Porsh-uh

Inspired by a recent article in Excellence Magazine and my recent trip to Rennsport Reunion II...

What are everyone's Top Ten Racing Porsches of all time?

10. 924GTP- Had to get one of our own up there!
9. 959 Rally- How many Ferraris have won the Paris-Dakar Rally?
8. 550 Spyder- The epitome of "run what ya brung."
7. 904GTS- One of the most beautiful cars ever made.
6. 908 Spyder- I hate to say it, but this was the best sounding car @ Rennsport
5. 911GT1- Gorgeous and the last LeMans winner
4. 935 Moby Dick- Fast, fast and more fast
3. 917/30- Almost 1 BHP PER POUND!!!!!!!
2. 917K- Seriously, who doesn't think this is a great race car?
1. 962- Dominant for 10+ years... that's unheard of...

Rich Sandor

same as yours, cept I think the 917/30 is #1. the 962 is awsome, but a 917/30 would beat a 962, I think.

iloveporsches

I'd just switch around the 917/30 and the 917K. Though the raw, brute power of the 917/30 would be tempting to take over the more refined power of the 962.

Porsh-uh

I am sure it would... I think the 917/30 is probably one of the fastest cars ever, if not the fastest... can you imagine 1300 BHP in a 1500lb. car? Crap. But the 962 won everything for years and years and years and years. It was only until the Nissan GTPs came along that they really starting showing any age.

streckfu's

Well put.

I'd remove the 908 and add the 917.

Z-man

My list (in no order of preference)

- 917/30 1000 hp? Yikes!
- 904 GTS - What a body!
- 1970's 911 Carrera RSR - Serious horsepower even today!
- 962 - Sheer dominance!
- GT1 - Sheer dominance again!
- 550 Spyder - "The Giant Killer!"
- 911 GT3RS - The Racer's group GT-class car that won outright at Daytona!
- 935 - Brutal.

-Z-man.

Serge944

Looks like a good list! 917/30, 962, and the Dick are my favorites.

Sean

550 Spyder was the first. It's not the fastest, but it's still the best in terms of what it did for Porsche.

TaylorSea4

I was sorta shocked to see how low on the Top 10 Excellence had Donahue's 917/30. Maybe because the Can-Am's stature is lost on a lot of people today. That being said, it's no doubt what MY #1 is...

1. 917/30- as a kid, I always liked Sunoco sponsored cars (they LOOKED cool); the ultimate Sunoco ride, the BADEST Porsche ever. PERIOD. Porsche's desire to win the coveted Can-Am crown led to this car, which in turn killed the series with it's dominance.

2. 962- consider that a Dauer 962 road car won Le Mans in 1994. The 962 did more for the IMSA series than ANY other car. Holbert, Bell, Lowenbrau. Need I say more?

3. 935- unreal automobile, man. Power, an UNsophisticated look; like a mean, gnarly junkyard dog that looked like it could (and WOULD) kick your *** given the chance.

4. 911 RSR- along with the IROC cars, VERY cool cars. Legendary racing history. Notched the first overall at Daytona for a GT car back when.

5. 917K- the original Le Mans dominator. McQueen drove one, man.

6. 550 Spdyer- a shame that it's more famous for James Dean's DWI death than the amazing car it was/is.

7. GT1- what more can you say? Last Le Mans winner, VERY trick racecar.

8. 944 Turbo Cup car- doesn't really strike fear into the hearts of small children, but a VERY cool production racer. Considering the 944 was a perfectly balanced car to begin with, shed 500 pounds, add a few more ponies and some trick goodies. BAM! Racecar.

9. 911GT3- long live The Racer's Group!!

10. Hurley's 914-6GT- I wasn't old enough to watch it race, but I recall more than one article on it when I was a kid. At 5 years old, you just look at the pictures in magazines, and that car LOOKED cool! The FIRST IMSA Champion, too.

(edit)- Gotta give Honorable Mention/ People's Choice to Tifo's car- take one LOOK at that thing and tell me it's no race car!!

hoffman912

917 in all of its forms... are just delicious, especially in golf livery.

917/30
917k

550, the classic car that you could race right off the show room floor

911r kicked ***.. but dosent has more legend than racing history.. and the rsr was bad ***... but the 935 kicked way too much *** in impsa

gt1.. eh.. a few good years but nothing compared to the dominance of the 956 and 962 projects of the 80s. that wa porsch at its most dominant.

now the 912 is my favorite car.. jeeze.. who am i kidding.. the 912 didnt have much racing history

but the 908 did.. and so did its brother the 906

so many great cars, how does one choose the best??

easy.. they dont. they aknowledge each for its own merrit and stop thinking about it before their heads explode from analysing this too much

IMB951

Whoa, talk about a great idea for an Excellence magazine test!!!

917/30 vs 962 !!!!!!! that would be amazing!

joseph mitro

in no particular order:

956/962
993TT
917
73 911RS
965 GT2
959
944 TS
968 TS/club sport
Boxster S
Carrera GT

Scootin159

LeMans as a course hasn't changed much in it's years...it's had a few changes, but those are normally 10 years apart or so. I imagine you can find enough data from the 917 and the 962 running at lemans to determine who has the historically faster laps.

Geo

I disagreed with what was in Excellence.

My picks, in order.....

1) 917K - This is the car that forever established Porsche as a player in world class motorsports. Prior to the 917K, Porsche won class victories in world class events, but never an overall. The 917K brought them the overall win at LeMans, the world's most important sports car race.

2) 935 - This car did several things for Porsche. First of all, it established that they could repeat their winning ways in world-class event, even with rules created from a fresh sheet of paper. It established that Porsche could again dominate in world-class racing, not just win. And probably most importantly, it established they could repeat these results in the hands of customers. Few cars have dominated in racing like the 935 and its variants.

3) 962/956 - These cars again established that Porsche could take a fresh set of rules and dominate world-class sports car racing and do it in the hands of customers even.

4) 917/30 - As truly awesome as this car was and still is, it came at the end of the CanAm series (and perhaps sped up its demise) and just did not have the impact on the world sports car racing scene like the above cars did. The car made incredible horsepower that was only beaten in road racing during the F1 turbo era. It was technologically brilliant from an engine standpoint. The chassis wasn't as good and truth be known, the McLaren of the same vintage was probably still a better chassis. At least the McLaren was a monocoque. If I'm not mistaken the 917/30 was still a tube framed car which made it a technological dinosaur even during that era.

The rest are much harder for me to assess. There have been many fabulous Porsche race cars over the years, but none of them come close to the importance of the above 4 IMHO.

deni durrell

Anyone want to read the article? I have it it pdf format.... send mail to
mrfrog@ddurrelltech.com.