly series where we pay visits to Porsche specialists around the country and get to know them and their work on a more personal level.

This month, for the first-ever rendition of the series, we visited our good friends over at Friends Green Porsche, where we met Luke, the founder, and Ollie, the head technician.

Based in Hitchin, near Stevenage, you can visit their website here.

You can also get in contact with Anthony and the trade team by either calling +44 (0) 208 900 0 900 or emailing trade@design911.com.

 

 

What fuelled your Porsche obsession?

Luke: So I guess it all started back when I was a little kid. My old man used to always drive 911 Porsches; I remember being in the back seat of them and it all stemmed from that. 

I started doing cart racing at a very young age. That got us into motorsport, my brother and I. And as soon as I could afford to buy one of these lovely 911s behind us, I bought one. And the rest is history.

Who is Friends Green?

Luke: We are a Porsche specialist and we only do water-cooled cars, we don’t do air-cooled cars – that’s what we’re renowned for; I’d say 90, 95% of what we do is work on 996 and 997s, we’re also starting to see some 991s as they get older. 

We do sales as well as operate a workshop – I started out as just sales seven years ago, and then three years ago this was built, and we’ve now got the internal in-house workshop. 

We’ve got two technicians at the moment. We’re about to take on another one. So we’ll have three Porsche technicians – we work on other people’s cars as well as our own. 

[This building] is still under construction at the moment, but it’s going to be our showroom.

So all sales cars in this building here, I’ve obviously brought out the ones that are most colourful and eye-catching. We sell loads and loads of these [Porsche 996 Carrera 4Ss] and we do lots of work on them.

The only 991 we’ve got in at the moment is this particular car in guards red. 

Every 996, 997 that we get in we have to spend two or three days prepping. 

Obviously, we get the parts from you guys, as you know, and we’ll go into that later. 

 

 

How long have you been using Design911?

Luke: So the Friends Green Porsche Design911 relationship goes back, well, right back to when we started the business.

So seven, eight years ago in 2015, I started off using you guys before I had the workshop, actually, and I was using a third-party workshop.

They were charging more for parts than what I could get from you guys. And then, of course, we’ve got the workshop and we’re getting more and more parts from you guys – the service is always very good.

 

Why do you use Design911?

Luke: The reason why we get bits from Design911 is you sell a lot of parts that are from manufacturers that are used on Porsches from factory.

So, yeah, we like to get bits from you guys that are OEM original equipment because we know it’s a good quality park, and we know it’s going to fit right and our customers know it’s going to be a good quality part.

If we were to buy a lesser quality part, because there are some lesser quality aftermarket bits out there, one, it makes Ollie’s and the guys in the workshop job harder because bits don’t fit very nicely, the tolerances can be wrong and you have to manipulate bits to get them to fit in the car. So that costs us time in the workshop and therefore money. And also, again, like I said, a customer knows they’re getting a good quality product.

 

 

So secondly, an important one when you’re in business, Design911 will never be beaten on price. So it saves us money and makes us more profitable. That’s an incredibly important point and one of the key reasons why we’ve continued to use the 911 for all these years.

Thirdly, the customer service. I predominantly deal with Tony. He is the trade manager at Design911 – we get a very personal service. And also, as much as it pains me to say it, and he’ll be reminding me of this after this video, he does go above and beyond.

I’ll call him up at 04:30 am flapping that this car has gone wrong and needs a component and the customer is picking up the next day and they’ll still get it out, usually on a pre-twelve for the next day. So you can’t get fairer than that.

 

What kind of work do you do with these Porsches?

Luke: If I give you, for example, this 996 Carrera, it’s very common that they come in requiring suspension arms, all from you guys. 

We use CTE bits and pieces on the suspension exhaust, backboxes air conditioning, condensers, and all the common bits and pieces.

So we do get a lot of repeat customers and then some customers are just new customers that come to us needing work doing.

So this car is a car we sold several years ago, well, I think it’s about five years ago now – it’s come back in. 

He’s done some modifications since he lowered the suspension. He lives a fair way away, but, he had it transported to us. It’s come down with he’s had a brake pipe burst, which we’ll take a look at.

 

Could we meet the rest of the team?

Luke: So in this part of the building is where we prep the sales cars.

But we do a thorough detailing to all our sales cars and to customers’ cars if they want it as well. So that’s what goes on in here. 

We store them when they’re all polished up and looking lovely and shiny. But let’s go through to the workshop and see where the magic happens.

Right, here we are in the workshop. So this is, like I say, where the magic happens. 

I think the best thing to do is introduce you to Ollie, who’s our head technician here at Friends Green Porsche and he can kind of talk you through what goes on in here, what we do.

Ollie: So I’m Ollie, I’m the head technician here at Friends Green Porsche. I’ve been here for about two and a half years now and I carry out the majority of the work here.

 

What do you do here at Friends Green?

Ollie: Here we do the majority of stuff on the cars. From simple stuff to servicing, to full suspension rebuilds, to removing engines, changing engines and coolant pipes. 

There’s quite a lot we go into with these cars. They tend to need quite a lot of work, so the cars tend to need about one to two, even three to four days sometimes spent on them.

This specific [Cayman S], for example, has had a complete suspension overhaul. 

What parts are you using for this car right now?

Ollie: We’ve got the Bilstein B16 coilovers on here, new brakes, all new arms all over the car, which we get from Design911.

 

 

So this car is at as much as brake discs, as you know, Design911 supply these good ridge braided brake lines as well. 

We’ve also had a Limited slip differential fitted to this car, so we go quite in-depth with the upgrades when they’re needed.

All the parts [from Design911], are very easy [to use] straight bolt-on parts – we never have any issues and they’re all really good quality. 

So as well as like for like replacement parts such as this Bilstein PASM damper we’ve got here, which will be going on a 997 Carrera S.

What other parts do you use from Design911?

Luke: Design911 also offers upgraded parts. We’ve got a lot of upgraded parts from Design911. 

So, for example, this car behind us that Ollie’s nearly completed in the workshop, has had a few of these bits. 

That’s an RSS semisolid engine mount, so this car behind us, that Cayman S has had those, these will be going on a nine nine six Carrera four S.

 

 

The car behind us has had this Limited slip differential again from you guys, of course. 

And lastly, for the same car that these mounts are going on, we’ve got this KWW Three Coilover set up which will be going on the car next week – it’s a very nice high-quality product and fully adjustable. We’ve got a full set there. They’ll be going on – like I said – a 996 Carrera and Ollie’s already shown you Bilstein B16, so you’ve got a variety of upgraded parts you can use, it’s not just one manufacturer or one set of components.

 

Final Say

Luke: If you want like for like components or upgrades, Design911 is the place to go. 

A big thanks to design and eleven for coming down, it’s always really good to see you guys. 

Thanks for supplying us with all these good quality parts and your general service – we look forward to doing more business in the future. 

If you want to check us out, it’s www.friendsgreenporsche.com or we’ve got socials at Friends Green Porsche on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

 

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Special thanks to Friends Green Porsche, Luke and Ollie for allowing this interview to happen.