Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI - Single Seaters

Patrick Long demonstrating a 1990 March-Porsche Indy Car at Rennsport Reunion VI.

Porsche is well known for racing its GT cars and sports racing cars.  Sometimes we are apt to forget its forays into single seater racing.  Thus, I was pleased to see a few reminders at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI.

FORMULA TWO
Since its beginnings in 1948 Porsche had had success with small capacity Sports and GT racers.  This had culminated in an overall victory in the 1956 Targa Florio with a 1.5 litre 550 RS Spyder driven by Umberto Maglioli.   Then in 1957 the regulations for Formula Two changed to a maximum capacity of 1,500cc and it was announced that this would become the new Formula One from 1961.  Porsche produced a centre steer 718 RSK with all-enveloping bodywork for both sports car racing and F2.  Jean Behra shocked the World by winning in the car in a F2 race at Reims in 1958.   Masten Gregory repeated the triumph in a F2 race at the banked Avus later in the year.  Elsewhere, the heavy body disadvantaged the car but on fast circuits the streamlined body was an advantage.

Centre steer Porsche 718 RSK at Laguna Seca.

For 1959 Porsche produced a proper open wheel 718 F2 car and this had some success over the next few years.  Notable was a 1-2-3 victory in the 1960 Aintree 200 for Moss, Bonnier and Hill, a 1-2 in the German GP on the Sudschliefe for Bonnier and Von Trips, a 1-2-3 at Zeltweg for Moss, Herrmann and Barth, and a win for Bonnier at Modena beating the Ferraris on home-turf.

FORMULA ONE
In 1961 a new 1.5 litre era of Formula one commenced.  Apart from Ferrari nobody was particularly ready.  Porsche had its rather bulbous 718 F2 car chassis and its 160 bhp 4 cylinder engine but its attempt to produce a more powerful flat eight failed.  However, this proved relatively competitive except against the Ferraris.Bonnier won a heat at the Brussels GP, Gurney came second at Syracuse, and Bonnier came second at Solitude, Karlskoga and Modena.  In the World Championship races, Gurney came second in France, Italy and the USA to finish fourth in the drivers championship.  Porsche finished third in the constructors championship.

The Porsche 804 F1 car on display at Laguna Seca.

For 1962 Porsche produced a new sleek 804 F1 car with a 180bhp air cooled flat eight engine.  After retiring from the first two grand prix of the season, Dan Gurney won the French GP at Rouen through reliability.  This remains Porsche's only World Championship GP victory for chassis and engine.  Dan Gurney took pole position for the German GP at the Nurburgring but could only finish third.    In a non-championship race at the Solitude circuit, near Porsche's home town of Stuttgart, Dan Gurney led Jo Bonnier to a 1-2 victory.  Carel Godin de Beaufort finished fifth in a 718 which he continued to campaign in F1 until killed at the 1964 German GP.  At the end of 1962 Porsche concluded its F2 programme due to reasons of high cost compared to results and went back to its roots of Sports Car racing.

The 1962 Solitude GP winning car.

Porsche 804 F1.

INDY CAR
Having produced a successful turbocharged engine for Sports Car racing in the seventies, it was perhaps no surprise that Indy Car was a temptation for Porsche in 1980.  The plan was to cooperate with Ted Field's Interscope team.  They provided a modified Parnelli VPJ6B Indy Car chassis and Porsche provided a Type 935/72 turbo charged flat 6 engine developed by Valentin Schaffer.  Interscope clocked up a lot of testing miles and Danny Ongais would have been the driver.  This was a time of conflict in Indy Car racing between CART and USAC.  Eventually Porsche withdrew because of a ruling that it would have to run the same boost level as the Cosworth DVX V8.   Thus the project was still born.

Stillborn Interscope - Porsche Indy Car project from 1980.

The first Porsche indy Car project.

PIKES PEAK
Porsche has been associated with many hillclimb special over the years.  In 1981 one of these nearly won the Pike's Peak International Hillclimb - probably the most prestigious hillclimb in the World.  Bruce Canepa was originally a dirt track racer and in 1981 decided to tackle Pike's Peak in a single seater open wheel type racer powered by a twin turbo Porsche 911 engine.  He qualified first and eventually finished second after a spin to avoid a spectator who was crossing the track.

The Caneopa Nearman-Dreager Porsche special that came second at Pike's Peak in 1981.

