To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' London event, 24 October
2019.
Estimate:
£1,000,000 - £1,500,000
- Offered from the Autobau Collection
- Two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans participant, finishing 13th
overall in 1990
- Subjected, in 2009, to a $300,000 restoration to exacting
standards by Canepa Design
- A competitive and highly eligible entry into Historic Group C
racing events
With a top-line international career spanning some thirteen years,
including no less than seven Le Mans wins and five World Sportscar
Championship titles, the Porsche 956 and its close sibling, the
962, remain arguably the greatest long-distance sports racing cars
of all.
In a significant departure for Porsche, the 956 featured an
aluminium monocoque chassis, rather than a tubular spaceframe of
the type which had served them so well previously. The type-935
flat six-cylinder engine of the 936 was retained, to which twin KKK
turbos and an all-synchro five-speed gearbox were fitted. Porsche
exploited the area of aerodynamics to the limit of the rulebook,
inboard rear suspension enabling the creation of two huge venturi
channels to maximise ground effect underneath the car.
Consequently, the 956 reputedly generated over three times as much
downforce at speed as the legendary 917�a car barely a decade
old.
The evolutionary 962�essentially a long-wheelbase 956�had been
introduced in 1984, and chassis 962-159 was delivered in long-tail
form to the Japanese Trust Racing Team immediately prior to the
1990 Le Mans 24 Hours. The driver lineup of George Fouch�, Steven
Andskar, and Syunji Kasuya was a promising one; Fouch� had proven
himself to be one of the top non-Works 956/962 drivers during
spells with the Kremer and Obermaier teams, whilst Andskar had
considerable Group C experience in Japan, and Kasuya had won the C2
class at Le Mans the previous year.
Although there were no factory Porsche or Sauber-Mercedes teams
entered for the 1990 race, four TWR-run Jaguar XJR-12LMs lined up
alongside five Works Nissan R90s and five Toyota 90C-Vs. Porsche
were well represented by Joest Racing�who had won the race in 1984
and 1985 with their 956s, and who had entered four cars on this
occasion�as well as by the two-car Brun, Kremer, and Obermaier
teams.
Qualifying saw Mark Blundell's Nissan take pole with a remarkable
lap some six seconds faster than the 2nd-placed Brun 962C, with
Nissans taking the next three places. The lead Joest 962C took 7th
place, closely followed by three of the four Jaguars who were
concentrating on their race setup. Chassis 962-159 ended up an
excellent 11th on the grid�a fact made all the more impressive by
the fact that both 962s in front of it had been running
Works-specification 3.2-litre engines, whereas the Trust car was
equipped with the less-powerful customer-spec 3.0-litre unit.
In the race, the Nissan challenge ultimately faltered, handing the
Jaguars a comfortable 1-2 finish ahead of the unlikely
all-British-crewed Alpha Team 962 in 3rd. The Brun car had held a
heroic 2nd place for much of the race but was cruelly denied a
deserved podium finish by engine failure only four laps from home.
The lead Joest car crossed the line 4th, with customer Porsche
teams taking 8th to 16th positions�and 962-159 finishing a valiant
13th. That the Trust trio finished ahead of the second Joest car,
driven by four-time Le Mans-winner Henri Pescarolo and former Grand
Prix-winner Jacques Laffite, spoke volumes as to the
competitiveness of the midfield battle.
The team returned to La Sarthe in 1991, opting to retain the
services of Fouch� and Andskar but outsourcing the running of the
car to the local Courage Competition team. Unfortunately, the
timing of the race coincided with one of the periodic upheavals in
sports car racing, with the FIA having mandated the shift to
3.5-litre normally aspirated cars for 1992. Given the lack of
new-generation cars ready in time for the race, the older Group C
cars were permitted to still run, but were significantly
handicapped by weight, fuel, and grid penalties. As a result,
Schlesser's 'pole-sitting' Sauber-Mercedes C11 was relegated to
11th on the grid, behind ten other normally aspirated cars, all of
which it had outqualified! Similarly, 962-159�having qualified a
promising 16th�was relegated to 22nd on the starting grid.
As expected, in the race, the new 3.5-litre cars suffered from poor
reliability, and it was the relatively unfancied Mazda 787B of
Gachot/Weidler/Herbert�the beneficiary of a significant weight
concession from FISA before the race�which crossed the line first
to record a famous victory. The three remaining TWR XJR-12s
finished in formation to take the next three places, whilst the
sole surviving Sauber-Mercedes rounded out the top five. It had
been a relatively low-key race for Porsche, with the
Stuck/Jelinski/Bell Joest car the first 962 home in 7th place.
Chassis number 962-159 had been running strongly throughout the
race, only to be denied a finish when its gearbox failed with a
mere 50 minutes remaining.
The car was acquired by former IMSA racer and noted Porsche
restorer Bruce Canepa in August 2008. Thereafter it was treated to
an exacting restoration at his race shop in Scotts Valley,
California, which included a complete strip down to the bare tub
and rebuilds of the engine, gearbox, brakes, and turbos. New fuel,
brake, and oil lines were installed, and all major load-bearing
components were crack-tested. Great care was also taken to refit
the body to the tub, and the car was refinished in its 1991 Le Mans
livery. In May 2012 the car was sold to the consignor, in whose
custody it has been used for occasional track days and kept in his
own private museum in Switzerland.
Having participated in only two races in its life�albeit both at Le
Mans�962-159 remains one of the most original and correct of all
962s. Presented in its 1991 Le Mans 'high downforce' configuration,
it represents the quintessential Porsche Group C car and offers a
rare opportunity to acquire a highly significant example of
arguably the greatest endurance racing car of them all.
Immaculately prepared and ready for immediate use, it would
doubtless be welcomed in Historic Group C series on both sides of
the Atlantic, as well as at prestigious stand-alone events such as
Le Mans Classic, Le Mans Legends, and the Classic 24 Hour at
Daytona.To view this car and others currently consigned to this
auction, please visit the RM website at
rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/lf19.