Porsche RSR

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1974 IROC RSR 911 Owned By Pablo Escobar On Offer

The International Race of Champions’ (IROC) RSR are not just extremely rare, they’re also a very interesting model. Porsche only made 15 examples, and they really set it apart from the 1973 RSR as well as the 1974 RSR by taking features from both models so it ended up being on a class of its own.

The IROC used the new 1974 “short hood” body style, but it was matched with a rear deck lid that was just for the model. The five lug Fuchs wheels with the High Butterfly style injection of the 1973 RSR can be seen in the IROC, but they used the 3-liter displacement of the ‘customer’ 1974 RSR that had the Slide Valve Injection and center-lock BBS wheels.

The shared features and distinct changes that Porsche made on the IROC partnered with its rarity of having only 15 units manufactured, easily makes the IROC the rarest early air cooled RSRs.

David Lockton developed the International Race of Champions in 1972. The race would have identically prepared race cars to be driven by champions and top drivers in different racing series, with the thought that the best driver would be the victor.

The first season of the IROC Series had the fifteen identical 1974 Porsche RSR’s with the assistance of Roger Penske. The twelve champions would use the twelve cars to compete for the best of the best title, and three cars would be on reserve.

In October 1973, the first three elimination races were done at the Riverside International Speedway in just one weekend. Using a points system, six drivers would be eliminated after the weekend is over. The final six would once again go up against each other in the final race at Daytona International Speedway on April 4, 1974.

The Sahara Beige car, chassis 911 460 0100, was driven by the very popular Formula One Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. For the first IROC race, he qualified on pole at Riverside.

At only 25, Fittipaldi won the 1972 Formula One Championship, making him the youngest F1 Champion at the time. In 1974, he won another F1 Championship. At age 47, he raced and won at the 1993 Indianapolis 500, making him the oldest driver to win in that race. He had previously won the Indianapolis 500 in 1989. He also had the CART Championship under his belt.

The Sahara Beige IROC RSR will always be dubbed “The Fittipaldi car” despite not being raced for the whole IROC event. Unfortunately, Fittipaldi was penalized for being a few minutes late during the drivers meeting and he had to start at 11th place during the inaugural race. Fittipaldi immediately overcame the hurdle and he moved up the field.

In another unfortunate event, he went off track and also had a fuel leak forcing him to retire.

With three other cars on reserve, the Fittipaldi #1 was never again seen on track for the remainder of the weekend, and neither was it used in Daytona.

Volkswagen of America, Inc. Porsche Audi sold the IROC Porsches to Penske Productions. Since there will only be one final race with the top six drivers competing, Penske knew he did not need 15 cars. Just four days after the Riverside race, on October 31, the IROC was sold to North Lake Porsche Audi. North Lake sold the IROC to T. & C. Racing, Inc. based in Sarasota, Florida. T & C is basically just John Turnstall.

As a privateer, he ran a reduced IMSA schedule which was fairly common then. He took part in a lot of IMSA races like the Sebring 12 Hours which he joined twice. He once raced in the Daytona 24 Hours. His best record was a 23rd overall at the Sebring 12 hours.

In 1974, Charlie Kemp also raced the example recording a top-ten finish at the Mid-Ohio and Lime Rock. It is assumed that the example’s last IMSA race was at the 1978 Daytona 24 Hours.

The infamous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar is one of its previous owners who also tried to race the example.

It has been kept in storage for quite some time because it was given a restoration to bring it back to its IROC Fittipaldi livery. The Fittipaldi car has a well-documented unbroken history

October 5, 2021 / Comments Off

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Porsche WEC entry

Later this month the 2021 WEC, World Endurance Championship, will start with a prologue at the famous Spa Francorchamps track in Belgium (26-27 April) while the first actual race for points will be the 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps on May 1, but it won’t be until the 8 Hours of Partimão in Portugal before Porsche puts three drivers behind the wheel of their impressive 911 RSR.

Porsche wants to create a perfect synergy between these six drivers (three for each car entered) ahead of the 24 Hours of Lemans which was originally intended to be held on June 13 (which is now the date for the race at Partimão) but was postponed to August 21-22, and with this driver line-up, Porsche went for a proven setup, among them, these six drivers have 59 LeMans participations under their belt.

