Another Barn-Find - Porsche 962-112

[Wayne 962]

Hello again. Many of you will remember the car I picked up last year which was a true barn find 962 - 962-106b. The chassis was repaired and then turned into a "show/display" car that was only 80% or so complete. The full story on that car can be found here:

Barn Find Porsche 962-106b...

Well, I've been looking for the next neglected car since then. I had heard about one that had been stuffed away deep in Germany for the past 10 years undergoing a "restoration". I've actually been trying to buy this car for a while - it was owned by the same fellow that I bought my Yokohama 962 from. The car is Porsche 962-112, an original Porsche tub / chassis. It started life as a "956 upgrade kit". Way back when the 962s first came out, you couldn't actually buy one - you had to have owned a 956 already, and Porsche then sold you an update kit of sorts. Basically, you bought the chassis / tub from Porsche and all of the upgrade parts. Everything else that was shared with the 956 (a lot of parts), you had to take off of your 956 tub and put them onto your new tub / update kit.

Porsche 962-112 started life as a replacement for Porsche 956-102. Sold new to John Fitzpatrick Racing in 1983, the car was raced until 1985 where it suffered an accident at Silverstone. The parts were transferred to 962-112 and the chassis was later sold to Brun and then rebuilt.

962-112 was campaigned by John Fitzpatrick racing from 1985 through 1988 with the following results (race records courtesy of www.racingsportscars.com):

Year: 1985
Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result
16.6.1985 24 h Le Mans 55 Porsche 962 #112 Acheson / Wood Fitzpatrick Porsche Team DNQ

Year: 1986
Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result
27.4.1986 Supercup Nürburgring 64 Porsche 962 Franz Konrad Scuderia Teutonia e.V. DNA
1.6.1986 24 h Le Mans 55 Porsche 962 #112 (Thompson) Alliot / Romero / Trollé John Fitzpatrick Racing 10th
3.8.1986 360 km Jerez 55 Porsche 962 #112 (Thompson) Romero / Campos John Fitzpatrick Racing DNF
21.9.1986 Supercup Nürburgring 11 Porsche 962 Franz Konrad Scuderia Teutonia DNA

Year: 1987
Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result
26.4.1987 Supercup Nürburgring 33 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Victor Dauer Racing 4th
10.5.1987 Interserie Avus 11 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Dauer Racing DNS
28.6.1987 200 mile Norisring 31 Porsche 962 #112 Dauer / Dumfries Victor-Dauer Racing DNF
28.6.1987 Supercup Norisring 31 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Victor-Dauer Racing DNF
5.7.1987 Supercup Hockenheim 33 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Victor-Dauer Racing 7th
12.7.1987 Interserie Zeltweg 11 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Dauer Racing 13th / 3rd
26.7.1987 1000 km Brands Hatch 31 Porsche 962 #112 Dauer / Dumfries Victor Dauer DNA
2.8.1987 Interserie Wunstorf 11 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Victor Dauer Racing DNF
9.8.1987 Supercup Diepholz 33 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Victor Dauer-Racing 4th
30.8.1987 1000 km Nürburgring 31 Porsche 962 #112 Dauer / Grohs Dauer Racing 8th
13.9.1987 1000 km Spa 31 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Jochen Dauer Racing DNA
20.9.1987 Supercup Nürburgring 33 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Victor-Dauer Racing 7th
11.10.1987 Interserie Zeltweg II 11 Porsche 962 #112 Jochen Dauer Dauer Racing 3rd / 1st
28.11.1987 500 km Kyalami 1 Porsche 962 #112? Sarel van der Merwe 3rd

Year: 1988
Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result
26.6.1988 Supercup Norisring 9 Porsche 962 #112 Chip Robinson Victor-Dauer-Racing 5th
7.8.1988 Supercup Diepholz 9 Porsche 962 #112 Victor-Dauer-Racing DNA
14.8.1988 Interserie Most 9 Porsche 962 C #112 Jochen Dauer Victor Dauer Racing 1st
16.10.1988 Interserie Zeltweg II 7 Porsche 962 #112 Franz Konrad Dauer Racing 2nd

In 1985 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the car was damaged in practice. The chassis/tub was then sent to Thompson composites for repair. As such, the chassis has a very unique configuration right now - the front is a honeycomb structure, and the rear remains from the original Porsche chassis. With this configuration, it's very identifiable as the original 962-112 car.

