Tag Archives: Joest

Monterey Porsches – Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

On our fourth visit to this years Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion I’ll be looking at some of the Porsches and Porsche powered cars present.

Porsche 1500 Super Continental, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion,

First up the 1955 Porsche 1500 Super Continental owned and driven by Clinton deWitt, US Porsche importer Max Hoffman had the 1500 Continental supersede the 1500 America in 1955 with the less powerful ‘normal’ motors because he thought they would give his customers better low engine speed performance than the more powerful “Super” motors, the inverse of what a race car needs. The Continental name did not last long because objections from Ford who used the Continental name at that time for a stand alone brand.

Porsche 550A, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion,

Porsche 550’s have a long tradition of being raced on the East and West coast of North America the 1955 34 F Modified 550 A belongs to Tom Tarbue a regular visitor to the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

Denzel Roadster, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion,

Strictly speaking the 1958 Denzel 1300 Roadster owned and driven to Terry Sullivan does not belong in this blog since Wolfgang Denzel came up with his Roadster completely independently of Porsche and like Porsche developed his own range of performance parts for use in motors sourced from contemporary Volkswagen Beetles, but I included it just for the benefit of disambiguation.

PAM Platypus Porsche, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion,

Scooter Patrick, Hans Adam, and Don Mitchell are credited with building the Porsche powered 1964 PAM Platypus out of P.A.M. Foreign Cars of Hermosa Beach, California for NO FEAR pilot Miles Gupton who raced the car with a number of different Porsche motors finishing 1964 as runner-up West Coast Champion, second only to Frank Monise’s Lotus 23B. The car was latter fitted an Oldsmobile V8 but as since been restored with a 2 litre Porsche 901 motor and is currently run by owner driver Arthur Conner.

Porsche 935J, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion,

From 1977 the story of the Porsche 935 became increasingly confusing with the works offering 10 ’76 935 spec customer cars known as 935/77A’s while proceeding with their own development plan on the works 935/77 that featured improved aerodynamics that necessitated a more inclined second rear screen which covered the mandated original. The works 935/77 also adopted a twin turbo motor to stay ahead of the expected competition from a turbocharged BMW CSL. Meanwhile the Kremer brothers had been developing it’s own K series of 935’s which were the class of the field at Le Mans in 1979 when a K3 took overall honours, to keep up Joest Racing, better known these days for their exploits at Le Mans with Audi, developed there own version of the 935 known as the 935J above is the 935 J 000 00012 one of two cars that appeared in 1980 for the Momo sponsored Electrodyne racing. This car, now owned by William Chip E Connor, only recorded the one race win at Daytona in July 1981 when Mauricio de Narvaez and Hurley Haywood drove the now DeNarvaez entered car to victory lane in the Paul Revere 250 at Daytona.

Porsche 962C, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion,

Finally we have the 962C chassis #962-170 being offered for sale by Canepa said to be an unraced spare, one of the last four 962’s built in 1991. While I do not doubt it was never raced I wonder if as well as being sent to Team Trust in Japan sans engine it was also sent sans factory body work since to the best of my knowledge no factory supplied 962 was ever supplied with a central pillar mounted rear wing or a nose with single head lamps on either side, where as the likes of Britten Lloyd Racing, from whom Trust also bought a 962 chassis, Kremer and Joest all built a variety of body variants for the 962 with unusual headlight arrangements and centrally mounted rear wings.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton and Karl Krause for organising and taking today’s photographs respectively.

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

Share

Musical Spares – Porsche 962C #006

The Porsche 962 was built in two specs, the original was the 1984 IMSA GTP spec which was a variation of the dominant Group C Porsche 956 sports car first seen in 1982. The 962 differed in two important aspects from it’s Group C cousin. First the 962 had a longer wheel base so that the drivers feet were behind the center line of the front axle and second IMSA mandated a single turbo while the Group C 956 ran more powerful twin turbo’s.

