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Cayman R - 1967 911R Retrospective History/Specs/Conversion Thread
When Porsche came out with the 911R in 1967, it was the beginning of a competition car that focused primarily on extreme weight savings....taking an already light car and losing 500lb.
The Cayman R, which was only built for one year and 563 copies to the US, although having some improved tuning/weight savings, stopped far short of the aggressiveness Porsche used in '67.
It's always been a thought, what if the 2012 Cayman R was actually built with the same weight saving focus the original R was built with 45 years earlier?
This will be a look back at the '67 R, what it was, what it did, and what of those changes, including modern improvements, might be able to be applied to the Cayman R.
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In 1967 Porsche built its first dedicated racing car based on the 911, it was called the ‘R’ for ‘rennen’, or ‘racing’.
To homologate the machine for the GT class required a production run of 500 vehicles, and that wasn’t possible so the car was built as a prototype.
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1967 911R
- came from piech's absolute focus on weight at all costs including no class or specific outcome or buyer
- lightened door handles in/out/fiberglass bumpers/plastic windows
- 210hp/8000rpm
- momo prototipo wheel
--------------- 911R
There were 4 prototype cars built before the 'production run' of 20 cars at Karl Baur, the same shop that built the 904 fiberglass bodies.
Porsche created four prototype versions of its newly introduced Porsche 911 for the purpose of GT racing. They were introduced in the Spring of 1967 and dubbed the 911 R.
Nearly every component of the 911 R was constructed of lightweight material resulting in an end-product that shed around 500 pounds than the standard 911.
Fiberglass was used for the doors, bumpers, engine covers, and hood.
All interior non-essential items were removed and those that remained were replaced with lightweight construction.
The windows even received attention helping on the quest to shed every available pound possible. Outwardly, there was little to distinguish it from its 911 siblings.
The flared wheel arches and smaller bumpers gave some signs that work had been done to the vehicle.
An up-close view of the vehicle revealed even more such as plastic door hinges.
Porsche used the Type 901/22 engine from the Carrera 906 to power the 911R.
Some of the cars were given mechanical Bosch fuel injection systems while others received Weber carburetors.
Homologation requirements kept Porsche from using the 911R in the Sports Car Class.
Instead it was used in the competitive prototype class where it took many larger and more powerful vehicles such as Ford's Ferrari killer, the GT40.
The 911R was given an opportunity to prove its potential and capabilities when it was entered by the factory with driver Gerard Larousse in the Tour de France.
At the conclusion of the race, the Porsche 911R had captured an overall victory.
In total there were twenty examples created with four being prototypes.
Though it never reached the goals the company had set, it did go along way in proving the capabilities of the 911.
The 500 car requirement for homologation kept the Porsche 911R from competing in classes it may have won.
Later, the company introduced the 911 2.0 T/R which qualified to compete in the GT class and continued the winning tradition of the legendary Porsche company.
The R designation meant a lightened car with thinner sheet metal and a racing engine with 210 bhp at 8000 rpm.
The bodyshell was made by Karl Bauer and featured GRP front wings, bonnet, boot lid and bumpers. Even the dashboard had plastic elements.
The side glass was replaced with Perspex and the rear window was 2mm thick plastic.
The doors were aluminium and everything that could have a hole drilled in it to make it lighter did, like the floor.
By the time they’d finished stripping the kilos away, the car weighed 830kg. And that included the most spectacular motor ever fitted to a 911: the Carrera 6’s 2-litre flat 6.
Using titanium rods and running in eight bearings, surrounded by magnesium cases it produced 210bhp at 8000rpm and sounded,
indeed still sounds, about as good as any engine ever made. Do the maths for yourself on this one: in 1967 the 911R had a power to weight ratio
of 254bhp per tonne: nothing else came close. When people talk about the 2.7RS being the true lightweight,
they are sadly mistaken –it’s an S-Class next to one of these. 24 were built.
Imagine Porsche taking a GT3 RS, re-shelling it in carbon, adding a Carrera GT motor and entering it into Le Mans and you have an idea of the scale of the changes.