Following it's career with John Fitzpatrick Racing, the car was sold to Dauer Racing. There the car raced under the Victor Computer livery (I've personally never heard of Victor Computer until I started looking at this car). Under Dauer's direction the car had a few good results, turning a first place finish in the 2nd heat at Osterreichring InterSeries in 1987, and a handful of 2nd and third place finishes.

In mid-1988, the car was sold to Dahmen Racing and campaigned into the early 1990s. As with Dahmen's other cars, 962-112 was renumbered as 962.009/88 and campaigned extensively over the next four years:

Year: 1988
Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result
26.6.1988 Supercup Norisring 35 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen raced
17.7.1988 Interserie Wunstorf 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen DNA
7.8.1988 Supercup Diepholz 25 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen 11th
14.8.1988 Interserie Most 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Krefeld DNS
25.9.1988 Supercup Nürburgring 25 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen 10th

Year: 1989
Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result
23.4.1989 Interserie Hungaroring 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team 14th
30.4.1989 Supercup Nürburgring 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo-Racing-Team GmbH 8th
14.5.1989 Supercup Silverstone 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team DNA
18.6.1989 Interserie Zeltweg 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team 4th
25.6.1989 Supercup Norisring 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team GmbH 7th
9.7.1989 Interserie Wunstorf 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team DNS
6.8.1989 Supercup Diepholz 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team 8th
13.8.1989 Interserie Most 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team DNA
20.8.1989 480 km Nürburgring 20 Porsche 962 #009/88D Lee-Davey / Dahmen Team Davey DNF
27.8.1989 Interserie Siegerland 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team 4th
24.9.1989 Supercup Nürburgring 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo-Racing-Team DNF
15.10.1989 Interserie Zeltweg II 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Jumbo Racing Team 13th

Year: 1990
Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result
15.7.1990 Interserie Zeltweg 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jürgen Dahmen DNF
22.7.1990 Interserie Brands Hatch 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz Jorgen Dahmen 5th
12.8.1990 Interserie Most 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen 5th
16.9.1990 Interserie Siegerland 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jürgen Dahmen DNF
14.10.1990 Interserie Zeltweg II 7 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jürgen Dahmen 5th

Year: 1991
Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result
12.5.1991 Interserie Nürburgring 6 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jorgen Dahmen 6th
26.5.1991 Interserie Zeltweg 6 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jürgen Dahmen DNF
15.9.1991 Interserie Siegerland 6 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jürgen Dahmen 18th
13.10.1991 Interserie Zeltweg II 6 Porsche 962 #009/88D Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen Heinz-Jürgen Dahmen DNF

Today, the car is very complete, but in much need of some love. See photos below...

[Wayne 962]

Here's how it raced with Dauer's team, in the Victor Computer livery:






Here's a neat photo showing BOTH barn-find cars in the pits at Kyalami. Pretty cool, that's 962-106b on the left in Rothmans livery, and the 962-112 car on the right in the Victor Computer livery.






Here are a bunch of stickers from the 1989 season, when Dahmen ran the car. Unfortunately, some dunderhead has removed the original stickers and all I have left right now is this cool photo of them. Perhaps we'll see if we can recreate them for the restoration.





Here's a small model of the car in 1986 Le Mans livery. I think we're going to be restoring it into this livery with the longer Le Mans tail.






Here's a photo of it running at Le Mans in 1986. It finished 10th overall that year.





Here's a blurry photo of the car as it was campaigned under Dauer (sorry for the blurry photo):

[Wayne 962]

Here's the car as it sat for most of the past decade, I believe. It certainly does not look like too much in this particular photo:





Here's the car as it arrived at Trevor's workshop last week. Trevor, formerly of Group C LTD, has started his own shop called Katana LTD, and will be performing the restoration of the car over the next year or two. The car was loaded up on this trailer and towed to the UK (outside of London) from Germany. Interesting note, I always thought the UK and Germany were very far apart, but it seems the driving distance from London to Stuttgart is only about 9 hours - about the same it takes to get to Northern California from SoCal.