The Porsche 911 RSR starting number 91 will see French driver Frédéric Makowiecki join Gianmaria Bruni from Italy and Richard Lietz from Austria (the latter two being the pilots for the shorter races already) in Portugal to do a test run for the major event at LeMans in August, Makowiecki has been driving at LeMans for the last three consecutive years already.

The second Porsche 911 RSR, wearing number 92, driven by Neel Jani from Switzerland and Kévin Estre from France will see Michael Christensen from Denmark joining the team, he won the GTE-Pro class at LeMans back in 2018, Neel Jani won the overall classification of the 24-hour French classic in 2016 at the wheel of the Porsche 919 Hybrid, together with Romain Dumas (France) and Marc Lieb (Germany). His five teammates have harvested eight class victories so far with the 911 RSR at the tradition-steeped endurance race at the Sarthe.

The second round of the 2021 World Endurance Championship, held in Portugal, is a perfect opportunity to do a rehearsal run with three drivers in each car. An 8-hour race on the 4,692-kilometer circuit in Portugal’s Algarve is ideal to offer each driver ample track time at the wheel of the 515 hp Porsche 911 RSR to get things finetuned for the 89th running of the long-distance classic in France in August this year.

April 13, 2021 / Comments Off

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The 1973 Porsche 911 RSR tribute

Adding a genuine 1973 Porsche 911 RSR to your collection at this point in time will set you back several million, but there is another option … how about a 1973 Porsche 911 RSR Rebel Gulf Porsche tribute for less than $300,000?

Ok, I admit, it’s not a real ’73 RSR, but it’s also only about 10% of the price, and it comes with a bigger engine. The car in question is listed for sale at Ferraris Online and has chassis number 102808, it is the first of only three Porsche RSR ‘Art Cars’ built by Jon Gunderson, renowned for ground-up Ferrari 246 GT and 246 GTS rotisserie restorations.

Chassis 102808 comes in the classic 917 Gulf livery combining light blue and orange on the exterior … note that this Porsche RSR Tribute scheme is completely painted, there is no vinyl used anywhere, every detail is painstakingly painted by hand, even the famous Porsche crest on the hood, and this attention to detail is visible throughout this amazing looking 911.

Both the front and rear bumper have been formed manually, as is the new front hood that has a center-mounted fuel-filler, machined from a single metal piece, to fill up the 100-liter tank underneath.

The traditional ‘Ducktail’ rear wing on this RSR tribute has been made by hand too, and on the grille, the 3.5 badge indicates this car isn’t using the 2.8-liter engine found in the genuine 1973 RSR, but a completely rebuilt 3.5-liter version.

The engine inside this RSR tribute is built from the ground up as a fuel-injected Rothsport Racing 3.5L flat-six combined with a Type 915 5-speed manual transaxle with a Giken limited-slip differential … work started in 2017 and took three years to complete … to date this engine has little over 3,000 miles on her. Instead of the original 280 hp from the 2.8-liter engine, this new 3.5L Rothsport Racing version was dyno-tested after tuning by Sakata Motorsports at 355 hp.

The impressive black wheels on this Porsche RSR tribute are 15-inch Braid units. Michelin TB5 Racing Radial X tires are fitted, 215/55 R15 for the front wheels (9×15″) while wide 295/40 R15 was fitted to the rear wheels, which measure a massive 11×15 inches, they are almost square. The chassis is fitted with Elephant Racing suspension components including Poly bronze bushings, sway bars, shock mounts, and a matched set of torsion bars and Von shocks. Porsche 930 trailing arms have also been added. Porsche 930 finned brake calipers and cross-drilled and vented 930 rotors at all four corners haul it down from high speed. RSR tribute s/n 102808 was corner-balanced by Rothsport Racing after the engine was installed.

Autos International, a well-known shop for Porsche interiors, created the beautiful black interior for this tribute car combining black Alcantara and leather. The dashboard and door panels received black Alcantara while the steering wheel and adjustable Recaro RSR seats got leather wrapped around them.

Same with the built-in roll bar, black leather with contrasting orange stitching to match the seatbelts, while the headliner comes in black Alcantara, the dials consist of a single, white tachometer flanked by black auxiliary gauges, all rebuilt by Joe’s Speedometer. Weight saving is visible everywhere with thin side windows and a special wiring harness, if you look closely at the door handles, they are even cross-drilled to safe weight, while on the door panels, you’ll notice RSR leather door pulls.