Porsche 962C, Le Mans, France

For 1986 the FIA mandated that Group C cars should follow the lead set by IMSA and have the drivers feet behind the the center line of the front axle line while making no changes to the engine regulations so the more powerful Porsche 962C came into being sweeping all before it much as the 956 and 956B had done. Derek Bell became the first driver to successfully defend his World Sports Car Drivers Championship won driving a 956B in ’85 and 962C in ’86. In 1986 Derek also won the Le Mans 24 hours for the forth time sharing his 962C with Hans Joachim Stuck and Al Holbert, Derek was also awarded the MBE for services to motorsport, a Royal honour which even Porsche AG noted on the door of Dereks #17 car as seen above at Le Mans in 1987.

Porsche 962C, Le Mans, France

Going into Le Mans 1987 Derek Bell and Al Holbert were on a roll of three consecutive 24 hour race wins going back to Daytona ’86 where they shared an IMSA GTP 962 with Al Unser Jr. As mentioned above Bell and Holbert followed that up at Le Mans winning with Hans Stuck and made it a three peat of 24 hour victories at Daytona sharing Holberts Löwenbrau Porsche 962 with Unser Jr and Chip Robinson. Only a complete idiot would have bet against Bell, Stuck and Holbert claiming victory at Le Mans in 1987. The #17 chassis #006 seen in the rain above qualified 2nd on the grid by Hans Stuck next to the #18 chassis #008 which Bob Wollek qualified on pole.

Derek Bell, Hans Joachim Stuck, Le Mans, France

But the fourpeat of consecutive 24 hour victories very nearly did not happen, things started to go wrong for the works Porsche team a week before the race when Hans Stuck tested all the Le Mans cars at Porsche’s Weisach test facility. Stuck experienced a puncture while driving the car designated for his team mates Jochen Mass and Brilliant Bob Wollek. As a consequence Mass and Wollek were given the car designated as the race car for Stuck, Bell and Holbert chassis #008 while the ’86 winning trio took over the car designated for Vern Schuppan, Kees Nierop and Price Cobb chassis #006, today’s featured car, and the Schuppan, Nierop, Cobb combination were given the older chassis #002 which had been designated as a spare. Bell and Stuck are seen above returning from the new chicane an hour before the start of the race.

Porsche 962C, Le Mans, France

The next problem for the Porsche team occurred in practice when Price Cobb had an accident which wrote chassis #002 off during the first day of practice so that there were now only two works entered cars to challenge for the win, but as designer Norbert Singer observed ‘only one of them can win’. Schuppan, Nierop and Cobb all found rides in other cars.

Porsche 962C, Le Mans, France

An hour into the 1987 race it looked as if Jaguar who were at least 3 seconds slower than the lead Porsche in practice might pull off a remarkable win as they held first third and fifth. The Porsche cars were falling like a chain of domino’s with engine failures, something in the fuel was causing the latest in Bosch (ECU) electronic management systems to run the Porsche engines much too lean which resulted in engine failures for the pole sitting works car; 2 Joest Porsche 962C’s and a Kremer 962C.

Porsche 962C, Le Mans, France

Fortunately the #17 had managed to get into the pits to change to an older ECU before any permanent damage was done and 2nd placed Bell, Stuck and Holbert proceeded to pursue the lead Jaguar at break neck speed until midnight when it took the lead for the final time as the four 7 litre / 427 cui V12 Jaguar XJR 8LM’s started to fall by the wayside with a puncture, an accident, a cracked cylinder head and a missed gear change respectively.

Porsche 962C, Le Mans, France

The punctured #5 Jaguar driven by Win Percy had required an 80 minuet safety car period to clear up the debris in the dead of night as the Jaguar had been pitched at 200 mph into the barriers of the Mulasanne straight ripping off the gearbox and engine, Win Percy unlike his helmet was completely unscratched. The relentless pace at which the #17 Porsche had been chasing the Jaguars meant that Bell, Stuck and Holbert were way over their fuel allowance as the safety car period started but right back on schedule once the mess created by the Jaguar had been cleaned up.