The 911 R was, and is, the most extreme representation of the Porsche 911 ever to wear number plates, this is why the ‘R’ moniker has been used so sparingly by Porsche.
Occasionally a full-house race car will warrant it, to show the level of upgrade it represents over the previous machine,
like this year’s GT3 R which is an altogether more serious package than a GT3 Cup.
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Porsche‘s customers had raced the 356 GT models before the 911 was introduced so it was only logical to expect them to do the same with the 911 once it was introduced.
Porsche themselves were the first to enter a 911 in competition. Production and sales of the 911 started in September of 1964 and by
January of 1965 Porsche had already run a factory prepared 911 in the Monte Carlo Rally where they placed fifth overall, an impressive beginning for a new model.
For the Monte Carlo Rally the 911 was homologated in Grand Touring, the engine modified to produce 160 horsepower, a 100 liter gas tank was used,
as well as larger brakes and limited slip differential. The 911 then went on to win most of the major European rallies,
including three victories at the famed Monte Carlo Rally and a win in the tour of Corsica.
Porsche was putting most of their factory racing efforts during the sixties and early seventies into the 906, 910, 907 908 and 917
and aside from the 911R left much of the development of the 911 and 911S to their racing customers. In 1967 they built 22 of the very radical 911Rs.
The "R" was derived from the German word rennen, which means race. To save weight on these cars the fenders, hood and engine lid,
doors and bumpers were made of fiberglass. All of the windows, but the windshield were made of Plexiglas.
The oil tank was made of aluminum and mounted ahead of the right rear wheel. The result of these efforts to reduce the weight held the weight to 1830 lbs.
The engine was an adaptation of the racing 906 engine, but based on production 911 engine components that produced the same 210 hp as the 906 engine.
500 cars would have to be built in a 12 month period to homologate the 911R in the GT class and the sales department decided
that the general public would not buy 500 race cars, so only the original 22 911Rs were built. Because too few of them were built to homologate them as a production car,
not very much was done with the 911Rs themselves, but they showed the way for the future 911 based racing cars.
One 911R was fitted with the type 916 engine for the Targa Florio in 1969.
The Type 916 four-camshaft version of the 901 engine produced 230 - horsepower, 20 more than the standard 911R engine.
The only notable accomplishments for the 911R were establishing a series of 14 international and five world records at the
Monza track in 1967 and winning the 1969 84-hour Marathon de la Route.
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R = Racing: The historical roots of the 911 R
03/02/2016 Porsche is currently exhibiting the 911 R at the International Motor Show in Geneva.
Its ancestor appeared just under 40 years ago: a 210 hp race car approved for road use. We take a look back.
It all began with a test report. Porsche employee Rolf Wütherich summarised the goal of the 911 R project in the fall of 1966:
“A vehicle is to be built that is superior to the current competition in its power-to-weight ratio.”
The technician, who would later became known as the race car mechanic for James Dean, conscientiously performs the related calculations.
With an unladen weight of 800 kg and 210 hp of engine power, the car’s power-to-weight ratio was less than
4 kg per hp – 1.5 kg lower than that of the competition at the time. With such a vehicle, Porsche could dominate in GT sport,
just as the 356 with a Carrera engine had done a decade earlier. This would be an enormous task,
because progress of the 911 in motorsport came rather slow at first. After a factory team raced a slightly modified 911 at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1965,
only individuals raced the 911 at GT races. The successes of private car owner Eberhard Mahle, in particular,
at the European Hill Climb Championship, made the people in Zuffenhausen give more thought to the idea of developing a purebred race car version of the 911.
Six-cylinder engine 911 R 2,0 Coupé, 1967, Porsche AGIn October 1966, a first lightweight test car of the type 911 R (R = Racing) was built,
and it was tested on the new skid pad in Weissach and on the race course in Hockenheim. The performance data that was measured showed the great potential of this idea:
With a lap time of 2 min. 17.5 sec., the 911 R was just 12 seconds slower than the record time, which was set by a Porsche 906 Carrera 6. For a GT car,
this lap time is an excellent figure, because the type 906 was a genuine Group 4 race car in the sports car world championship.
