Tag Archives: Porsche

Lightweight Evolution – Porsche 911 SC RS

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At the around the time that Porsche were building the three all wheel drive Porsche 953 cars for their successful debut Paris Dakar campaign in 1984, they also built a series of 20 2 wheel drive evolutions of the Porsche 911 SC known as the 911 SC RS or 954 models for customers to compete in the Group B class for highly evolved / modified versions of production cars of which at least 200 examples had been built.

These 20 evolution SC RS models featured modifications including extensive use of light weight aluminium panels that replaced steel items for the hood / bonnet, doors, fender / wings, and boot / trunk lid. Additionally the SC RS models were fitted with aluminium safety cages Porsche 911 Turbo brakes, with new castings for the rear calipers required to work with the coil over suspension that was tethered at the rear so that the rear suspension did not drop beyond a prescribed limit when the rear wheels left the ground.

Porsche 911 SC RS, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Porsche sold the 911 SC RS evolutions to customers at over double the price of a standard 911 SC with motors that produced 250 hp in touring trim and over 270 hp when fitted with a competition exhaust. These cars were considered the heirs to the by now legendary 911 RS and 911 RSR models of the early mid 1970’s.

After winning the 1981 World Rally Championship as co driver to Ari Vatanen in a Rothmans sponsored Ford Escort RS1800 Dave Richards hung up his helmet and did a deal with Rothmans for his new venture Prodrive to prepare and run works Porsche 911 SC RS’s, officially registered Porsche’s UK importer in Reading, for Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar and British co driver John Spiller to compete in the 1984 and 1985 Middle East Rally Championships (MERC) which the pair won two years running with 18 overall victories.

Porsche 911 SC RS, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Alongside the MERC programme Prodrive entered selected events in both the World Rally Championship, in which Al-Hajri became the first Arab to score points and European Rally Championship. Amongst other Prodrive 911 SC drivers Finn Henri Toivonen won five European Championship events and but for a back injury, which nearly ended his career, might have become 1984 European champion.

Other drivers who rallied 911 SC’s included; Frenchman Bernard Béguin, Brit Roger Clark, Irishman Billy Coleman and Belgians Robert Droogmans and 1984 Belgian Rally Champion Patrick Snijers.

Porsche 911 SC RS, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Porsche and Prodrive went their separate ways in 1986. Porsche was busy preparing their Group B 959 Rally Raid and 961 racing models, while Prodrive forged new relationships with MG and BMW before linking up with Subaru in 1990 with whom they became synonymous through the 1990’s thanks to a successful world championship rally programme. Today Prodrive is best known for it’s links with the Aston Martin racing programme, David Richards being Chairman of both companies which are not structurally financially interdependent.

Readers interested in restorations might find the link to this blog on the restoration of another ex Prodrive Porsche 911 SC RS of interest, the price quoted for the new aluminium fenders / wings alone makes a visit a must.

Thanks for joining me on this Lightweight Evolution edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I’ll be looking at Porsche’s, indeed the worlds only, dedicated endurance racing Group B programme. Don’t forget to come back now !

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For Those Who Go – Porsche 953

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In 1977 Terry Sabine got lost on his motor bike in the Lybian desert while taking part in the Abidjan-Nice Rally. Upon his return he promised to share his fascination with the desert with as many people as possible by creating “A challenge for those who go. A dream for those who stay behind” which took the form of the Paris Dakar (PD) a 10,000 mile mostly off road rally raid event.

Porsche 953, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Paris Dakar is run for motor cycles, 4 wheel vehicles up to 3,500 kgs / 7,716 lbs vehicles over 3500 kgs / 7,716 lbs with numerous sub divisions within the three basic classes. All service vehicles must be entered as competitors.

Porsche 953, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The first event was run in 1979 with the four wheel class won by Alain Génestier and Joseph Terbiaut driving a Range Rover, other winning vehicles up to 1984 included an Volkswagen Iltis, Renault 20 and Mercedes 280 G by multiple Grand Prix and Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx and Claude Brasseur in 1983, all of them were all wheel drive vehicles.

