Porsche Racing History Question

[Argeo]

I have never been much of a race fan until Monday, when everything changed. I spent a few hours watching Vintage Racing at LimeRock. Anyways, when Porsche finally showed up in a race in the form of 356's, they didn't seem to do to well. The 356's all ended up clumped together in the middle of the pack. I am not even sure what they were racing against but I guess it goes by displacement and years for this type of racing. Ferrari's and Aston Martins were in different races. I had to leave before the 911's went.

What am I missing here? Was it not until the 911 that Porsche could play with the big boys, or were they only competitive in the weaker classes.

I always hear about these all Porsche only races but I wonder why they matter if they are not racing the competition.

What am I missing here? I know it was only one race but did Porsche ever compete with the best of the best excluding non street looking cars.

Thanks,

David

[legion]

Porsche 550.

[Argeo]

One car? What years? Did it race in the top tiers and win?

Thanks,

David

[jyl]

Quickie history, someone who knows more will amplify and correct.

For the early decades, 356 and 550 Porsches were little giant-killers. Down on power, up on handling. Didn't get overall wins that often against more powerful cars, but got lots of class wins.

Come the 911, Porsche began challenging for overall wins. By the early 1970s the 911 sprouted wide flares and tail and was taking overall wins often, in sports car road racing as well as rally racing. By the mid-1970s, the turbo 911s especially in 935 form were the one to beat. 935s won almost everything for production-based cars, even reached up and won LeMans.

Alongside the production-based cars, Porsche had many purpose-built racers. 904, 906, 908, 917, 936, 956, etc. From the 917 on, they dominated practically all racing except open-wheel, won LeMans over and over, crushed the Can-Am, etc. This was in the 1970s and especially the 1980s. (Okay, not dirt track or stock cars - I mean proper road racing.)

Porsche has never been successful at open-wheel racing, e.g. Indy and Formula 1.

In 1998 (?) Porsche won its last LeMans, pretty much dropped factory racing, and since then has been competng only in the lower sports car classes (GT) where privateer teams with 911 variants continue to dominate - admittedly they make up most of the field.

This year, 2005, Porsche is returning to the upper classes with a LMP2 car, to debut in October. No word on whether they intend to race at Le Mans or to build a car for the top class (LMP1 in the ALMS series), but here's hoping.

The marque has the most illustrious racing history of all the car makes, save perhaps Ferrari. A history that does need some current chapters added.

[Argeo]

Perfect. Thanks JYL.

[Racerbvd]

Originally posted by Argeo
I have never been much of a race fan until Monday, when everything changed. I spent a few hours watching Vintage Racing at LimeRock. Anyways, when Porsche finally showed up in a race in the form of 356's, they didn't seem to do to well. The 356's all ended up clumped together in the middle of the pack. I am not even sure what they were racing against but I guess it goes by displacement and years for this type of racing. Ferrari's and Aston Martins were in different races. I had to leave before the 911's went.

What am I missing here? Was it not until the 911 that Porsche could play with the big boys, or were they only competitive in the weaker classes.

I always hear about these all Porsche only races but I wonder why they matter if they are not racing the competition.

What am I missing here? I know it was only one race but did Porsche ever compete with the best of the best excluding non street looking cars.

Thanks,

David

Boy, you really don't have any idea do you?? The is a reason the the 550 Spyder was called the Little Giant Killer , they had smaller engines, that is why they were in the weaker classes, but constantly beating cars in the higher classes. Porsche did run against the big boys in cars like the 917, 934/935, 956s & 962, and we shouldn't leave out the GT1s. The real problem is that the Porsches were too good and won to many races, so many rules where made against Porsche racing cars. I was at the 24 Hours of Daytona when Porsche pulled out, as the sanctioning body kept adding weight and restrictions so Ferrari (Fiat) could win. It didn't matter that the smaller turbos and extra weight slowed down the Porsches enough that the Fiats were faster, but with the Porsche reliability they made then restricted them even more, the dat of the race, Porsche said FU and walked.

[Argeo]

If I had a clue about racing, why would I ask?

Thanks for everything after though.

I really had never heard the "Little Giant Killer" thing before.

David

[Racerbvd]

Originally posted by Argeo
If I had a clue about racing, why would I ask?

Thanks for everything after though.

I really had never heard the "Little Giant Killer" thing before.

David

Sorry about that David, I just assumed (= mother of all F-ups) that most people knew about RSRs and 962s. My mother raced a 356 Speedster when it was new, even ran SCCA events in Sebring Another cool fact, the very first IROC cars were 74 Porsche RSRs

[jyl]

Argeo, if you're interested in the 911's history including racing, get "The Porsche 911 story" by Paul Frere. A great read, every 911 owner should have it. As well as rent "LeMans" wih Steve McQueen (long movie but if you fast forward through all the dialogue, it saves nearly 5 minutes of viewing time).

I forgot to mention, Porsche even has a proud history in off-road racing with 911s and a 911 variant (4WD 959) won the Paris-Dakar offroad race. The 911 really is the single "winningest" car ever.

[arerrac]

Here is a Cartoon to go with the Legend of "Giant Killers"

[masraum]

When I was a kid I used to love the magazine "CarToons"

[Argeo]

No problem Racerbvd. Your mom must be a fascinating person. Probably wasn't to many women racing back when the Speedster was introduced.

Thanks everyone, I have a few books at home and I think I will rent Lemans. Before Sunday, I would occasionally watch the American Lemans series but other than that, didn't really pay much attention. After going on Sunday, I think I will be making a lot more trips down to LimeRock. Heck, maybe I will save my dough and by a cheaper type racecar.

Thanks, this helped enormously.

David

[id10t]

And a 356 driven by a good pilot can still regularly put the beat down on newer cars at SCCA events.

75-90 hp (C vs SC) on a car that weighs under 2000 lbs (but not by much). Not a lot of top end speed, but incredible handling. Remember, it is more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow. Also, horsepower is for those who can't keep their speed up in the corners.

[Racerbvd]

Originally posted by masraum
When I was a kid I used to love the magazine "CarToons"

I use to love that mag too too!!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/CARtoons-Magazine-28-April-1966_W0QQitemZ6976369264QQcategoryZ280QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZone-adam-twelveQQhtZ-1

Gotta love eBay