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Porsche 924 Carrera GTR - racing car evolution à l'Americaine

Name: Porsche 924 Carrera GTR 1981
Brand: Porsche

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Created on December 31, 2015

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Bruno von Rotz

Archiv Winters/Siragna

FabPetersson Fotografie

Archiv Porsche AG

Reiner Telkamp

Steve Van Den Hemel

Mathieu Heurtault (Gooding & Company)

Porsche AG

Archiv

Bruno von Rotz

Archiv Winters/Siragna

FabPetersson Fotografie

Archiv Porsche AG

Reiner Telkamp

Steve Van Den Hemel

Mathieu Heurtault (Gooding & Company)

Porsche AG

Archiv

Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - compared to the original 924 GTR, the racing car had been significantly modified

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - the shape is still clearly reminiscent of the 924

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - with the starting number 79 he already drove in 1983 and 1984

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - how it drove in 1984

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - almost the entire body is made of plastic

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - the windows are of course not made of glass either

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - nothing inside is reminiscent of the original product

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - no more standard comfort available

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - many monitoring instruments

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - large oil pressure lamp in front of the driver

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - the longitudinally mounted four-cylinder engine

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - the Audi four-cylinder engine was also extensively modified

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - well over 400 hp

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - open spur gear for the timing belt

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - the American 924 derivatives developed up to over 700 hp

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - racing technology at its best

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - four cylinders in a row

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - in the rear there was above all a large tank

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - Fuel pressure was essential for the engine's survival

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - the sophisticated fuel system

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Porsche 924 GTR Turbo IMSA (1981) - Touring Car Revival - AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix 2015

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1982 largely as delivered from the factory

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - in 1982 with covered headlights

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - in 1982, already slightly modified

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - Laguna Seca in 1982

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1984

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - Pit stop at a race in 1984

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - you could call it a semi-tubular frame chassis

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - the conversion to a thoroughbred racing car did not leave much of the original

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - in the 1984 racing season

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - heavily modified in the 1984 season

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - in the 1985 racing season with enlarged front end

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - aerodynamically optimized for the 1987 racing season

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Porsche 924 GTP IMSA (1981) - completely restored by Reiner Telkamp between January and April 2012 in accordance with the 1984 specification, photographed in April 2012

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Porsche 924 Carrera GT (1980) - the removable roof is the only luxury for the GT driver

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTS (1981) - the fast brother GTS - designed for racing, but approved for road use

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTS (1981) - 245 hp at 6,250 rpm

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTS (1981) - the fastest road-legal 924 reached 250 km/h in 1981

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTP (1980) - the racing car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1980, pure dynamics

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Porsche 924 Carrera GT (1981) - the racing car for the 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans, seen from the front

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTS (1980) - during test drives in Le Castellet

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTR (1980) - Tests of the 924 racing model at Le Castellet in 1980

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Porsche 924 Carrera GT (1981) - GTP racing version and production versions in 1981

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Porsche 924 Carrera GT Le Mans (1980) - part of the Drendel family collection sold at the Gooding & Company Amelia Island Auction on March 9, 2012

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Porsche 924 GTP (1981) - built for Le Mans 1981 - 410 hp and 300 km/h top speed

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Porsche 924 GTR IMSA (1981) - with 2-liter 2-valve turbo engine for Le Mans 1981

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Porsche 924 GTP (1981) - this is the car in which Walter Röhrl and Jochen Barth drove at Le Mans - Retro Classics Stuttgart 2014

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Porsche 924 GTP (1981) at the special exhibition in the Porsche Museum: All 16 Porsche Le Mans overall winners are available as 1/43 scale model cars in the Porsche Museum store.

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTS - the Group 4 racing car was offered to customers (Geneva Motor Show 1981)

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTR - the racing version, DM 180,000 for 375 hp (Geneva Motor Show 1981)

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Porsche 924 Carrera GTR (1981) - P. Zbinden at the 1981 Hockenheim Gold Cup - Special car winner

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Porsche 924 GTR (1980) at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion V

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Summary

For 1981, Porsche built 17 examples of the Porsche 924 Carrera GTR, a customer racing car that benefited directly from the knowledge gained from the 1980 Le Mans race. A significant proportion of these cars went to the USA, where they were continuously developed and used in racing until the end of the 1980s. This report tells the story of one of these customer GTRs and shows it in historical and current pictures.

This article contains the following chapters

Evolutionary stages
Customer sport
The IMSA years
Steady improvements
Different drivers
Color change
The wild years of the Winter 924 GTP

Estimated reading time: 5min

Preview (beginning of the article)

True to the motto "win on Sunday, sell on Monday", Porsche decided to offer a racing version of the Porsche 924. In 1979, the public's interest in a fast 924 version was tested in order to subsequently build just over 400 evolution copies of the 924 Carrera GT , which were required for homologation in Group 4. After building the road-going 924 Carrera GT cars, a sharper version was launched in Zuffenhausen at the end of 1980, which was called the GTS and delivered 245 hp instead of the 210 hp of the road-going version, weighed 1121 kg and cost DM 110,000. 59 examples were built and only a few received road approval, although this was possible in principle by individual procedure.

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