Porsche 959 - Racing

Racing

When Porsche began development of the 959, it looked toward Group B racing as a road-racing laboratory with which to develop technology for production cars. When Group B became focused on rallying events, however, Porsche felt the relevance to production cars was greatly reduced, and the goal of the 959 project shifted to frank state-of-the-art, cost-no-object technological innovation.

In 1984, however, three 911s modified to 959 specifications (due to the requirement that Group B cars be based on production cars with at least 200 built) were used in the Paris-Dakar Rally, with Jacky Ickx the prime motivator. By 1985 the 959 rally variant was ready, but it experienced a disappointing start: all three cars failed to finish. However, in 1986 the 959 finished 1-2. The 959 was never seriously considered for a Group B Rally season; the cost of completing a full season far outweighed any technical information that would have been gained. The car was produced as a 1/12th scale radio control model from which is now widely collected by fans (see collectors models)

1986 was also the year that the racing variant, the Porsche 961, made its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driven by René Metge partnering Claude Ballot-Léna, it finished first in its class and 7th overall. It returned in 1987 but failed to finish after a spin (missed gear change) while in 11th place by Canadian/Dutch driver Kees Nierop of Vancouver. Upon rejoining the track the car was observed on TV monitors in the Porsche pits to be on fire and the driver was told to stop and get out of the car. Sadly Nierop pulled over between marshal stations and this extra time taken to get to the car by the marshals allowed the fire to consume most of the rearend and writing the car off for further racing. Thus ended the career of the 961.