Here's the rear view. Note that there's no under tray. We will be looking for a Le Mans undertray with the high venturi tunnels for the Le Mans restoration. The oil tank is somewhat homemade and not correct-looking either. Everything else is pretty much all there in this particular photo (missing the clutch slave, but I just picked one up on eBay this week!)






Here's the dash. It's all pretty standard in here, and mostly complete, save some wires handing down. The boost gauge on the left is out of a 935 and is technically not correct for the time period that we will be restoring it to, so the plans are to replace that.






Here's the car in for pre-purchase inspection in the hallway outside Trevor's shop. If you look in the far distance, you can see the Kenwood 956 that he's working on right now.






Show of the rear suspension and transmission. Pretty much standard fare here, although still missing the undertray.






Another shot of it looking pretty sorry on the trailer. I have not shown these photos to my wife - she would not really understand paying so much for something that looked like this.






Underneath, the chassis needs some repair. The previous people who've worked on the car put in plywood as a temporary fix!?!

[Matt Monson]

Cool. What you going to do with it?

[Uncle]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

I have not shown these photos to my wife - she would not really understand paying so much for something that looked like this.

HAHAHA. Good to see somethings don't change no matter if its a guy buying some sneaky parts on ebay for his old beater 911 or Wayne spending cubic bucks on an old race car.

[Pete000]

Wait till your wife hears how much it will cost to restore !

Do you have a secret Pay Pal account to pay for all these toys !

Keep the updates coming ! Looks like a great project.

[sc_rufctr]

WOW... I remember these cars racing back in the day.

Good luck and enjoy.

[fred cook]

It's great that this car is going to be put back into proper repair and condition. I will always believe that a little bit of the profit made from my PP purchases over the years contributed to this project! Thanks for the pictures and write-up.

[will hung]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

Am I the only one that thinks it looks pretty cool like this?

[Quicksilver]

Geeze...
At least it isn't a gambling addiction!

You know that once they get a 962 only vintage series you can make extra cash by doing a rent-a-ride business.

[vintagecarlover]

congrats wayne, nice find. what forum do i have to hang out on to be buying these type cars? lol

[onboost]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

Geeze...
At least it isn't a gambling addiction!

You know that once they get a 962 only vintage series you can make extra cash by doing a rent-a-ride business.

I'm in for rent-a-drive!

Nice find Wayne, congrats!

[Jdub]

Catch and release - onto the track!

Great to see these cars go to someone with the proper respect for them.

[eastbay]

nice... I like the 'Victor' livery

[Wayne 962]

We've got a whole list of parts needed for this car - now the hunt begins!

-Wayne

[Ukusto]

Thanks for posting the photos of this old beauty.
Please keep us in the loop as the car comes together!
Cheers,
Iain

[herr_oberst]

Wayne R. Dempsey - "Livin' the dream".

The bare tub looks cool as hell, I think.

[Bill in OKC]

Originally Posted by will hung

Am I the only one that thinks it looks pretty cool like this?

no

[OttoB]

Didn't Dauer make the street legal version of the 962 after they were retired from racing? There's a video somewhere of a guy in Japan (I believe) driving his Rothmans liveried 962 in the streets - no hope you making yours street legal, correct?

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by OttoB

Didn't Dauer make the street legal version of the 962 after they were retired from racing? There's a video somewhere of a guy in Japan (I believe) driving his Rothmans liveried 962 in the streets - no hope you making yours street legal, correct?

Yes they did. The video of the one in Japan is a Schuppan car. That car was one that was one that came from Japan, then was here in the states for a while in San Diego at Symbolic Motorsport. I went down there to take a look at possibly buying it. But the price was high-ish, the car wasn't running, and you couldn't register it here to drive on the street (it has a track-only designation that because it was imported that way). So, there wasn't very much you could do with it because it was just a very expensive track-day toy. And since it had leather interior, and a small CRT monitor, etc and all of the other street-car things, it wasn't really setup for the track either. So, I passed on it. The guy in Japan took it in and did a whole bunch of work on it, and now drives it on the street, which is pretty darn cool. I'm still looking around for a car that could possibly be made to work on the streets here...

-Wayne