Bruce Anderson
Excellence MagazinePorsche‘s customers had raced the 356 GT models before the 911 was introduced so it was only logical to expect them to do the same with the 911 once it was introduced. Porsche themselves were the first to enter a 911 in competition. Production and sales of the 911 started in September of 1964 and by January of 1965 Porsche had already run a factory prepared 911 in the Monte Carlo Rally where they placed fifth overall, an impressive beginning for a new model. For the Monte Carlo Rally the 911 was homologated in Grand Touring, the engine modified to produce 160 horsepower, a 100 liter gas tank was used, as well as larger brakes and limited slip differential. The 911 then went on to win most of the major European rallies, including three victories at the famed Monte Carlo Rally and a win in the tour of Corsica.
Porsche was putting most of their factory racing efforts during the sixties and early seventies into the 906, 910, 907 908 and 917 and aside from the 911R left much of the development of the 911 and 911S to their racing customers. In 1967 they built 22 of the very radical 911Rs. The "R" was derived from the German word rennen, which means race. To save weight on these cars the fenders, hood and engine lid, doors and bumpers were made of fiberglass. All of the windows, but the windshield were made of Plexiglas. The oil tank was made of aluminum and mounted ahead of the right rear wheel. The result of these efforts to reduce the weight held the weight to 1830 lbs.
The engine was an adaptation of the racing 906 engine, but based on production 911 engine components that produced the same 210 hp as the 906 engine. 500 cars would have to be built in a 12 month period to homologate the 911R in the GT class and the sales department decided that the general public would not buy 500 race cars, so only the original 22 911Rs were built. Because too few of them were built to homologate them as a production car, not very much was done with the 911Rs themselves, but they showed the way for the future 911 based racing cars. One 911R was fitted with the type 916 engine for the Targa Florio in 1969. The Type 916 four-camshaft version of the 901 engine produced 230 - horsepower, 20 more than the standard 911R engine. The only notable accomplishments for the 911R were establishing a series of 14 international and five world records at the Monza track in 1967 and winning the 1969 84-hour Marathon de la Route.
For 1968 and 1969 Porsche did homolgate racing versions of both the 911S and the 911T models for the Group 3 GT class. The engines for these cars were 2.0 liter racing engines based on the 911R engines, but with the production sized valves of the 911S and 911T engines, 42mm for the intake and 38mm for the exhaust. The 1969 version had a longer wheel base lengthened 2.24 inches by lengthening the rear trailing arms and moving the rear wheel cut outs to the rear, lengthening the wheelbase from 2211mm to 2268 mm. . At the same time fender flares were added front and rear to provide more wheel clearance. On these 2.0 liter cars wheel widths were available from 4.5" to 7".
For 1970 Porsche homologated their 911S in both the Group 3 and Group 4 GT classes. New rules for the GT classes allowed the fender flares to be increased by two inches from the stock configuration to accommodate larger wheels and tires. With the larger 2195 cc displacement the cars were in 2.0 to 2.5 liter class where they could increase the displacement up to the class limit by using a larger bore.
These cars were known by their internal designation the 911ST. From 1970 through 1972 a series of these cars were built for both rallying and GT racing. The first 911STs built to compete in this class had 2.3 liter engines (2247 cc, which was 85 mm bore and 66 mm stroke) and then they were expanded to 2.4 liters (there were two versions 2380 cc 87.5 with mm bore and 66 mm stroke and 2395 cc with 85 mm bore and 70.4 mm stroke) and finally 2.5 liters engine (again their were two versions 2492 cc with 86.7 mm bore and 70.4 mm stroke and 2464 cc with 89 mm bore and 66 mm stroke) The cars built in 1970 and 1971 utilized the 66 mm stroke will most of the later cars built in 1972 used the 70.4 mm stroke.
The 911ST was different from the standard production model in that thin gauge sheet metal was used for the roof panel, for both rear side panels and for the seat pan and interior back and side panels. In the interest of weight saving they also deleted the seat slide supports on the central tunnel, all standard seat belt mounting points, the heater ducts, the ashtray, the glove box door, and the tubes for the front and rear hood latches as well as the front and rear latch mechanisms. The decorative under door and bumper moldings were also left off, as were the fog light recess covers, front torsion bar protectors, the rear torsion bar covers and the passenger side sun visor. Sheet metal joints were not filled, none of the sound deadening material was used and even the paint was kept as thin as possible to help keep the weight down.
