Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI - Weissach Cup

Patrick Long winning the Weissach Cup in a 1983 Porsche Fabcar 935.  Hree he descends 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.

On the wonderful 2.238 mile Laguna Seca road course, seven groups of Porsche cars raced over the weekend.  The Weissach Cup event was for cars such as Porsche 934, 935, 924,RSR and over 2.5 litre 911.  It brought back great memories of GT racing in the seventies and eighties.  Any event with a load of Porsche 935s gets my vote!   For those who don't know, Weissach is a town in Germany where the Porsche research centre is situated.

The cars come around for the start of the Qualifying race on Saturday.

Of course many of the great Porsche 935 drivers were there, including Manfred Schurti who was a lead test driver for Porsche but who also competed in Porsche in major events.   
Kees Nierop who won the 1983 12 Hours of Sebring in a Porsche 934 was even driving in the Weissach Cup race.

Famous drivers of the Porsche 934 and 935 cars in the seventies and eighties.

In the middle is Manfred Schurti.  In 1976 he won the Watkins Glen 6 hours with Stommelen in a 935.  In 1979 he won the Mugello 6 hours and Nurburgring 1000km with Fitzpatrick and Wollek in a 935.
Then clockwise from top left come:
David Hobbs won at Road America and Mid Ohio in 1982 and at Riverside the following year with John Fitzpatrick in a 935.
Kees Nierop won the 1983 12 hours of Sebring in a 934.
Bobby Rahal won the 1981 24 hours of Daytona in a 935 with Bob Garretson and Brian Redman in a 935.
Jackie Ickx won many races in the 935 with Jochen Mass.  I remember seeing them win in the rain shortened race at Brands Hatch in 1977.
Brian Redman won the 1978 Sebring and the 1981 Daytona endurance races in a 935.
Derek Bell won at Mid Ohio in a 935 with Rolf Stommelen in 1981 and had a couple of second places at the 24 hours of Daytona in a 935 in 1981 and 1982.
Bob  Garretson won the 1978 12 hours of Sebring and 1981 25 hours of Daytona in a 935.
John Fitzpatrick won many races in the 935 including the 1980 12 hours of Sebring.

The Race
Most of the top cars in this event, that featured nearly fifty cars over the weekend, are shown below.  Lovely to watch these cars race again.

Patrick Long came first in a late 935 built in 1983 by Fabcar.

The two Coca Cola 935s battle it out.

Second was Jerome Redela in a 1984 Porsche 935.

Third was the 1978 Porsche 935 driven by Daniel Perfetti.

Fourth was Tim Pappas seen here in car 00, a 1977 Porsche 934.5, about to overtake a Porsche 914-6

So many Interscope liveried cars!  Lloyd Hawkins in the fifth placed 1979 Porsche 935.

Sixth was a fast 1972 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Erich Joiner.

Two RSR lead a 935 through the Corkscrew.

Seventh was Mark Hotchkiss in a 1973 Porsche 911 RSR.

Eighth was Kevin Estre in a 1975 Porsche 911 RSR.

In ninth spot was this 1977 Porsche RSR driven by Cameron Healy.

Kees Nierop leads Cameron Healy down the Corkscrew.

Nice to see Kees Nierop driving the tenth placed 1976 Porsche 934 Turbo RS.

This 1976 Porsche 935K was eleventh in the hands of Steve Schmidt.

Twelfth was a 1973 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Jim Bouzaglou.

Thirteenth was Tom Hedges in a 1978 Porsche 930.

The battle for thirteenth place.

In fourteenth and the last car on the same lap as the leaders was this 1974 Porsche RSR driven by Dennis Singleton.

A 1975 Porsche 911 RSR leads a group including two 914-6 down the Corkscrew.

Porsche 914-6 battle.

Adding variety was this 1970 Porsche 914-6 driven by Jim Hendrix.

1976 Porsche 934.

1981 Porsche 924 GTR.

1980 Porsche 924 (930)

1970 Porsche 914-6.

1983 Porsche 924 GTR.

A famous 1979 Porsche 935.

1979 Porsche 924 (933)

1980 Porsche 935K

The cars on exhibition in the Chopard tent and pits area.
The 935 is a special car and thus no surprise that there were many on display as well as in the race.  I gave the drivers achievements above but we mustn't forget that a Porsche 935K3 won the 24 Hours of Mans in 1979 and Porsche won the the World Championship of Makes in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979 largely due to the 935.

1979 Brumos 935.

Another well known car - a 1980 Porsche K3.

This is the 1976 Porsche 935 that won the 1000kms at Watkins Glen.

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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. 

In theory the 936 is eligible for the Weissach Cup, but there were no takers!   This is Chassis 004 that came second at Le Mans in 1980 and won the 1982 German Sports Car championship.