Built as a passion project, no expense was spared and no budget was set, so the attention to detail is on par with the bespoke quality of a Singer, this car cost over $500,000 to build, but it’s now listed for a quick sale at $299,500.

February 9, 2021 / Comments Off

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Porsche Redesigned the 911 RSR for 2019

Improving a Car That’s Already Excellent

The Porsche 911 RSR is a car that has won more than 20 FIA World Endurance Championship races. Porsche hasn’t decided to rest on its laurels, though. The company didn’t even want to make evolutionary changes to its winning racecar. Instead, it replaced 95 percent of the car with all new components and parts, making the 911 RSR better than ever before.

In the last 911 RSR, the major design change was from a rear to a mid-mounted engine position. That change remains in the new car. What also remains is the headlights, brakes, clutch, driver’s seat, and a few other small parts in the suspension, according to Car Throttle. Everything else is all-new.

The engine grew to 4.2-liters, and now the naturally aspirated flat six-cylinder makes a strong 507 hp, which is up slightly from 503. The engine also has a wider rev band, and better power delivery and control. The transmission is a six-speed sequential constant-mesh manual gearbox.

There’s also a multi-disc, self-locking differential. Power goes to the rear wheels. The exhaust pipes have been rerouted and shorted, helping reduce weight. Porsche also reworked the exterior of the car and says it’s more aerodynamic than it has ever been before. If the old car won more than 20 races, you can bet that this one will win even more.

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July 8, 2019 / Comments Off

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2018 Porsche 911 RSR – Porsche’s Mid-engined 911 Race Car

However, the allocation for MY2018 units was already spoken for before this calendar year – all 6 of them, each costing $1.18 million USD. Even Porsche’s head of Motorsport, Dr. Frank Walliser, has been surprised by the level of public consumer demand for the car – so much so that in mid-2017, Porsche decided to make the car available for purchase through its Customer Motorsport Program. Prior to this, the allotment was restricted to factory racing teams.

The Porsche 911 RSR is a special looking car, but despite its extreme enhancements, its visual profile remains undeniably 911. To understand what truly differentiates this 911 from any other, you would have to look at the engine bay – not so much what’s in it, but where it is.

The RSR is the only 911 to have its engine sitting in front of the rear axle, effectively making this a mid-engined car. Dr. Walliser goes on to remark, “While retaining the typical 911 design, this is the biggest evolution by now in the history of our top GT model”.

Repositioning the flat-six engine is considered an essential design element in ensuring the car remains competitive in its GTLM racing class. Apart from its more centralized weight distribution – effectively reducing tire wear at the rear wheels – the new engine placement also allows for the use of a massive rear diffuser and top-mounted rear wing, which significantly improves aerodynamic efficiency over rear-engined iterations.

As Porsche customers and enthusiasts, perhaps what we should be most looking forward to is a street-legal version of a mid-engined 911 in the future. It could be the makings of something as controversial as it is exciting, and Porsche has a strong track record of sharing its race-proven technologies with its production models.

Engine

While some purists may be tentative about the idea of a mid-engined 911, they will feel more at ease about the fact that it remains in every other sense, more familiar. The 4.0L naturally aspirated boxer engine produces 510-horsepower (depending on size of restrictor) and revs all the way up to its 9,500 rpm redline – imagine a 911 GT3 engine on steroids.

It also features a water cooling system, direct fuel injection, a dry sump lubrication system and four valves per cylinder.

Chassis & Design

Mated to the engine is a six-speed electronic sequential gearbox which is cased in magnesium, and is operated using steering wheel mounted paddle shifters.

The car is also fitted with a myriad of devices and equipment to meet or exceed safety regulations. A radar-supported collision warning system dubbed ‘Collision Avoid System’, proactively alerts drivers to potentially dangerous situations involving other vehicles – particularly useful when dealing with traffic that includes faster prototype cars. The safety cage has been redesigned, along with a rigidly-mounted racing seat fixed to the chassis.

The 911 RSR weighs just 1,234 kg with its full arsenal of wider haunches, 13-inch-wide rear wheels and a massive rear diffuser and rear wing. Entire sections of its carbon fiber panels can quickly and easily be replaced thanks to the clever use of quick-release mechanisms. Changes to the suspension setup can also be performed on short notice.

All technical specs can be found on Porsche’s official website.

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June 22, 2018 / Comments Off

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