For Sale at Auction: 1988 Porsche 944 in Costa Mesa, California

Chassis No. WP0AA0955JN165076
CASC No. 3-1075

The character of a truly collectible racing car is rarely defined by a single trait. Some earn their place through outright speed and power; others owe their stature to the championship they contested, the beauty of their livery, or the innovation beneath their skin. Yet there is another dimension, often the most compelling, found in the human stories woven into a car's history. The names above the door, the hands on the wheel, the reputations burnished from its cockpit can elevate a highly engineered machine to a storied legend. This 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup embodies that truth perfectly: a factory-built race car whose significance is inseparable from the remarkable roster of drivers and owners who shaped its story.

Built as one of 38 Porsche 944 Turbo Cups for the 1988 Rothmans Porsche Turbo Cup series, chassis number 165076 was first delivered in Black to Porsche Downtown Fine Cars in Toronto, Canada in April 1988. Its serialized service book further confirms its C36 Canadian provenance and features the all-important M754 option code signifying its status as a factory-built 944 Turbo Cup. Porsche Downtown Fine Cars fielded two cars that season with start number 65 reserved for Stephane Proulx. The young Proulx proved the revelation of the season in this chassis with two pole positions and a race win at an extremely wet Shannonville over his mentor and series champion Richard Spenard.

For 1989, the Turbo Cup again competed in the CRPC series with a somewhat unusual start number, "7UP." The reason: chassis number 165076 was entered by Downtown Fine Cars not for Proulx, who had graduated to Formula 3000 on the back of his success with the car, but as the VIP guest car sponsored by Diet 7UP! Over eight races forming the 1989 season, a litany of racing luminaries and rising stars piloted this car. First up was Jacques Villeneuve, brother of Gilles and uncle to his F1 and Indy 500 champion namesake. He put the car on pole in the first race, eventually finishing fifth. The second round at Mont-Tremblant featured Motor Trend journalist Don Fuller who penned an article for the October 1989 issue calling the CRPC "the best single-make series I've ever seen." IndyCar star Scott Goodyear took the wheel at round three, also at Mont-Tremblant, followed by Olympian, racer, and later TV star Bruce Jenner at Mosport who maintained the chassis' perfect lead-lap finishing record. 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans-winner Davy Jones finished fourth in round five with Canadian Jim Kenzie and Austrian Mercedes Stermitz piloting the car in rounds six and seven. The season finale featured DTM legend Roland Asch at the wheel, who placed sixth at Mont-Tremblant. While the VIP car was ineligible for points or prize money, its successful 1989 would have ranked it among the top ten in the 1989 season final standings.

The 1990 season marked the chassis's third consecutive year in CRPC competition. Now wearing start number 2, the Turbo Cup was raced by David Empringham in a black-and white-livery to two second-place finishes, never finishing off the lead lap, and finishing fifth in the final standings. Incredibly, in three seasons of hard-fought competition over 24 races, the car completed 446 race laps out of a possible 447! Such was the quality of this Turbo Cup, its preparation, and the high level of those competitors that sat in its fixed-back Recaro race seat. In October 1990, the car was in the hands of Trudeau Motors of Belleville, Ontario and shortly thereafter was acquired by 24-year-old David Donohue, son of American motorsport legend Mark Donohue, who brought it to the United States. This became the car in which Donohue launched his own storied motorsport career, eventually taking him to a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and an overall victory at the 2009 Daytona 24 Hours with Brumos. Donohue's original 1991 EMRA logbook shows five events that year before selling the car that November with 13,000 kilometers to Worldwide Leasing Company. An inspection performed in May 1992 by Jim Newton of Automobile Associates Canton records a recent restoration "to 'like new' condition, including complete body restoration, mechanical restoration..."

In 1999 the car was acquired by Peter Fitzpatrick, who soon tasked Dougherty Automotive Services with maintaining it. Numerous service and preparation invoices from Dougherty and Precision Motorsports Racing (PMR) are on file and available for review. Fitzpatrick then parted with the car in 2004 selling to Ronald Tietjen of Jamaica, Vermont, a well-known aficionado of the model. Tietjen retained the former VIP Cup car for 16 years with a stack of PMR invoices in that time revealing his dedication to the car. A PCA Connecticut Valley Region (CVR) logbook records numerous PCA track days enjoyed by Tietjen between 2004 and 2018.

In 2020, the car came into the hands of the consignor, another experienced hand in the small world of the 944 Turbo Cup racing cars. Upon acquisition, PMR performed a comprehensive service to chassis 165076 with the nine-page invoice totaling just over $16,000. The car then left the Northeast for the first time in nearly 30 years, with servicing now performed by the highly regarded Moorespeed of Austin, Texas. In its time with the current owner, service invoices and parts purchases reveal a total of $60,000 spent on the car-not least a $35,000 invoice from Moorespeed that included a complete engine build with a new crankshaft, Carrillo connecting rods, forged Wossner racing pistons, Lindsey Racing parts, cylinder head refresh, bearings, gaskets and other sundry parts. 2023 saw inspection and repack of the rear axle CV joints and later a fresh Sachs clutch and additional service parts to maintain the rare Cup car in peak condition. Most recently, 2024 invoices from Esses Racing document the correction of minor leaks, repair of an inoperable fuel gauge, new brake lines, and fresh brake fluid and transmission fluid. Furthermore, the consignor notes a recent restoration of its rare lightweight magnesium Teledial wheels and the acquisition of a factory magnesium sump that is included in the sale.

The 944 Turbo Cup, the origin of Porsche's remarkable one-make Cup series, remains one of Zuffenhausen's all-time great models. Chassis 165076, offered with 40,581 kilometers (approximately 25,216 miles) at cataloging and current road registration in Texas, stands as proof of that legacy: its winning competition pedigree, extraordinary roster of drivers, and decades of careful stewardship elevating it far beyond the typical motorsport hero. Highly documented, extensively serviced, and enriched by passionate owners, it represents the rare intersection of provenance, preparation, and personality that defines a truly collectible racing Porsche.