When Roy Smith bought a used Porsche 924 Carrera GT, he was amazed at how good the car was. And when he wanted to read more about it, he found that there was hardly any literature worth mentioning on this specific model. There were a few books on the Porsche 924, but none that dealt exclusively with the 924 Carrera GT and its racing brothers GTS and GTR. Without further ado, he wrote the book himself, by a fan for the fans, so to speak.
From up-and-coming Porsche to sports car to be taken seriously
Porsche had a bit of an image problem with the 924, especially in the USA. Despite the 924 Turbo, too many customers still did not see the 924 as a real Porsche. In the fall of 1979, however, the Zuffenhausen-based company landed a big hit, presenting the 924 Carrera GT concept car at the IAA and hinting that they would race a similar vehicle at Le Mans in 1980.
The press and potential customers were excited, but no one was sure it would actually happen.
Planned as a racing car
After the positive reaction to the IAA study, a team led by Norbert Singer began to build the racing cars for the 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans. They didn't have six months to do it. However, the aim was not to win, but to prove the racing capabilities of the 924.
Testing took place at Paul Ricard in February 1980 and the car was fast and reliable from the outset. Interestingly, the rear fenders of these cars were more reminiscent of the later 944 than the 924 Carrera GT of the IAA, but this was a consequence of the wind tunnel tests.
Three teams raced at Le Mans, two cars suffered serious problems and covered a significant part of the 24-hour race on just three cylinders, while Jürgen Barth/Manfred Schurti made it to sixth place overall and third in the GTP category. Not bad for a true "underdog" in the field of thoroughbred prototypes.
Built 406 times as a road car
To be able to race in Group 4, it was necessary to build 400 vehicles. Porsche still built 406 homologation models in 1980, plus 59 racing versions and 17 GTR racing cars.
The road cars were only available in the colors red, silver and black. Of course, the road models are described in detail and the differences to the "normal" 924 are fully documented.
Roy Smith has also integrated the GTS version, 50 red-painted examples had to be shown to the FIA at the same time, with many pictures in his bow.
The 17 racing cars of the GTR type and a chassis list (with country of delivery) round off the chapter on production vehicles.
Many successes in the USA
Customer vehicles were built on the basis of the factory racing cars and were used in Europe and the USA from 1981 onwards. One of these cars went to the Zbinden/Kofel team, who competed with a white Swiss cross on red paintwork.
The 924 Carrera GT and its derivatives contested the majority of races in the USA, so these events and the US teams are also given a lot of space in the book. And some of its successors, which already had Porsche's own four-cylinder engine in the front, also have their say.
Complete statistics
There are 13 pages of racing statistics showing the participants and results of the individual racing cars, even complete with chassis numbers.
Powerful pictures
Roy Smith has compiled around 400 pictures, some of which of course come from the factory collection. However, Smith did not stop there, but tried to find pictures of practically every racing car in the USA and, where possible, used color illustrations.
Not all of these pictures are of the highest quality, but as documentation they are certainly a valuable aid for restorers.
For the real fan
Smith's 320-page book on the Porsche Carrera 924 GT is certainly not a work that everyone needs to have on their bookshelf, but for Porsche enthusiasts and even more so for fans of the transaxle Porsche, it is certainly a "must" and it can be guaranteed that even connoisseurs of the subject will still find things in it about the rare and increasingly appreciated Carrera GT that they didn't know. And from this point of view, £75 or Euro 82 is fine, even if there are more books in print (1500 copies) than 924 Carrera GT vehicles produced.
The real fan will also forgive the publisher for the fact that the English consistently wrote Manfred Schürti instead of Schurti, umlauts are just as incomprehensible to the Anglo-Saxons as the former British currency units pound, shilling and pence are to us.
The following promotional video also gives a brief insight into the book:
Bibliographic information
- Title: The Porsche 924 Carreras - evolution to excellence
- Author: Roy P. Smith
- Language: English
- Publisher: Veloce Publishing Ltd, 1st edition November 2014, limited to 1500 copies
- Format: Found, 25 x 25 cm
- Size: 320 pages, around 400 photos
- ISBN: 978-1-845846-45-9
- Price: £ 75, USD 120, € 82 (approx.)
- Order/buy: Porsche 924 Carreras
, from Veloce Publishing Ltd or from well-stocked bookshops