Porsche 953, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In 1983 Porsche built 3 cars for the 1984 event based on the 911 SC RS, a type I shall look at tomorrow, with 3 litre / 183 cui motors producing up to 300 hp, but featuring mechanical all wheel drive and over 12 inches of suspension travel to cope with the sand dunes in the Sahara desert. These three cars are known as 953’s but at the time were also variously referred to as 911’s, 911 SC RS 4×4’s or any combination there of.

Porsche 953, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Rene Metge and Dominique Lemoyne driving the #176 won the event at Porsche’s first attempt, Ickx and Brasseur came home 6th in the #175 while Roland Kussmaul and Erich Lerner finished 26th meaning all three cars survived the challenge.

Porsche 953, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In 1987 the #175 and #177 cars were repainted green for the Folténe team led by former Grand Prix driver Jacques Laffite who shared the ex #175 Ickx car with Pierre Landereau which appears to have retired from the event at the earliest opportunity once a minimum of sponsor obligations was met, while the other car driven by Jacques brother in law Jean Pierre Jabouille and G.Levent retired after hitting a bolder.

Toady’s featured car, seen at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is owned by the Porsche Museum, it carries an odd combination #176 with the names of Ickx and Brasseur on the roof and I have been unable to determine exactly which of the three 953’s this is.

It is possible today’s featured car might be the car Laffite drove in 1987 and Ickx drove in 1984, but it would appear more likely to be the repaired Jabouille car from 1987 that Kussmaul and Lerner drove in ’84, if you know please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Porsche went on to develop all wheel drive on its 959 and 961 twin turbo competition models, Metge and Lemoyne won the 1986 PD with the 959. The all wheel drive system was then used in the Carrera 4 road model range.

Event founder Terry Sabine was killed with 4 others in the 1986 PD when his helicopter crashed into a sand dune during an unexpected sand storm.

The PD became the Dakar in 2009 and relocated to Argentina after political tensions led to the abandonment of the event in 2008.

Thanks for joining me on this “For Those Who Go” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at another Porsche 911 variant. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Striped One – Porsche 911 SC Safari

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In 1978 the Martini sponsored works Porsche team produced two variants of the 911 to take outright victories in events which the model had not won, the first was the 750hp Porsche 935 78 known as Moby Dick which was designed to win the Le Mans 24 hours, it finished fourth, and the second was the 300hp Porsche 911 SC Safari, featured today, which was designed to win the Safari Rally in Kenya. The 911 SC Safari that stands nearly one foot off the ground is without question one of my favourite rally cars, it’s the one car in which James Bond’s Martini is guaranteed to arrive well shaken but not stirred.

Porsche 911 SC Safari, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

As we saw on Saturday by 1970 the 911 had proved itself in the snowy conditions of Sweden and the tarmac conditions of a dry Monte Carlo rally with Bjorn Waldegård at the wheel, it’s smaller 912 sibling had won the European Rally Championship with Sobiesław Zasada at the wheel, the only thing missing from the 911’s curriculum vitae was a win a respected ‘loose surface’ rally like the Safari Rally. This absence was not for lack of trying a 911 covered in ‘kanga’roo bars was driven by Sobiesław Zasada in the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon and sensationally worked it’s way up from 13th to 4th position on the final Australian leg of the 7000 mile rally.

Porsche 911 SC Safari, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

In 1971 Waldegård driving a works 911 looked set for a win on the East African Safari Rally until he was blinded by dust from his team mate Zasada while trying to over take him on the road and ended up crashing out while Zsada survived to finish 5th. In 1974 Bjorn came home second in the East African Safari driving a 911 RS and it was not until 1978 that Porsche returned to East Africa with a two car team that included today’s featured #14 car driven by Vic Preston Jnr. Team mate Waldegård, who won the 1977 edition of the Safari driving a Ford, returned to Zuffenhasen to drive the similar #5 911 SC.

