Daily Slideshow: The Diesel 911 That Wouldn't Die

When Life Gives You LeMons

Most Porsche fans have probably heard of the 24 Hours of LeMons racing, but without being unkind for those that haven't, it's a budget series made up of junky cars driven by drivers of varying skill levels. The series bills itself as,"Endurance Racing for $500 Cars"—except it really isn't because the cars need a couple of thousand dollars minimum worth of safety equipment to be eligible, and there are foggy metrics involved having to do with parts that are bought and sold, and also figured is the favor of the judges, who, if you rub them the wrong way can purchase your car from you for that $500 sum your car is supposedly worth. Also, the races aren't 24 hours long. Even with the fuzzy math involved, Porsches don't typically make it under the cap, though the 944s that have, have gone on to shine a spotlight on certain mechanical shortcomings of the platform when applied to endurance racing. In the words of Murilee Martin, "These cars tend to disintegrate in a hurry on a LeMons track."

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Savior or Executioner?

So when a 1983 911 first turned up to turn a wheel in anger at a LeMons event it raised a few competitive eyebrows. What kind of 911 can one scoop up for 500 bucks? The one Hella Shitty Racing found, the one you see here, was well... hella busted-up. Team captain Philipp von Weitershausen bought the car, dubbed Ferkel the Nein-11, which had been rolled, solely for the engine. As he told Jalopnik, "As far as I was concerned, the drivetrain just came in a roughly 911-shaped wheeled container for convenience [smiley face]. Once I had removed all the bits I needed, the shell was just sitting in the shop waiting to be scrapped. But then we all sort of realized that turning it into a LeMons car was too good of an opportunity to pass up. We could offend the "$500 MY ASS" crowd just as much as the Porsche purists."

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TDI FTW

That in-your-face spirit also informed the engine selection process. "We began brainstorming what replacement drivetrain to use for maximum offense and there was really only one answer: a diesel. Plus, so many different swaps have been done to the 911 already (SBC, Toyota Echo wtf, 13b), but we were fairly confident that this would be the first 911 Turbodiesel [smiley face]. We found a 98 Jetta TDI that failed smog because of a bad EGR so we got it for dirt cheap. Selling off 911 bits (interior, glass, etc.) made the whole thing fairly budget compliant," von Weitershausen explained. Among other things, it took 30 pounds of wiring to adapt the engine for use, much of it because of the relatively remote new rear location of the diesel. When it was all said and done the wisdom of the swap became clear: it's a miser. The unit's economy, coupled with a 21-gallon fuel cell, meant the 911 could do 6-7 hours of racing before pitting for fuel.

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Reanimator

Keeping the car out of the pits is one thing, keeping it out of the garage is another, and when the 911 plowed into a motionless Miata, the garage is where it ended up. But not for long. A scant 2.5 hours later it was back on the track, sipping diesel. Because the roll cage survived the shunt without any damage, the team was told if they could fix the front end and replace the driver's harness (because harnesses stretch during a collision) they could go out and race again. During the repair process, they discovered the clutch cable had also stretched, due to the driver putting feet down hard on both the clutch and the brake pedals—just as most track day instructors will tell you to do if you lose control in a race. The team ultimately fished the race, and what's more, they won something: LeMons' Most Heroic Fix trophy.

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For Sale

All good things come to an end and last year the 911 went up for sale. How much does a $500 race car go for these days? The owner said he'd entertain offers of at least $5,000. Since the car has already run in LeMons, the new owner shouldn't have much trouble getting the car approved to run as a $500 dollar car—all the pricey safety items (the roll cage, racing seat and harnesses, and fire-suppression system) being deducted from the value of the car. The spiffy new Gulf racing colors paint scheme is also included in the purchase price. Want to race a classic 911? Low on money for fuel? This could be the Porsche for you.

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