Along with low vehicle weight, it was the engine of the 911 R that delivered excellent driving performance. The car was powered by a six-cylinder flat engine,
very similar to the one that was also used in the Porsche 906 Carrera 6. The type 901/22 race engine, which was equipped with dual ignition,
titanium connecting rods and large triple carburettors, had a power output of 210 hp at 8,000 rpm.
With this engine, the 911 R accelerated from zero to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds and could cover a distance of one kilometre from a standstill in just 24.2 seconds –
one second faster than a Porsche 904 Carrera GTS and a full 5 seconds faster than an Alfa Romeo GTA.
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Interior of the 911 R, 1967, Porsche AGIn 1967, four prototypes of the 911 R were built,
in whose construction all of the capabilities of the homologation formula for motorsport were exploited.
Built under the motto of maximum lightweight design, the front lid, front wings, doors and bumpers were made of glass fibre reinforced polymer.
These glass fibre reinforced parts are produced by the Stuttgart-based company Karl Baur. The weight reductions affect nearly all of the car’s parts.
The windscreen was made of thin 4-mm glass, and the other windows were 2-mm thick plexiglas. Whatever was not absolutely necessary was left out.
Purism in its purist form. In the trimmed-down interior, for instance, two of the five instruments,
the ashtrays and cigarette lighters and front passenger’s sun visor were removed. The crank mechanism for the side windows was omitted,
and plain leather straps were used for this function. Compared to a standard production 911 S – which is anything but a heavyweight at 1030 kg
– the total weight reduction amounted to 230 kg.
However, Porsche was cautious regarding its decision on production volume for the first genuine 911 race sports car.
With an estimated sales price of 45,000 DM, a 911 R is nearly twice as expensive as a regular 911 S.
Considering the economic recession that was making itself felt in the mid-1960s, the volume of 500 vehicles required for a GT homologation was a very remote possibility.
In May 1967, Porsche management therefore decided to produce just 19 vehicles of the type 911 R. 15 of them would be sold to individual customers,
while the remaining four would remain at the company for motorsport competition.
Porsche 911 R, Press preview in Hockenheim, December 1967, Porsche AGSince homologation as a regular Gran Tourismo was impossible,
the factory team only entered races in the somewhat exotic 2-litre GT prototype class (GTP).
The 911 R made its racing debut in July 1967 at the “Circuito del Mugello”, which still counted as a world championship series race in that year.
Finishing after two Porsche 910 race cars, drivers Vic Elford and Gijs van Lennep took an excellent third place overall in their 911 R.
Not only had they left the entire Alfa fleet behind them; they also beat a Ford GT40 Mk III, which took fourth place.
At the “Marathon de la Route” endurance race in 1967, drivers Hans Herrmann, Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch went to the start.
After 84 hours on the Nürburgring, they drove to victory in a 911 R equipped with a semi-automatic Sportomatic transmission.
In September 1967, Gerhard Mitter took first place in the category of sports cars up to 2 litres in displacement at the “ADAC Hill Climb Trophy” race in the “Swabian Alps”.
The car also competed in other races in rally motorsport. For instance, Vic Elford won the “Rallye Coupe des Alpes” in 1967;
in 1968 the 911 R repeated its podium placement in Mugello, and in 1969 Gérard Larrousse drove to first place at the “Rallye Neige et Glace”.
These successes were followed in the fall by another overall victory by Larrousse at the “Tour de Corse”.
First place at the “Tour de France” in 1969, also with Gérard Larrousse at the wheel, would be the most significant racing success of a 911 R ever.
Porsche 911 R, 14th Tour de Corse, 1969, Porsche AGIn the fall of 1967, a 911 R attracted a lot of attention for its unusual record setting drive.
Four Swiss race car drivers, Jo Siffert, Dieter Spoerry, Rico Steinemann and Charles Vögele, set out to break several endurance world records in Monza.
When their Porsche 606 Carrera 6 proved to be unsuitable for the very steep drives, the Porsche factory quickly sent a 911 R as a substitute vehicle.