RETURN TO FORMULA ONE AS AN ENGINE PROVIDER
The nineteen eighties was the era of the dominance of turbo charged engines in Formula One.  As a successful producer of turbo charged engines for Sports Cars, it is not that surprising that McLaren approached Porsche to provide a turbo-charged F1 engine.  The project was funded by TAG a Saudi Investment company.  Thus Porsche designed and developed the twin turbocharged V6 1,449 cc TAG-TTE P01.  It made its debut in the Dutch GP of 1983 bolted on to a McLaren MP4/1E in the capable hands of Niki Lauda but retired.  By the end of the year the car had started to become competitive with Lauda running second in the South African GP.  For 1984  and 1985 the Porsche engine would produce more power and was installed in the carbon fibre MP4/2.  This was a potent combination and in addition the drivers were old hand Niki Lauda and a promising new talent in Alain Prost.  Together they won twelve Championship races and Lauda pipped Prost to the championship by half a point.  McLaren-TAG were constructors champions with the Porsche developed engine.  In 1985 they won the Constructors Championship again  but this time Alain Prost took the drivers championship.  In 1986 Prost again won the championship but Williams-Honda had become the dominant car and won the constructors championship.

Prost's championship winning 1985 McLaren-TAG MP4/2b car.

A reminder of Porsche's eighties F1 success at Laguna Seca.

INDY CAR PROJECT PART TWO
Following their F1 success with McLaren-TAG, Porsche decided to return to Indy.  Thus a Porsche 2708 Chassis and 2708/80 engine were built for an assault on the 1988 Indy 500.  This time Porsche under the guidance of Hans Mezger chose a V8 engine.   The car made its debut at Laguna Seca in 1987 in the hands of Al Unser Snr but the debut was not a success. Al Holbert failed to qualify for the final race of the season so in 1988 the Porsche chassis was dumped in favour of one from March.  The March-Porsche raced in Indy Car from 1988 to 1990.  In 1988 Teo Fabi finished tenth in the championship, but in 1989 this had improved to fourth place in the championship.  The highlight was a win at Mid Ohio.  For 1990 a two car team was entered by Porsche North America with Teo Fabi (No.4) and John Andretti (No.41) as the drivers.  This season was not as successful as in 1989 and John Andretti finished tenth in the championship and Teo Fabi fourteenth.  Best finish was a third place at Meadowlands for Teo Fabi.   Both cars from the 1990 season were at Laguna Seca. 

Two 1990 March-Porsche Indy Cars

Teo Fabi's 1990 Porsche Indy Car.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page. 

Perhaps Porsche's least well known single seater programme is the one shown below!   They produced tractors from 1956 to 1963.

Jeff Zwart in his tractor driving through the paddock to the Porsche Tractor race on Saturday at Laguna Seca.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI - PCA Scholar-Friedman Cup

John Seidell in a 1997 Porsche Boxster leads a 911 at the Corkscrew.

The Porsche Club of America (PCA) is the largest single marque racing series in the World with 2000 licensed racers and 32 sanctioned races a year.  This is amateur club racing but forms one of the seven races at the Rennsport Reunion.  At this meeting they race for the Scholar Friedman Cup, which is named after two of PCA's founders who started the racing series in the early nineties.  One of those founders, Alan Friedman, was actually racing.  As you will see below a large variety of cars take part.

Alan Friedman racing a 1973 Porsche RSR.

The Porsche Rennsport Reunion is a unique event, that is held once every three or four years, dedicated just to classic and more modern racing Porsches, their drivers and the men and women who made it all possible.    Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI held over four days in September 2018 was again located at Laguna Seca like the last one in 2015.  No surprise as Laguna Seca is in California, which also happens to be the biggest market for Porsche.   This year the event was subtitled The Marque of Champions - a name that speaks for itself.  The event was also part of Porsche's 70th birthday celebrations.

A large variety of cars take part.  Here a fairly standard Porsche 944 is overtaken by a RileyDaytona prototype.

On the wonderful 2.238 mile Laguna Seca road course, seven groups of Porsche cars raced over the weekend.  The PCA Scholar-Friedman Cup event was for the amateur club racers of the PCA.  Fifty cars started the race.

The lead cars on their pac e lap at the Corkscrew.

The Race
What was nice about this race was that we saw a number of cars that we hadn't seen race all weekend.  It was also nice to see the fastest car have to fight for victory.  Great club racing.

Eventual winner was this 2008 Riley Daytona Prototype driven by Pierce Marshall.

The early leader was Robb Todd in a 2018 Porsche GT3 Cup car.  He eventually came second.

Third place went to a 2015 Porsche GT3 Cup driven by Jesse Menczer.  He won his class.

In sixth place came a 2016 Porsche GT4 CS driven by Chris Bellomo.

This 2012 Porsche Cayman R came ninth driven by Geoff Isringhausen.

Rich Polk finished tenth in this 1973 Porsche 911

A 2000 Porsche Boxster driven Jan Sussman finished thirteenth.

Claudio Kaempf came seventeenth in this 1970 Porsche 911.