By the end of the race Bell, Stuck and Holbert were 20 laps to the good; from the private Primagaz Competition 962C of Juergen Lässig, Pierre Yver and Bernard de Dryver; as they recorded their fifth, second and third Le Mans wins respectively, their second consecutively as a winning Le Mans trio and Bell and Holberts 4th consecutive 24 Hour race win. Porsche also recorded their seventh consecutive Le Mans win in 1987.

The following year things would not be so easy as Jaguar, who won the 1987 World Sports Car Championship and who’s driver Raul Bosel won the 1987 World Sports Car Drivers Championship took the fight even more convincingly to Porsche at Le Mans.

Chassis #006 was driven at Spa in 1986 by Jochen Mass and Bob Wollek on it’s debut where it was qualified third and finished 7th it’s only other race start was at Fuji where Holbert and Pescarolo started from 12th and retired with transmission problems. Prior to the Le Mans 24 hours #006 had primarily been used as a spare car at Jarama, Jerez, Monza and Silverstone in 1987. #006 was driven by Bob Wollek and Canadian Kees Nierop for the ’87 Le Mans test weekend where carrying the #17 it recorded the 2nd fastest time. After the 24 hour win in ’87 #006 returned to Le Mans in 1988 as a spare that was briefly used by Micheal Andretti in practice before it was retired for good.

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

Share

Comeback Kid – Porsche 936 #001

The Porsche 936 was the successor to the 908 and 917 models, it was used to win the World Sports Car Championsip in 1976. Three chassis based on many parts from the Porsche 917 parts bin were made.

All three chassis won the Le Mans 24 hour race; chassis #002 in 1976, #001 in 1977, both with a 540 hp 2140 cc / 130 cui turbocharged flat 6 motors and #003 in 1981 with a 600 hp 2649 cc / 161 cui turbocharged flat 6, a design that had started out as the alcohol burning engine used by Danny Ongias in the unraced Interscope Parnelli Indy Car. Remarkably Jacky Ickx co drove each of these 936’s to Victory Lane at Le Mans.

Porsche 936, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

This car represents chassis #001 which was slated to be driven by Juergen Barth and Le Mans rookie Hurley Haywood in the 1977 Le Mans 24 hours, a fuel pump replacement in the 3rd hour dropped #001 down to 42nd place. Around this time Henri Pescarolo’s engine had expired in the sister #002 chassis and Pescarolo’s team mate, Jacky Ickx, was drafted in to join Barth and Haywood.

By his own admission Jacky drove the race of his life through the night and after 19 hours the #001 was in the lead of the race, the three works Renault Alpines dropped out while dominating the race in the Porsche’s absence with engine failures. With 45 mins to go the engine in #001 developed a second misfire, the mechanics shut down the problematic cylinder by taking out the spark plug and blanking the fuel injector.

Porsche 936, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

Ten mins before the end of the race Juergen Barth was then sent out with a stop watch taped to the steering wheel and instructed to complete the last two laps, within the necessary percentage of each other, to seal an unlikely victory by 11 laps over the Renault powered Mirage GR8 of Vern Schuppan and Jean Pierre Jarrier.

During the race a wheel balance weight tore off the right front wheel ripped through the wheel arch, and both stalk mounted mirrors were lost. The large air box was primarily used to cool the turbocharged air running through the intercoolers.

Porsche 936, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

The following year Bob Wollek joined Juergen Barth in #001 and when the sister #003 car retired after an accident Jacky Ickx joined Bob and Juergen too however this time they could only finish 2nd to the Alpine Renault of Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud.