Not only was the car driven from Zuffenhausen to Monza on its own wheels. The engine already had 100 hours on the dynamometer by then as well.
The only preparation necessary was to change the gear ratios. To preserve the gear wheel of the highest gear for 96 hours at full throttle,
the 4th and 5th gears were equipped with an identical high-speed gear ratio. The record drive took place in early November 1967, and it lasted three days and three nights.
After 20,000 km at full throttle, five new world records and 14 international class records had been set – all at an average speed of more than 200 km/h.
Porsche 911 R: 1967 - 1968
Engine Type 901/22
Displacement 1991 ccm
Bore x stroke 80 x 66 mm
Compression 10.5:1
Transistor dual ignition
Power 154 kW (210 hp) at 8,000 rpm.
Weight 800 kg
Fuel tank capacity 100 litres
Top speed approx. 245 km/h (depends on gear ratios)
Sales price 45,000 DM
Volume 23 (19 vehicles plus 4 test cars)
Chassis numbers 118 99 001R – 118 99 019R and test cars R1 – R4
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Ferdinand Piëch’s ground-breaking 1967 Porsche 911 R is still the lightest of all 911s
29 February 2016The Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 is a key model in the history of the 911. It delighted the purists and, over 40 years later, has led to the current GT3.
Yet the RS 2.7 owed much to an earlier 911, built six years before it: back in 1967, Ferdinand Piëch created the Porsche 911 R.
This is its story. The Porsche 911 is recognized as the most successful road-going sports car of all time.
It quickly made its name in motor sport, and on-going development for motor sport has always kept it up to the mark.
The 911’s competition success began soon after the start of production, when Herbert Linge drove a modestly powered production 911 to a remarkable 5th place in the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally.
In 1966, the 160HP Porsche 911 S was introduced and after that there was no holding back. A French,
privately entered 911S took 14th place overall and a class win in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, while ace works driver Vic Elford became European rally champion.
In Zuffenhausen, minds were concentrated on the development of new, even more powerful competition 911 models.
Race director Peter Falk and engine guru Hans Mezger were deeply involved but, above all, it was Ferdinand Piëch – Ferry Porsche's 29-year-old nephew –
who had the power and the vision to move things forward. Promoted to head of R&D at Zuffenhausen in 1966, Piëch knew exactly what he wanted to do.
He was the man behind the creation of the first super-high-performance 911, a car intended to be capable of wiping the board in GT racing.
Piëch, whose passion as an engineer is legendary, got down to work with racing mechanic Rolf Wütherich,
their first aim being to strip the Porsche 911 S of every ounce of unnecessary weight. Although the unitary steel bodyshell was retained,
anything bolted onto it – such the bonnet, doors and wings – were replaced by glassfibre panels.
Plexiglas replaced the heavy windows and metal parts were drilled with holes to resemble Swiss cheese.
The cockpit was stripped to the bare minimum and sound insulation was removed.
Even the door handles were ditched in favour of simple plastic straps and the tail-lights were replaced by smaller parts of minimal weight.
Four prototypes were built that way, each one a little lighter than its predecessor. By the end, the 1,030kg of a standard Porsche 911 S had been reduced to 800kg on the scales.
The 911 R remains the lightest 911 constructed by the factory to date.
To complete their Porsche 911 R – the ‘R’ standing for ‘Racing’ – and create the ultimate rally and race missile, further work was necessary.
Piëch specified lightweight, wider wheels for faster cornering speeds, plus a tachometer reading to 10,000rpm and a ‘Monza’ steering wheel.
Next on the list was an engine to match the potential of this projectile. Piëch settled on the 210HP aluminium six-cylinder Type 901/22,
basically as used in 906 and 910 Porsche racing models. He also experimented with the 230HP higher-revving Type 916 race engine.
When Porsche’s celebrated racing manager and occasional racer Huschke von Hanstein tried the 911 R, he was full of enthusiasm.
Von Hanstein, a successful Mille Miglia and Targa Florio driver, was so delighted that he urged its homologation for GT racing.
