8 Porsches Racing in Unusual Events
Porsche has been a winner in road races since the beginning, punching way above its class, and taking down bigger cars with light weight and superior handling, but it is not just Le Mans and the Nurburgring. Here are some unusual races Porsche has run.
1. Paris Dakar Rally 959
The Porsche 911 has been raced in the grueling Paris Dakar Rally since the first event back in 1978, often times in Rothman's livery. If you like AWD on your 911, or lust after the 959 (and who doesn't?), you can thank the rally team for both. All it takes is a short Google image search to turn up dozens of images of classic air cooled 911s with lift kits and truck tires kicking up dirt and getting air.
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2. Drag Race 928
At least this sort of makes sense, as there were lots of used 928 on the market at one time with service and maintenance issues. A big american V8 fits under the hood easily enough, though you may need to swap in a Ford 9" rear end if you plan on running big sticky slicks like that.
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3. Safari Rally 911
Older than the Paris Dakar Rally, but nearly as tough, is the Safari Rally, which has been run since 1953 in East Africa. Air Cooled VWs won the earliest races, so using the 356 and later 911 in it was a natural. Martini has often raced with Porsche, and in 1978 they sponsored the 911 you see here, before moving to Lancia. Look close at this picture and you'll see the drivers don't even have helmets on, meaning this is either practice or just someone playing in the race car.
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4. Drag Race 356
With the going price of classic Porsche 356s it seems crazy that anyone would modify one for something like drag racing, but it has been done. Admittedly, except for the gray car doing the wheelie which is a full steel body, the rest of these may all be fiberglass bodies on VW shells. But this is a good reminder that not too long ago these cars were considered just worn out old foreign jobs with no intrinsic value.
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5. Dirt Track 944
If you don't have a small paved or dirt oval race track near you, you probably don't know the entry level class is usually stock 4 cylinder cars. Typically this means 2.3 liter Fox Mustangs, Pintos, RWD Toyota Corollas, and the occasional Chevy Monza, but why not run a Porsche 944? PorscheBoy 42 on Instagram does just that and it looks like he is having a blast.
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6. Ice Racing 924
This one is not all that unusual, since they do get a lot of snow and ice in Germany. Ice racing is much like dirt oval racing, in that you are sideways most of the time. The ice race tracks are typically temporary venues carved out on lake surfaces when in the dead of winter. You may remember an episode of Top Gear when they competed in an ice race, with Jeremy driving a 944. Back in the 1970s a man by the name of Peter Kitchak won the international ice racing championship 4 years in a row in a modified 911.
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7. Land Speed Racing 928
Land speed racing is all about having a slippery aerodynamic car, and the Porsche 928 certainly fits the bill. 928 Motorsports has been working on this car for years and in 2011 managed to top out at over 215 mph! More pictures and information are on their website.
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8. Winter Rally 944
Once you have your Porsche 944 set up for serious rally use, there is no reason to stop racing when the weather turns cold. This Porsche 944 competes in various rally events in the US all year long, some of them in the dead of winter on ice and snow, some just on rutted dirt roads. Take that, people who put their sports cars away at the first sign of winter.
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If you need help getting your Porsche ready for the track, or putting it away for winter, check out the how-to section of Rennlist.com.