The Porsche Carrera 6 from the 1967 BP world record
Siffert, Steinemann, Spörry and Vögele set off on the 96-hour world record drive in a Porsche Carrera 6 - the very Porsche with chassis number 906.153 that was owned by Dieter Spörry and Rico Steinemann. The world record attempt was not financed by Porsche, as many assumed, but by BP Switzerland. Rico Steinemann and Dieter Spörry therefore made their "private" car available. Unfortunately, however, the Carrera 6 could not withstand the immense demands of the Monza banked curve for long and they were forced to switch to a factory-supplied 911R within 24 hours.
And lo and behold, just a few months later a sales advertisement for the Porsche 906 was found in Powerslide issue 12/1968. This car finished sixth in the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring, entered under the Squadra Tartaruga with the two drivers Spörry and Steinemann, 20 laps behind the winner Andretti/McLaren in a Ford GT 40 Mk lV.
Incidentally, the Squadra Tartaruga was founded in 1960/61 by Gian Rico Steinemann and took its name from none other than Tazio Nuvolari. "Tartaruga" means turtle in Italian and this was the trademark of the famous and fascinating racing driver from Mantova. Steinemann was a great fan of Nuvolari, as he himself wrote a biography ("Nuvolari - aus dem Leben des grossen Rennfahrers, der eine Epoche verkörperte", published in 1967 by "moderne verlags GmbH, 8 München 23") about the fast Mantovan.
The photo (above) shows the red Porsche Carrera 6 in the long-tail version at the Norisring in 1967. A detailed report on the BP world record drivewas published last week.