However, the sales department in Zuffenhausen did not share his optimism, having no confidence that the 500 examples necessary for homologation could ever be sold.
For that reason, only 20 further examples of the 911 R were made. With a very high purchase price of 45,000 Deutschmarks,
it was hard to argue against the cautious policy of the sales experts but subsequent events – concerning the 2.7 RS – suggested they might have been wrong.
As it was, the unhomologated 911 R could not compete in GT events and was therefore relegated to the prototype class,
in which it had no real chance against pure racing models such as the Porsche 906, 907 and 910.
The one event in which the 911 R did secure a remarkable outright victory of international significance was the 1967 Marathon de la Route –
an 84-hour non-stop blast round the old Nürburgring’s Nordschleife and Sudschleife combined.
Porsche’s overall technical supremo at the time, Helmuth Bott, saw that event as a golden opportunity to promote the then-new Sport-o-Matic gearbox.
The third 911 R prototype was converted for that event with a 911 S Sport-kit 175HP engine mated to the new semi-automatic gearbox.
After the event it was converted back to its original specification. Drivers Vic Elford, Hans Herrmann and Jochen Neerpasch won that demanding event by a huge margin.
The publicity from that victory was invaluable to the company.
By contrast, another major success for the 911 R was completely unexpected. In October 1967,
Jo Siffert and his Swiss teammates had travelled to Monza to break some high-speed world distance records established by Ford and Toyota.
Unfortunately, their Porsche 906’s suspension soon proved unable to survive long distances on the bumpy Italian circuit.
To save the day, a Porsche 911 R was immediately despatched from Germany to take the place of the 906.
That 911 R provided the Swiss team with five new long-distance world records – including the 20,000km at an average speed of 209km/h.
Only later did the team discover that the engine of the record car was not a freshly refurbished unit, as they had thought,
but one which had already spent 100 hours in a flat-out test round the factory’s test track at Weissach.
That might seem enough, but the story of the 911 R’s achievements was not quite finished. In 1969, when the Tour de France Automobile was opened for prototypes,
Gérard Larrousse entered a 911 R and won outright. He triumphed again shortly afterwards in the Tour de Corse with the same car.
He entered the Tour de France again in 1970 even though he was by then matched against two pure sports-racing prototypes, the 12-cylinder Matra 650s.
Larrousse promised the Stuttgart engineers a case of champagne for every kilogram of weight they could remove from the Porsche 911 S he ran that year.
He took third place overall behind the monster Matra and duly honoured his debt to the Stuttgart engineers with seven cases of champagne.
The next major step in the development of 911 racing models did not come until 1973 and, exactly as before, the ‘bean counters’ in the sales team were unenthusiastic.
This time, however, the technicians prevailed: the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 made its debut at the Paris Motor Show in October 1972. It was on sale to the public,
with 500 needing to be sold to homologate it for the GT class of racing. Despite the dire predictions of the sales team, the production run soon had to be doubled to meet demand.
The Porsche RS 2.7, which in its most extreme version was claimed to measure 975kg on the scales, also brought in a striking new rear spoiler,
which was quickly nicknamed the ‘duck-tail’.
The 1973 Carrera RS and its even harder racing brother, the RSR, are now among the most coveted Porsche 911 models of all time.
They are the true ancestors of today's racing 911s, such as the GT3. Purists among Porsche connoisseurs have no doubt that without Ferdinand Piëch's vision in 1967,
when his inspiration set the 911 on a clear path of high performance, the story would have been very different indeed.
At the Geneva Salon in 2016, Porsche will be paying the 911 R the honour that is, without any doubt, due to the 1967 original of that name.
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List of parts (which, with the exception of the early fuchs 7R wheels) Note that this treatment can be applied to either a 1965-68 or 69
and newer model to achieve the flavor and style of the legendary 911R
Note: Some of these items are considered for Racing Purposes Only.
Front hood Lightweight fiberglass with foam core underlay for strength. Available in 1965-73 and backdate version 1974-89.
Also available per special order with the balsa wood inserts. Finished in black gel coat.
