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There were enough hints of the competition potential of the Porsche 911. Vic Elford had proven it by winning the 1968 Rallye de Monte Carlo in a Porsche 911T.
Vic Elford, supported by David Stone, 1968 Rallye Monte-Carlo.
More and more privateer racers were choosing the 911 as their weapon of choice for racing and Porsche was taking notice. They started developing more sporting versions such as the 911 RS, and were met with more successes.
For 1973, they decided to use the knowledge acquired building their race cars and apply it to the 911.
Swiss race driver Herbert Müller, teamed up with Gijs van Lennep, won the 1973 Targa Florio driving a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR.
The result was the 911 Carrera RSR, which was met with great success in its first year.
1973 24 Hours of Daytona-winning Brumos Porsche 911 Carrera RSR of Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood.
The RSR came in 4th overall at the 24 heures du Mans, and was 1st overall in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Targa Florio and the 24 Hours of Daytona!
The huge success of the Carrera RSR pointed the way for Porsche, and lead to the development of the RSR Turbo, the 934, and the 935, all in turn successful racers.
Porsche’s development of their sports racing cars through the 1960’s took leaps and bounds, bring serious challenges to both Ford and Ferrari on the track.
Ford dropped out of the battle once they proved their point at Le Mans, and Porsche was very ready to take up the battle.
As they developed their racing technologies, they looked into ways they could be adapted to the competition versions of the 911.
With the great success of their Porsche Carrera RSR in 1973, they saw that the next logical step was to turbo-charge it.
Prismacolor pencils and Varsol on gray archival stock
19"x 16" (48.3cm x 40.6cm) © Paul Chenard 2013
Born from this approach, the 1974 Carrera RSR Turbo was a formidable monster. Turbo-charging made it powerful, but turbo-lag made it scary.
Drivers like Herbert Müller and Gijs van Lennep managed to tame it and it achieved measured success, but it became a major development tool to Porsche’s successful 934 and it’s all-conquering 935.
Victor Henry Elford started rally racing in the early 1960’s, slowly gaining experience and success.
In 1963, Porsche introduced the Ferdinand “Bitzi” Porsche–designed 911 as a refined replacement to their 356.
In early 1967, Vic Elford met with Porsche racing team manager Baron Fritz Huschke von Hanstein and convinced him of the competition potential of the 911 in rally racing.
Elford was right and successfully took the 1967 European Rally Championship in the works 911.
Pen&ink and markers on archival watercolour paper
12"x 18" (30.5cm X 45.7cm)© Paul Chenard 2013
In 1968, he took a Porsche 911T, along with navigator David Stone, to a very popular win of the grueling Rally Monte Carlo.
It was the only the beginning of legendary competition success of the many storied Porsche 911, which this year, celebrates it’s 50th anniversary.
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
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