Porsche 911 SC Safari, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The roads used on the Safari in 1978 were mostly graded tracks, tarmac is rarely used because the population is sparsely distributed and the intense daily short bursts of rain in the rainy season would likely as not wash tarmac away in abrasive currents of subsequent surface water drainage. The ’78 Safari was run in wet conditions but the competition between the Porsche, Datsun now Nissan, and Peugeot teams remained close. Waldegård and H Thorszelius led the first leg but then a rock damaged the suspension and they could only recover a 4th place finish.

Porsche 911 SC Safari, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Vic Preston Jnr and J Lyall finished second in today’s featured car behind the Peugeot 504 V6 of Jean Pierre Nicolas and Jean Todt J-C Lefebvre. The winners finished the timed sections with the fastest times overall only to crash in to an unexpectedly U turning vehicle on the untimed road section back to the ceremonial finish line in Niarobi. The Peugeot was badly damaged but the occupants unharmed. After repairs Nicolas managed to drive to the finish with a holed radiator.

Porsche 911 SC Safari, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Ironically Jean Pierre Nicholas with Vincent Laverne win in the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally driving a superceded Porsche 911 Carrera RSR meant that Porsche maintained their lead in the World Rally Championship. By the seasons end a privately entered Porsche in San Remo had scored one additional podium finish for the Zuffenhausen marque in the World Rally Championship as the works team involvement was aimed solely at winning the prestigious Safari. The 4th place final championship placing was edged by 1978 champions FIAT, Ford, for whom Bjorn also drove in 1978 and Opel, each of these teams had elected pass on the extreme endurance test of the Safari in Kenya.

Porsche 911 SC Safari, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The 1978 Safari was the last World Championship Rally the works team entered although some years later the Porsche name would return with Prodrive prepared cars. With no prospect of rallying regulations turning to favor a Porsche entry it would appear the marque which has dominated so many other area’s of the sport is destined to never win the Safari Rally. In 2011 Waldegård driving a 1972 Porsche 911 2.4 prepared by Francis Tuthill did win the classic version of the Safari Rally, a small consolation for the man and the marque.

The following season Martini shifted the main focus of it’s motorsports sponsorship to the Lotus formula one team.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Striped One” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some Formula One Automobillia. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Seriously Flared One – Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0

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Having won the 1970 and 1971 Le Mans 24 Hours and sports car championships with the short lived Porsche 917, Porsche had no suitable motor with which to compete in the top tear of sports car racing which mandated maximum displacement 3 litre / 183 cui motors, of which those designed for and adapted from Formula One dominated the overall honours from 1972 until 1975.

Porsche 911 RSR, Tour Britannia, Castle Combe

To meet the demand from customers running in the GT class Porsche embarked upon a programme of building RSR race cars based on the 911 shell for GT competition in 1973. Initially these cars came with a ‘duck tail’ and motors up to 2.8 litres to 178 cui. Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood scored back to back overall victories at the Daytona 24 hours with this type of car in 1973 and 1975, and were joined by Dave Helmick in 1973 to win the Sebring 12 hours. Perhaps the single most famous victory for any RSR came on the epic Targa Florio where Herbert Müller and Gijs van Lennep won beating the 3 litre / 183 cui protoypes in the process.

Porsche 911 RSR, Tour Britannia, Castle Combe

By the end of 1973 the first RSR’s with 330hp 3 litre / 183 cui motors, coil springs replacing torsion bars, flared wheel arches housing wheels with centre locking nuts and ‘whale tales’ came onto the scene most notably in the first International Race of Champions (IROC) series. The first IROC series ran in the winter of ’73 and ’74 at Riverside and Daytona for which 12 identical Carrera 911 RSR 3.0’s, like the one seen in today’s photographs, were prepared for the likes of, Formula One champions; Emerson Fittipaldi and Denny Hulme, Indy 500 winners; Bobby Unser, AJ Foyt, Gordon Johncock and Mark Donohue, Can Am Champions; Peter Revson and George Follmer, NASCAR Champions; David Pearson, Bobby Allison and Richard Petty with USAC Champ Roger McKlusky. Mark Donohue won three of the series four races to become the first IROC Champion.