A very popular car was this 2000 Boxster S in Highway Patrol colors driven by Chris Murray.  It finished nineteenth.

Twentieth was this 1981 Porsche 911 driven by Sean Neal.

A 1986 Porsche 911 driven by Evan Close  came 35th.

A spin for this 1972 Porsche 911 RSR in qualifying.

A beautiful 1981 Porsche 911

For my recent Motor Sport blogposts click here.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page. 

A 1998 Porsche Boxster driven by Trygve Isaacson.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI - Flacht Cup

Clay Koevary in his 2000 Porsche GT3R

As a bit of pleasant relief from the older historic Porsches was a race for more modern Porsches such as the recent GT3 cars.  The newest car was from as recent as 2016 whilst the oldest was from 1991. There were a number of well-known drivers competing from various eras and they included Cooper MacNeil, Kévin Estre, Jorg Bergmeister, Johannes Van Overbeek, Anfdew Davis and Jeff Zwart.  About fifty cars were entered of which about 35 started the main race.  This all led to fast and close racing.  In terms of speed they were as fast as the Porsche 962s.

Porsche GT3 cars at the Corkscrew.

The Porsche Rennsport Reunion is a unique event, that is held once every three or four years, dedicated just to classic and more modern racing Porsches, their drivers and the men and women who made it all possible.    Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI held over four days in September 2018 was again located at Laguna Seca like the last one in 2015.  No surprise as Laguna Seca is in California, which also happens to be the biggest market for Porsche.   This year the event was subtitled The Marque of Champions - a name that speaks for itself.  The event was also part of Porsche's 70th birthday celebrations.

The battle for the lead of the Flacht Cup race.

On the wonderful 2.238 mile Laguna Seca road course, seven groups of Porsche cars raced over the weekend.  The Flacht Cup event was for more modern Porsches such as 964, 993, 996, and 997 GT cars.  Flacht is near Stuttgart and is where Porsche have their Motorsport Centre that produces cars such as these.

Drivers

Kevin Buckler, Kees Nierop, Chad mcQueen, David Murry and Andrew Davis.

A number of Porsche GT drivers from the nineties and after were present as guests of Porsche.  A reminder of their Porsche GT careers is found below:
Kevin Buckler - GT class winner in the Daytona and Le Mans 24 hours of 2002 for Porsche.  Overall winner of the 2003 24 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche 996 GT3 RS.
Kees Nierop - Drove a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car in the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona.
Chad McQuuen - The only son of Steve McQueen, he drove in the 2003 3 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche 996 GT3R.
David Murry - 1995 SCCA World Challenge Champion in a Porsche 911 Turbo and winner of two races in the 1997 Exxon GT series in a Porsche RSR.
Andrew Davis - Winner of the 2011 Grand Am GT Driver's Championship with Brumos Racing.

A 1994 Porsche 964 Bi-Turbo about to be lapped by the leader.

The Race
The cars are presented below in the order they finished in the main race.  Unfortunately, I did not stay for the main race and thus the pictures are from the excellent qualifying race on Saturday and Sunday's warm up.

Jorg Bergmeister won in this 2012 Porsche GT3 RSR.  He he leads the similar coloured second place car at the Corkscrew in Saturday's Qualifying Race.

Frenchman Kévin Estre was second in this 2010 Porsche GT3 RSR.

Cooper MacNeil was third in the 2016 WeatherTech Porsche GT3R.

Fourth was this 2008 Porsche 911RSR of Ernie Francis Jnr.

This 2016 Porsche GT3R driven by David Calvert-Jones was fifth.

Sixth was David Donner in a 2012 Porsche 997 GT3R.

This 2011 Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car was seventh driven by Andrew Davis.

Johannes Van Overbeek was ninth in this Flying Lizard 2004 Porsche 996 Cup.

Tenth was 2004 Porsche 911 996 RSR driven by Wade Carter.

A 2012 Porsche RSR driven by Josh Simpson was fourteenth.

A 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car driven by Larry Webster was nineteenth.  Here he is at turn three.

Seen exiting turn four  is Chris frank in a 2000 Porsche GT3R.

1993 Porsche 964 RSR driven by Jeff Lewis.

2004 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR driven by James Sofronas.

Carl Toffelmire in a 1994 Porsche 993 RSR.

Robert Dalrymple in a 2013 Porsche GT3R

A 1991 Porsche 911 GT2 driven by Alex welch into seventeenth place.

Tim pappas in a 2016 Porsche GT3R

Exhibition Cars

2015 IMSA GT Champion, a Porsche 911 RSR.

Jeff Zwart's Pike's Peak car, a Porsche 911 GT2.  It still holds the record for a High Performance Showroom Stock Car.

For my recent Motor Sport blogposts click here.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page. 

Porsche traffic at the Corkscrew.