They also made parts available to further modify and lighten these 911s’s such as a fiberglass hood, front fenders, and front and rear bumpers, aluminum skinned doors with a steel frame, and Plexiglass for all windows except the windshield which was also available in thinner light glass. Optional 80 liter or 110 liter fuel tanks were available with a large filler neck up through the front hood were available in place of the standard 62 liter tank with its fender mounted filler. A strut tower brace was installed to add stiffness to the front trunk area. For racing 7" and 9" by 15 inch wheels were available.
1970 Rally version of the 2.2 911S was very successful in the Monte Carlo, Swedish rally, Austrian Alpine event, RAC Rally and the winner of the Manufactures Rally Championship.
1970 2.3 liter Circuit racing version of the 911S. These 2.3 racing cars utilized 7 and 9 inch wheels and became a favorite production based racing car for the private racing teams.
1970 2.4 liter light weight ("Proto") prototype built especially for the 1970 Tour de France. 1970 Tour de France. Porsche reduced the weight of this car even further than that of the 911R to 1720 pounds. The engine for the Tour de France car was a 2.4 - liter engine producing 245 horsepower. These extensive modifications were permitted because the car was raced as a prototype rather than as a GT car.
1971 2.2 liter 911S "Safari". The Safari cars were lighter in weight than the production cars, but the biggest difference was in the special preparation for the rigors of off-road racing which included extra reinforcement, raised suspension settings and skid shields. Though the cars were very successful in the East African Safari, they never won this event which is one of the few races in the world where a 911 or 911-based car was eligible that they have not been able to win.
The significance of Dave Morse’s 911ST was that it was the first of what became a number of Porsches that were purchased by Americans prepared and then taken back to Europe to race, mostly at Le Mans. Richie Ginther Racing's All American was an entry at Le Mans in 1971 with Alan Johnson and Elliott Forbes-Robinson as their drivers. Ginther called his 911 ST Sloopy Jr. and Sloop ran with a 2.4 engine configuration in the 1971 Le Mans race. Ginther was a master at getting a little more out of production Porsches because he had been preparing 911s and 914s for SCCA racing here in the US for a few years before their 1971 Le Mans effort. As a result he had some tricks for the 911 that they hadn’t seen in production based race cars Europe before. Ginther replaced the rubber suspension bushings with Teflon suspension bushings of their own manufacture which offered more precise suspension alignment. They also used stiffer torsion bars which improved the cars handling. Harold Broughton who did the engines for Ginther prepared the engine for their Le Mans effort. Their efforts paid off for they were the fastest qualifier in the Group 4 GT class and the fastest of 20 GT Porsches entered.
While this cars Le Mans debut was not auspicious because the car went out with a broken connecting rod in the eighth hour of the race because of an oil line problem early in the race, it was significant because it was the start of a trend that many American teams were to follow In 1979 we were part of an American team that took four Porsche 935s to Le Mans and while we finished better than the Ginther 911ST placing second, eighth and ninth we were not the first.
The Ginther 911ST was sold to Bill Yates, a California Porsche dealer who competed with the car in Porsche club events and continued through the years to modify the car to keep it competitive. Fortunately as the car was modified over the years Bill Yates kept all of the original parts, so that when Dave Morse purchased the car from Yates in 1993 it made it much easier for the Morspeed crew to restore the car to its original configuration.
Morspeed is a comprehensive restoration shop with many complete restorations under their belt ranging from 911 Carrera RSs, to 906s, 908s, 936s, 934s, 924 GTRs and a 917/30 . They do complete restorations in house including body work paint and all of the mechanical assembly. Jerry Woods Enterprises whose shop is within Morspeed did the engine and transmission for Dave Morse’s 911 ST. In fact the engine was assembled in one of our engine overhaul classes that we hold at Jerry Woods Enterprises.
Dave Morse and Ron Gruener and the rest of the Morspeed crew extensively researched the car and then performed the comprehensive restoration that was completed just in time for the 1997 Monterey Pre-Historics. The car tested well at the Pre-Historics and a week later it became the first 911 to participate in the Monterey Historics. The car was able to run because there is now a large group of the historic Trans-Am cars running at the US historic races and in the early days of the Trans-Am series there were two different classes in the Trans-Am series, the over 2.5 liter cars where the Mustangs, Cameros and the like ran and the under 2.5 liter class where the Porsches, Datsun 510s and Alfas ran. Dave’s 911 ST was the only under 2.5 liter Trans-Am car at the Monterey Historics, but it is a good beginning and it was great to see a 911 at the Historics.