Hood prop A later factory supplied item that finishes off the installation and allows easy access to the front compartment
Front bumper A Quality new molding that fits right!
Front Rubber/ stainless tie downs Rubber toggles to hold down the hood
Front fenders High quality fiberglass molded fenders available with or without gas door area (Accepts your original gas door)
We have the front area filled in at time of molding. You have to cut out the vent area for the cooler ducting. We supply a template for this task.
Front 911R turnsignal lamps Our precision molded insert made for 69-73 fenders. We have two versions available:
A 911R styled long unit with incorporated oil cooler duct, lamp, and hardware or the short version with no duct , which allows you to install a screen or horn grill on the fender
Center fill gas tank This made to order part begins with a new reproduction gas tank. We modify it to accept the correct bung with hidden locked gas cap.
The finishing touch is a polished cap with the "holey" blade. The drip tray has provisions for overflow/ rain to run to the ground
911R doors Precision molded fiberglass replicas of the 911R door. Requires trimming , fitting of hinges, latch, door handles and window /frame hardware.
Companion aluminum hinges are available
911R windows We have formed and trimmed plastic replica windows for the doors. The large slide up and the small triangular unit with bubble vent.
We also have those unique louvered rear quarter windows in several versions. Closed or open, for glue in as original, or fixed with rubber seal/trim,
and finally for opening style. We also have a formed and shaped back window that gets mounted in the oe rubber seal
911R door handles Save over 4 lbs with these plastic beauties! Will accept the oe lock cylinders if you wish. Comes with push button spring loaded actuator
Rear flares If your car is a 1965-1968, then you will need a pair of these flares to allow for the wider wheels
Rear bumper Available in short and long wheel base styles.
Rear deck lid Fiberglass rear lid
Rear lid prop A version for the rear
Rear lid grill grills to several specifications
911R rear hinges We have some of the best fitting and looking replica hinges made! Stainless steel construction, hardware
Rear lid hold downs Rubber /stainless steel pull downs to keep the lid shut tight
911R rear lamps Precision molded housings support various configurations (red / amber- red, white/amber- red, yellow-red, etc) of lenses and bulbs
hinges, latch, door handles and window /frame hardware. Companion aluminum hinges are available
Cayman Changes (The below Cayman R is at 2724lb. before any of the CF mods below it's pics)
Obviously the above is a lot to digest/consider. After instructing/competing in 987/981's, besides all the weight saving ideas above,
one of the first things I'd do to get the car to handle to it's potential is convert to multi-link rear suspension ala the 911.
It's always telling when people talk about how the Cayman has an advantage over the 911 due to its mid-engine design,
but they leave out the fact that it has geometry compromised strut rear suspension, which is part of why the 911 still has the greater potential
(cost/performance decision by Porsche on the Cayman)
In the 992 GT3, Porsche is finally giving the car double A arm front suspension and making a big deal about it...please, you mean like the Miata has always had?
Anyway, Porsche marketing and product placement aside, the Cayman platform can benefit from the same suspension the Miata (and now GT3) has.
There are at least two shops doing this already.
Recaro Profi/Profi XL/Pole Position seats w/no pan/aluminum side mounts
Clubsport wheel/No A/C/No PCM/Profi seats
Lightened interior
Lightened front compartment/Battery
Titanium exhaust
Carbon/Polycarb. rear hatch with prop rod
Carbon hood with prop rod
Carbon front fenders
Carbon headlight replacements
Carbon mirrors
Carbon quarter panels
Polycarb. door windows
Didn't include carbon doors/roof above because the lack of internal crash protection makes a cage important and imho that's beyond what is safe/reasonable on a dual purpose street car.
But for those who want to go all in, the doors and roof are included below
That is a great candidate, gaps look good so prob no unibody damage, curious to see what it goes for but imho an R should be a 6sp if doing a lightweight retro (55lb. lighter)
although, to be totally fair, the original R won the 84 hour "Marathon de la Route" with a Sportomatic installed so maybe there is some PDK basis
12-20-2020, 02:43 PM
Cayman R - 1967 911R Retrospective History/Specs/Conversion Thread
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