The most famous 911 of all was a combination of circumstances and inspiration. Total 911 delves into its fascinating history…
Newly appointed Porsche CEO Ernst Fuhrmann was watching the racing at Hockenheim in the spring of 1972. A keen motorsport fan, Ernst needed no professional excuse to spend a Sunday at the track. But not for the first time he could see that the V6 Cologne Capris and turbocharged BMWs were quicker than the 911s. He turned to the fellow standing next to him who happened to be Wolfgang Berger, a young, rather self-effacing chassis engineer working in Norbert Singer’s group. “Why are the Capris so much faster?” Ernst demanded. “It’s because manufacturers like Ford have a dedicated racing department for clients that prepares the cars so that they are as light and fast as possible within the rules,” replied Wolfgang.
Ernst considered this: now that the reign of the 917 in Europe was over, it had already struck him that Porsche badly needed a front-running racer to carry the Porsche shield. There was no question of a revival of anything like the expensive 917 programme. The 911 was the obvious route, but the company needed a higher profile than the ST 2.3s and 2.5s that competed in the smaller capacity classes of Group 4.
“How would we do that?” he asked Wolfgang. The latter explained that for a bespoke Group 4 car they would start with a 911 shell and re-engineer both chassis and body. More power from the engine would be required, too. Cutting across the usual lines of authority that would have meant finding Helmuth Bott, who then would have instructed Singer, Ernst simply told Wolfgang to get on with it.
It was typical of the impulsive Ernst, but as a seasoned Porsche engineer himself, Wolfgang’s words had confirmed what he’d been thinking anyway, and time was of the essence. His long-term plan – indeed his intended legacy – was to replace the 911 with the 928, but in the medium term the 911 was Porsche’s flag carrier and should be exploited for all it was worth.
Under Norbert Singer’s auspices, work began on this Group 4 contender immediately. Wolfgang took the 911T shell, the lightest. This 911 wouldn’t go to the extremes of Ferdinand Piëch’s 911R that had pillars, door shuts and even the key drilled to achieve its 820kg. Five years on the homologation weight minimum was a slightly more sane 900kg. Nevertheless, to approach this, Wolfgang’s ‘T’ was given steel body panels of 0.7mm rather than production 1-1.25mm and thinner, specially made glazing. The bumpers were in fibreglass, as were the front lid and engine cov
