5 Things You May Not Know About the Porsche 959
How familiar are you with Porsche's legendary 959?
1. The 959 Was Originally Designed as a Rally Car
While many folks think of the 959 as a world-beating road car, it was actually designed to test out various off-road technologies. When development began in 1981, head engineer Helmuth Bott received the green light to build a mule that would compete in Group B rally racing. This platform allowed Bott to accelerate the development process for what would eventually become the road going version of the 959. Plus, rally racing was the perfect platform to test the car's all-wheel drive system.
2. It's the Only Car to Win Both LeMans and Paris-Dakar
Porsche wound up developing only three 911-derived 959's for Group B racing. All three cars failed to finish in their 1985 debut at the Paris-Dakar Rally, but Porsche landed a 1-2 finish the very next year. The road racing variant of the 959, the 961, also debuted in 1986. That debut was much more successful, as the car took home a first place class finish in its very first race. Unfortunately, the car caught fire the following year, which effectively ended its racing career. Porsche did repair the 961, however, and it's now on display at the Porsche Museum.
3. It Has An "Off Road" Gear in the Transmission
The six-speed manual transmission used in the Porsche 959 was really a five speed with a "creeper" gear intended for off road use. The shift knob reads "G-1-2-3-4-5," with "G" standing for Gelände, or off-road. That gear was intended to help you get through things like thick mud and wasn't designed for use on pavement. We have a hard time believing any current 959 owners have ever used it to traverse thick mud.
4. It Featured the First Electronic Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Fitted to a Passenger Car
The 959's hollow spoke magnesium wheels incorporated an electronic tire-pressure monitoring system, which just happened to be the first application of that technology on a passenger car. The system, which is on virtually every car today, helped notify the driver when they needed to pump up those special Bridgestone's RE71 Denloc tires, which are still the only tire available for those special wheels.
5. It Successfully Used Active Suspension Before F1
Back in the 80's, Formula One teams were still trying to sort out the active suspension in their cars. But while they worked diligently to do so, the 959 was already using it on public roads. The 959 actually used eight dampers in lieu of a traditional anti-roll bar setup, and two per wheel were active. In addition, the car uses multiple control arm mounting points so that ride height can be adjusted considerably while also maintaining suspension geometry. At the touch of a button, the suspension could be raised a full two inches.
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