Porsche 911 RSR, Tour Britannia, Castle Combe

The RSR remained competitive in the Daytona and Sebring endurance classics until 1977. Haywood, John Graves and Helmick drove an RSR to victory at Daytona in ’77, with Al Holbert and Mike Keyser winning the ’76 race at Sebring then George Dyer and Brad Frissell repeating the feat in another RSR in ’77. In Europe Clemens Schickentanz is thought to have made over 75 starts with at least seven outright victories in RSR’s primarily for the Kremer Brothers.

Porsche 911 RSR, Tour Britannia, Castle Combe

In all 60 RSR 3.0’s were built by Porsche and many more 911’s have been upgraded to RSR spec since the models inception. RSR’s were still being raced regularly in front line competition into 1993 when an all new Carrera RSR was introduced with a 3.8 litre / 231 cui motor.

Porsche 911 RSR, Silverstone Classic

I do not have a history for the 1974 Martini liveried car featured today which, in the 2011 dated pictures, are seen at Castle Combe with Jeremy Cook and Mike Dowd who were taking part in the Tour Britannia, the 2012 and 2015 photo’s were taken at Silverstone Classic where Jeremy and Mike competed in the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car races, if you know anything more about this car please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Porsche 911 RSR, Cooke, Dowd, Silverstone Classic

Thanks for joining me on this “The Seriously Flared One” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Monte Hat-trick – Porsche 911S

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From 1968 to 1970 Porsche scored three 1-2 victories on the fabled Monte Carlo Rally. In 1968 Vic Elford and David Stone driving a Porsche 911T won the event ahead of the 911S driven by Pauli Toivonen and M Tiukkanen, the following year Bjorn Waldegård and Lars Helmer driving a 911S finished ahead of the similar car driven by Gerárd Larrousse and JC Perramond. In 1970 the Porsche hat-trick of wins came when Waaldegård and Helmer drove today’s featured car to victory over Larrousse and M Gélin in another 911S.

Porsche, 911, Advertisement

The 1970 Monte Carlo had featured a concentration run to the Principality starting from eight European cities and was run in mild conditions. Porsche, Ford Alpine Renault and Lancia all entered significant works teams expected to challenge for top honours. British press interest in the, once, prestigious event was so low that Motor Sport correspondent GP, Geraint “Gerry” Phillips, opined, in March 1970, that what the Monte Carlo Rally needed to reengage Fleet Street was “… a bunch of hippies to entrench themselves on the Turini (rally stage) and spray the spectators with LSD.” !

Porsche 911S, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Having won on the dry Monte Carlo Waldegård and Lars Helmer proved the versatility of the 911 by winning the Swedish Rally run on snow by 23 mins, after having a clutch replaced that required the engine to be removed in a freezing lay-by.

Porsche 911S, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

The second 911S model introduced in 1969 features a 2 1/4″ longer wheel base than the original, to improve the handling, though there was no increase in the overall length of the car.

Porsche 911S, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

The motor for the 911S was increased in size from 2 litres / 122 cui to 2.3 litres / 134 cui and with fuel injection this competition car produced 230hp, 50 more than the fuel injected road going version of the 911S.

Porsche 911S, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Swede Bjorn Waldergård was a front line rally driver from 1962 to 1992, the World Rally Championship (WRC) started in 1973 and he won 16 of the 95 WRC events in which he started. His wins included the three toughest events on the WRC Circuit, the Safari, Acroplolis and RAC rallies in 1977 when he was driving for Ford. In 1979 Bjorn won the World Rally Drivers Championship driving for the works Ford and Mercedes Benz rally teams. Winning the Safari Rally for the third time in 1990, with Fred Gallagher, driving a Toyota Bjorn became the oldest person to ever win a World Championship Rally a record he holds to this day.

