TobaccoRoads - Carolinas Region Porsche Club of America (PCA)

The Historian’s Desk By Lou ScalzoThe 935:A Flame-ThrowingBeast from the PastWhile watching the live Le Mans race lastweekend on the wee hours of Saturdaynight, I thought of the idea of writing theJuly historian article on one of Porsche Racing’sall time greats - the 935. These carswhere fast, powerful, wicked looking, trickyto drive, and fun to watch from a spectatorsview, they where known to throw flames4-10ft long at various sections of racetrack.The very first of these 911’s to be turbochargedappeared in 1973 with the Martinilivery 2.1 RSR turbo. Porsche had decidedbecause of the racing rule changes andfrom information gained from 917-10, -30,to go ahead and turbocharge a 911. It featureda pool table rear spoiler, raised rearwindow to improve rear downforce, and anoil tank moved to the front luggage area forweight distribution. It produced 450hp andwas capable of speeds exceeding 190mph,and weighed about 1800 lbs. These carswon 3 races in the 1973 season with Martinisponsorship, and it was very much alearning experience, prompting variouschanges that appeared throughout the yearincluding moving the fuel tank inside thecockpit area!The next racer was the 934 which appearedin 1976 and was basically a raceversion of the street car 930, they wereeven equipped with complete interiors andelectric windows. Originally this car was notallowed to race in the IMSA, because JoeBishop wanted no turbo cars in the series.Jo Hoppen the head of race operations forPorsche North America was able to persuadeSCCA to allow the cars to competein that series and they won championshipsfor ‘76 and ‘77. Finally in 1978, John BishopJuly 2011 - Page 16relented and allowed turbo Porsches in theIMSA series, mainly due to sponsor pressurefrom Camel, the sponsor, and the popularityof the Porsches and drivers.So finally the first 935’s appeared on USsoil in 1978. Bear in mind these cars hadalready appeared in Europe in 1976, withgreat success, winning the World Championshipof Makes for 1976 and 1977. And1977 was a very dominant year indeed- 9races and 9 wins. BMW complained of thisdominance and actually pulled out of theseries, and to prove a point - Norbert Singer,head engineer for racing at Porsche, actuallyconstructed a “baby” 935 with a 1.4liter engine to again compete with BMW forjust 2 races in the lower series - it won alsoone of these races by a half a lap!Some more interesting facts and differences-1976 935’s - 2.8 liter approximately600hp air to air intercooling, single turbo.1977 with Group 5 rule changes, a doublerear window - required because it had tohave the original rear body and glass - thesecond window - Singer’s idea - was to raisethe roof for down force and aerodynamics.Also changed, the rear firewall was allowedto be moved forward 20cm. or 7 inches, allowingthe use of air to water intercoolersand twin turbos.Back to the US and IMSA racing in 1978 -John Bishop head of IMSA, asked Jo HoppenPCNA racing head what the differenceswhere between the 934 and the 935? “Notmuch just no power windows “ replied Hoppen- boy was he in for a surprise! PeterGregg of Brumos fame went on to win the‘78 IMSA championship.One of the most successful teams of thisera was that of Dick Barbour and Bob Garretson- they had a variety of drivers overthe next several years - Brain Redman, RolfStommelon [aka Mr. 935], Bobby Rahal,John Paul, John Paul Jr, Allan Moffit, JanetGuthrie, with the top wrench Jerry Woodsand a group of volunteer PCA’ers, this teamwent on a winning rampage. Wins includedSebring 1978,79,80. Their biggest year