911@50 – Porsche Carrera RSR

After the relative success of the Porsche 911 in competition, Porsche saw opportunity to bring it into higher levels of racing.

Starting with the 911S, the technicians developed a lightened car, and focused on increasing the capacity of the flat-six engine.

Out of these developments came the non-turbocharged Carrera RSR 2.8 created to compete in the 1973 GT Championship.

Right out of the box, the car showed huge potential, winning the 1973 Daytona 24 Hours at the hands of Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood.

This was followed up by a win of the 12 Hours of Sebring, driven again by Gregg and Haywood, joined also by Dave Helmick.



Pen&ink and markers on gray archival stock
© Paul Chenard

It famously won the last official Targa Florio, driven by Herbert Müller and Gijs van Lennep.

With the record of important wins and high placings of the Carrera RSR, Porsche took the GT Championship.

Porsche 934: The Street-legal Racer

Porsche 911-based race cars have always been very successful and in the early part of the 1970’s, that was certainly the case. For the 1976 season, FIA-sanctioned sports car racing was divided into 6 classes and Porsche had been very dominant in the Group 4 Class, which were strictly based on production road cars.




















With the launch of the 930 Turbo in 1975, Porsche saw an ideal platform on which to build it’s new Group 4 candidate. With relatively minor (in race car terms) modification, Porsche created the 934 Turbo RSR. This efficient racer was still road legal, even retaining it’s power windows! The 934 was built through 1976 and 1977, with about 400 being built.

In competition, the 934 continued the company’s success by winning the European GT Championship, driven by Toine Hezermans (Netherlands), and the Trans Am Championship in the hands of American George Follmer. At Le Mans, the racers had class wins in 1977, 1978 and 1979.

A few years ago, I built the Tamiya 1/12 kit No.12020 Porsche 934 Turbo RSR No.24 Jägermeister racer, in it’s classic 1976 orange livery. I put in approximately 350 hours in the build, adding considerable more detail to already detailed kit; I also added the Tamiya kit No. RM2202 Motor Racing Team Mechanic. I had to mix the custom paint for him, and create the custom patches and stitching for his suit.

I then built the base to display it, using oak-flooring scraps and a ceramic tile; the acrylic cover was made to my specifications. I finished it off with a pewter plaque, which I engraved.

It won every top award in the local model competitions in 2006, and is now retired from the show circuit.