Offered for sale is a one of a kind tribute to the 1973 Targa Flora winning Martini Racing Porsche 911 RSR Supper Carrera. This vintage race car started life as a 1971 Porsche 911 T. It is a completely rust free chassis from the south west. It was fully restored in 2011 and has a clear title, here is its story:
I have been racing in IMSA since 1977 and competed in the Daytona 24 hr until 2000, fielding Porsches for many of those years. I purchased this car in August of 2009. At the time, I thought it was just an old race car sitting in a warehouse in Glendale AZ. The seller told me he bought it for a project for himself and his son. His son had since gone on to college, and had subsequently moved away, without the racing project ever getting underway.
At the time I was driving a street car for Porsche club Drivers Ed events and was in the market to build a track car that was fast, reliable and had a low hourly operating cost. I was also thinking of racing in some vintage events. After talking to the seller, he told me that he knew nothing about the history of the car. He did have a title for the car and it was still in a past owners name, because he felt there was no need to title a race car.
The car was perfect for what I was looking for (a vintage Porsche race car that needed a home). At the time, the car was painted yellow red and black. For some reason I thought the car seemed familiar to me but I could not put my finger on it. We started the restoration with the hope of tracking down some history along the way, and bringing the car to a perfect period correct racer.
The car came with a couple of 2.7's and 915’s, so it was logical to go in that direction. I decided that using 2.7 RS pistons would give the reliability I was looking for, as well as being able to run on premium pump fuel if so desired. I built up a 2.7 block with racing cams and Weber carbs, sparing no expense in the process. Every detail of the engine assembly was done by the book, with the benefit of 30+ years of living, breathing and racing these cars.
The car was already equipped for the 915 transmissions so we did a full rebuild on a limited slip 915, and installed that in the car. The car was already equipped with Bilstein coil overs in the front with a proper sway bar. Bilsteins were also installed in the rear of the car.
Keeping with my vintage racing plan I decided to use Hoosier DT's 24 X 8.5 - 16 in the front and 25.5 X 10 - 16 for the rear as the tires of choice. The wheels were custom fabricated by utilizing 6 inch Fuchs alloys as the rim center while adding inner and outer BBS halves for a period correct result. Every inch of the car was gone over with a fine toothed comb, if a component was suspect, it was replaced.
Mechanical restoration complete, it was time to test the car on the track. The car ran and drove incredibly well. The down force from the rear fenders is fantastic. On my first outing I thought there was something wrong with the other cars on the track, as they were going so slow. As it turns out, I just had a completely dialed in car.
During the mechanical restoration process, I had sent out many, many inquiry letters to anyone I could think of in my Porsche circles. I was trying to find out anything at all about the providence of the car. Months went by and I got a phone call as a result of one of my letters. The letter had made its way to the owner of the car when it was painted yellow, red and black. He said he had a few Porsches raced them a bit and built the car. He was not using the car at the time and the UPS driver kept asking if he would sell it. One day he did and that was the last he has heard of the car and he should have never sold it. He went on to tell me that the body is a one of a kind that was made during the restoration of the 1973 911 RSR that won the 1973 Targa Flora and it could never be replaced.
After that call I knew precisely what livery to run on the car. I dismantled the car and set about making as true a tribute as humanly possible to the 1973 MARTINI RACING Porsche 911. After months of research, hundreds of calls, and many more hours of labor, the result is what you see here. Faithfully replicated to the smallest detail, this is a true time machine. Perfect for any collection, vintage event or PCA DE.