Porsche 911S, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

In his report on the road going Porsche 911S for Motor Sport in February 1970 Dennis ‘DSJ’ Jenkinson observed that a 911 cost twice as much as the 4.2 E-Type Jaguar he bought in 1966, to replace his Porsche 356, and that by 1970 the 911S had risen in price to become half the cost of a Lamborghini Miura, he concluded “It is all a question of keeping a sense of proportion.”

Thanks for joining me on this “Monte Hat-trick” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a slightly more outrageously flared Porsche 911. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Those Who Love Speed – GALPOT Automobilia

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A couple of months ago I had a bit of a clear out whilst reorganising my library and the time has come to dispose of a number of items which may be of interest through my lightpress account on e-bay. Thanks to everyone who has passed links on into the deeper recesses of the car loving world.

Sonauto Kneissl Porsche 911, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

This weeks advertisements taken from the French Magazine Connaissance des arts feature a Porsche 911 and Kneissl Skis in a rare example of cross brand marketing by their French distributor Sonauto of Paris.

Sonauto Kneissl Porsche 911, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

The first ad is undated while the second, cedited to “Creation B R C – Photo Ronzel – Publipress” is dated October 1965 on the reverse the strap lines approximately translate as “Those who love speed adopt Kneissl for the pistes and Porsche for the road”.

Thanks for joining me on this “Those who love speed edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a trip to Morgan Hill just south of San Jose. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Nathan D. Muir – Porsche 912

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From the outset an entry level Porsche based on the 911 model was planed to be fitted with a four cylinder motor to replace the Porsche 356 when production of the older model ceased in April 1965.

Porsche 912, Bristol

The new model was originally known internally as the 902 but after problems with the 901 model designation with Peugeot the new model was always publicly known as the 912, not to be confused with the Porsche project number 912 which referred to the flat 12 racing motors used to power the Porsche 917 racing cars.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Initial ideas for the 4 cylinder motor to be used in the 912 model included building a four cylinder version of the 6 cylinder 911 motor and an enlarged version of the 4 cylinder motor used in the Porsche 356 but eventually it was decided to lower the compression ratio of the original Porsche 356 motor and fit Solex carburettors of the 1582cc / 96.5 cui motor to produce 90hp.

Porsche 912, Bristol

To keep the costs down some of the standard features of the 911 were deleted from the 912, which outsold the 911 until the 912s production facilities were turned over to the Porsche VW 914-6 for the 1970 model year.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Although not as potent as it’s bigger 130 hp sibling the 912s lighter motor meant the smaller engine car had slightly improved handling which proved useful to Polish Porsche privateer Sobiesław Zasada who won the 1967 European Rally championship in his Porsche 912 which included an outright win in the 1967 Polish Rally.

Porsche 912, Bristol

A Porsche 912 was also entered in the 1967 Spa 24 hours for Hans Finke and Jean Sage, it qualified 33rd but failed to finish after an issue with the oil radiator. In 1968 Swiss duo James Bernard Fortmann and Urs-Peter Dietrich could not get with in 10 seconds of the qualifying time set by Finke and Sage at Spa the previous year but still started the ’68 edition of the Spa 24 hours in 51st and managed to bring their 912 home in 25th place.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Fans of Robert Redford may remember him staring in the 2001 thriller Spy Game, in the film Redford’s character Nathan D. Muir drives a Porsche 912, though it appears to be dubbed with a 911 engine sound except in the alternate ending version on DVD. More on how the 912 came to be chosen for filming on this link.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Regular readers may remember that a couple of years ago I featured a Porsche 912 in need of some TLC, I caught up with the car seen above again at the end of last year.

Porsche 912, Bristol

The transformation from junk yard dog to a 912 Carrera looks cool, officially the car is still listed as having it’s original size 1582cc / 96.5 cui motor.

Thanks for joining me on this Nathan D. Muir edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be featuring a couple of 1966 French Porsche advertisements. Don’t forget to come back now !

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