#001’s next two appearances were at the Silverstone 6 hours and Le Mans 24 hours in 1979 it qualified on pole for both of these events, but was classified 10th at Silverstone after an accident which caused Jochen Mass and Brian Redmans retirement from the lead at Silverstone. Bob Wollek and Hurley Haywood retired with engine failure at Le Mans in 1981 as has Jurgen Barth and Reinhold Joest driving #001 at Le Mans in 1976. The cars final appearance as a works car was at the 1981 Le Mans 24 hours where despite starting from 2nd on the grid Jochen Mass, Vern Schuppan and Hurley Haywood could only finish 12th.

Porsche 936, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

The following linked films document the 1977 Le Mans race; the first shows fabulous in car footage of a lap of Le Mans the second show’s the start and continues into the evening and the third the finish, I afraid most of the commentary is in German except a couple of interviews with Jacky Ickx and Hurley Haywood.

Thanks for joining me on this “Comeback Kid” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for the 1000th edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share

F.A.Turbo Express – Joest Porsche 962 C #962-011

Following on from yesterdays Lancia LC2 blog today I am looking at a FATurbo Express sponsored Porsche 962 C that used to be run in Group C races by the Joest Team in the second of a series of three blogs on Group C cars.

Joest Porsche 962 C - Goodwood FoS

The Porsche 962 was born out of the Porsche 956 programme in 1985, the principle difference between the two models is that the drivers feet are behind the front axle line in the 962 which affords the driver better protection in the event of a frontal accident.

Joest Porsche 962 C - Goodwood FoS

The 962 was built to compete with twin turbo motors in the World Prototype Sportscar Championship and with single turbo motors in the IMSA GTP series. 962’s are known to have won 82 races of at least 250 races that they competed in. Although the Porsche factory raced the 962 it increasingly left it’s customers to represent the marque from 1987 on, apart from the riveting 1988 Le Mans 24 hour race.

Joest Porsche 962 C - Goodwood FoS

Former Porsche driver Reinhold Joest’s team continued to receive support from the Porsche factory at Le Mans in 1989 and 1990. Indeed to emphasise the level of backing Joest received from Porsche the last 6, of 16, works built Porsche 962 chassis all went to the Joest Team.

Joest Porsche 962 C - Goodwood FoS

This chassis is thought to be #962-011 the last of the 956/962 series to win a World Prototype Sports Car championship event at Dijon, France driven by Bob Wollek and Frank Jelinski in May 1989. Chassis #962-011 is thought to have won at least 8 other races the last of which was an open formula Interserie event at Zeltweg, Austria in the hands of Manuel Reuter in October 1993.

Joest Porsche 962 C - Goodwood FoS

The #962-011 chassis raced with FAT International colours, thought to be a european logisitics company, in the 1993 Daytona 24 hours with Chip Robinson (USA)/Hurley Haywood (USA)/Henri Pescarolo (F)/Danny Sullivan (USA) listed as drivers but running with the #6. At it’s next race the Sebring 12 Hours the car appeared as a back up car for ‘John Winter’ and Manuel Reuter carrying the #7 T.

Joest Porsche 962 C - Goodwood FoS

This car is not carrying standard Porsche 962 bodywork, as Jaguar and later Mercedes became increasingly competitive in Group C events Porsche customers undertook their own aerodynamic development programme’s to stay competitive.

Joest Porsche 962 C - Goodwood FoS

Joest Racing won the Le Mans 24 hours twice with private Porsche 956 entries in 1984 and 1985 and then twice again with Porsche powered TWR chassis in 1996 and 1997. Today Joest is known as a crack Audi team having clocked up 5 wins at Le Mans running the Audi R8 (3 wins), R10TDI, and this year the R18TDI.

This car has taken part in the Group C race at the Silverstone Classic before, I have not seen an entry list for this years event, but I am hoping Paragon who run the car will be able to bring it along again this year.

My thanks to Thundersport and Porsche expert Mike at The Nostalgia Forum who confirmed the chassis number.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s FAT Turbo Express edition of ‘Gettin’ a little psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow for a look under the skin of a Japanese Group C car built in England. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share