Vehicle Description
1966 Porsche 906 Spyder
Chassis #: 906VP1
• Prepared and modified in period by Alwin Springer for Vasek
Polak
• Rebuilt with many of the original 906 Spyder's components
• Kept as original to the history and authenticity as a Spyder
• Top results as a 906 Spyder
• 1st place: Road Atlanta, BSR class,1970
• 1st place: SCCA Ontario Regional and National Championship, BSR
class, 1970
• 1st place overall: SCCA National Phoenix, 1970
• 1st place: SCCA National Holtville, 1971
From 1970 to 1973, Porsche 904s, 906s, and 910s qualified for the
ARRC held at Road Atlanta. Porsche dominated both the AP and BSR
classes in the Southern Pacific Region during the '70s, and Milt
Minter led the BSR class races throughout the SCCA season.
In 1969, Minter drove 906-136 for Vasek Polak in the SCCA
championship, achieving one second place and four third places with
the car. During the offseason, Polak brought back several
components from Germany, and he and his race mechanic Alwin
Springer replaced the engine with the latest and most-developed
six-cylinder powerplant the factory had available. It featured a
lightened crankshaft with a magnesium crankcase, modified
connecting rods, an updated valve train and cylinder heads, and the
latest Bosch slide-valve injection system. These upgrades resulted
in a significantly lighter and more powerful engine for Minter's
subsequent races.
They found the 906 to be still too heavy, so one day in the spring
of 1970, while Mr. Polak was traveling in Germany, Springer had the
bold but brilliant idea of removing the roof and modifying the
chassis to construct a new lightweight tail inspired by the 908/03.
Smaller doors were fitted, and any item not deemed to be essential
was eliminated. This transformation turned the 906 from a coupe
into a Spyder, shaving off a considerable amount of weight.
In 1970, Polak added his longtime top salesman Bert Ohlander to the
race team as a driver. Minter divided his time between several of
Polak's newer race cars, and Ohlander took over when Minter was
occupied elsewhere.
Polak sold 906-136 in 1971 to Harold Kirberg, who raced it from
1971 to 1974. Kirberg achieved second-place overall in the SCCA's
Northern Pacific Division BSR class in 1973, second place at the
Vacaville SCCA National in August 1971, and first place in A/B
Sports Racing as well as the A/B Production Race at Willow Springs
in the SCCA International in April 1973.
Kirberg's mechanic, Alan Kingen, fitted the car with a completely
new, homemade wedge-style body. Now known as the Kirberg Special,
it made its debut at the Laguna Seca SCCA event in June 1974. The
car was later sold to Kerry Morse in 1978. Morse sold it to John
Penner of San Clemente, who raced it in several historic events
during the 1980s. Penner wanted to restore the Spyder back as an
original coupe, so the car was disassembled for the long process of
obtaining a new body and returning the modified chassis to original
specifications. The project was put in storage and eventually sold.
The new owner had the now restored coupe chassis and parts
delivered to Rod Emory for a thorough inspection and assembly,
returning 906-136 to its original configuration.
The original Vasek Polak Spyder body panels along with the
components that were fabricated to convert the chassis to a Spyder
had remained with the Penner family for years. Ed Palmer of
Kundensport then purchased them with the intention of rebuilding
the Spyder as it was raced during Vasek Polak's ownership.
With a goal of entering the seventh running of the Porsche
Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca, work commenced over a year of
intense research and 16-hour days. The chassis was put back
together using original mounting plates and thin-wall metric
tubing. Factory blueprints along with a customer's 906 and an
original bare chassis were used as references to accurately fit the
Spyder modifications. The engine was built by SuperTech in
Fallbrook, California, using a set of original 2.0-liter 906
pistons and cylinders, titanium rods, an early aluminum case with
modified early fuel-injected heads to retain as much originality as
possible. An original 906E Bosch Kugelfisher mechanical injection
pump was also used, which was serviced and set up by Gus at Pacific
Fuel Injection to the same specs as used when the car ran under
Vasek Polak. A new magnesium 906 transmission case was obtained
from Kerry Morse through a foundry in Italy, which was a supplier
for Ferrari at the time. The internals included original parts such
as the 904 mainshaft, gears, and the nose. Many of the titanium
suspension parts and hardware were sourced in Germany.
The final assembly resulted in the car weighing in at just 1,350
lb. Alwin Springer and Dieter Inzenhofer assisted to ensure the 906
Spyder's authenticity and to retell, as Alwin Springer puts it,
"The greatest story nobody knows about." The 906 VP-1 build was
completed in 2023, just in time for Rennsport Reunion 7, in the
original Vasek Polak livery. It gathered rave reviews from those
who saw the Spyder race in period.
