Vehicle Description
Chassis No. WP0ZZZ99Z7S799913
While very few are fortunate to own a factory-built, historic
racing Porsche, fewer still are truly fortunate to obtain a car
with a livery that defines an era. Yet, there are those with
extreme fortune who own a car campaigned in multiple iconic
liveries. The "Hippie" 917 Langheck quickly comes to mind having
first been raced in psychedelic green, purple and white by Martini
International at Le Mans in 1970 and returned to Le Sarthe the next
year in Gulf Oil colors. Dick Barbour's 1979 Hawaiian Tropic 935
featured Apple Computer sponsorship in 1980, two exceptional
liveries for that particular chassis.
A third example must be 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR chassis number
WP0ZZZ99Z7S799913. Purchased from Porsche Motorsport by Flying
Lizard Motorsports, its first livery, naturally, was the
world-famous silver and red, consistently worn by their Porsches
from their founding in 2003 until 2014. It was worn by this car,
start number 45, throughout 2007 American Le Mans Series season,
racking up class wins at Lime Rock, Mid Ohio, and the Petit Le Mans
at Road Atlanta. The wins and consistent finishes paved the way to
2nd in the GT2 team standings and an equal 3rd for teammates J�rg
Bergmeister and Johannes Van Overbeek in the driver's championship.
Yet for all the wins, its second place at the 12 Hours of Sebring
may be its most spectacular result. The final laps of the race in
GT2 featured a head-to-head battle between Jaime Melo in the Risi
Competizione F430GT and J�rg Bergmeister in this very car. After 12
hours of hard racing and with his high beams flashing, Bergmeister
outbraked Melo into the bumpy final turn 17, taking a temporary
lead before Melo nipped ahead on the power by a fraction of a
second as the two cars flashed under the checkered flag. Truly an
epic finish for the ages, done while wearing the Flying Lizard
silver and red.
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking place mid-way through the ALMS
season, the Lizards took a new artistic approach to the liveries
for their two-car team. The team contacted Troy Lee, the legendary
California-based motorsport artist, to create a custom "art car"
design for the newly aggressive profile of the 997-generation RSR,
specifically for the famous 24-hour race. In the words of Lee,
"whether it's two wheels or 18, I want to make it look like it's
going 200 mph while standing still." After participating in the
early June Le Mans Test in silver and red with Patrick Long at the
wheel, Lee flew to Le Mans to apply the wrap. According to Lee,
after receiving the graphics from England, it took three full days
to wrap the car. Quoted in Autoweek the artist was ecstatic about
his design which was unveiled on 11 June in front of thousands of
motorsport-mad fanatics at official scrutineering in the historic
town of Le Mans. Lee summarized his feelings about his work before
the race, "So this was kind of my dream come true. This was just
fun to really do something of an art car. Something wild. And in
France, they're all about art."
The Flying Lizard / Troy Lee Designs art car wearing start number
80 was nothing short of a sensation. Having qualified 4th in their
LMGT2 class the trio of Johannes van Overbeek, J�rg Bergmeister,
and team-owner Seth Neiman had high hopes for the race. And not
without good reason. After the race began in front of over 250,000
spectators, start number 80 set the fastest GT2 lap of the race
running quite well until around midnight when it retired with
gearbox issues after over 1,000 miles and 124 laps of hard
racing.
In true art car tradition, when it returned to the United States,
winning the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, it was once
again liveried in the traditional Flying Lizard silver and red as
number 45. Due to the pace of the Risi Ferrari team, an unfortunate
DNF at Belle Isle in Detroit put an end to the Lizard's ALMS
manufacturers title hopes. After the shunt and oil line fire, the
chassis, as per Porsche policy, had its VIN tags removed and sent
to Weissach so a replacement could be stamped with the same VIN. It
was sent to Flying Lizard's headquarters in Sonoma, race-prepped
and quickly delivered to Petit Le Mans where it would capture an
incredible GT2 class win, earning maximum points with the
well-deserved victory a vindication of the team's decision after
Detroit. In 2008, the GT3 RSR was unretired for a single race,
competing at Laguna Seca at the ALMS season finale as start number
46 with Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet behind the wheel.
With that, the car was officially entered into retirement and
returned to Porsche Motorsport in Germany for a refresh. Already a
well-known icon for the team and an era at Le Mans, it returned to
Troy Lee who reinstalled the famous 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans art
car livery in time for Porsche's return as the featured marque of
the 2009 Monterey Historic races.
It should go without saying that after its riveting Sebring 12 Hour
finish, three class wins during the 2007 ALMS season and, of
course, its famous Troy Lee art car livery, this is no ordinary
Porsche GT3 RSR. It often takes years or decades for a car's
exceptional history to return to prominence after multiple owners,
color changes, and racing in lower profile events. Perhaps, most
impressively, this RSR has not suffered that fate. Shortly after
restoration, it was displayed on the stand of the 2009 New York
International Auto Show, set beside the newly released
997.2-generation GT3. In fact, Porsche favored the livery so much
that it featured the art car in its marketing materials for the
2008 911 GT3 RSR.
Today, the Flying Lizard art car appears very much as it did after
restoration with only two private owners since. It was purchased
from Flying Lizard Motorsports after restoration by its first
private owner in 2009. Chassis number 13 has been a celebrated
attendee of both Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI and 7. In advance of
Rennsport 7 in September 2023, this RSR was serviced by Alegra
Motorsports with new race belts, all new fluids, and a certified
fire bottle. The consignor also notes that a new clutch was
installed by Alegra Motorsports in 2018 and a comprehensive engine
refresh was conducted the same year by MGM Racing in Pompano Beach,
Florida at a cost of $21,344.62 - invoices and photo documentation
for which is on file and available for review. It is sold with a
large digital history file along with a trove of digital
photography from Le Mans. Additionally, a spares package of used
parts is included that is comprised of suspension components, a
carbon under tray, three sets of BBS center lock wheels, a set of
rebuilt heads, and more, which will be made available to the
winning bidder with shipping to be paid for by the buyer from its
location in Savannah, Georgia.
Offered on Bill of Sale