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Race cars are a fickle friend; countless smiles on the track come from often well counted currency leaving the pocket of the driver off-track, as the sometimes referenced 10:1 ratio of time spent preparing for the track versus time on track ultimately results in huge bills. So, what costs separate a $5,000 M3 from a $25,000 M3 – certainly, with that huge chunk of change it would seem certain that one could build a reliable racer rather than forking over what would seem to be an unbelievable amount to purchase a non-street worthy, home-brewed racer, right?
Getting into the world of historic Porsche race cars is fairly easy. All you really need to do is have a seriously large bank account, and virtually any day of the week a historically important factory race car will be for sale somewhere in the world. What that means most recently in the market is that when you’re viewing those great classic 911 silhouettes from Spa and Le Mans to Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen at classic motorsports events is that you’re looking at – at minimum – multi-hundred thousand dollar vehicles with multi-hundred thousand dollar restorations being run on liquified trust funds. The costs of running vintage cars hard are simply staggering. However, there’s a second tier of vehicles that gets you accepted into the lofty Elysium of vintage racers – period cars that were run by privateers. Today’s 911S is one such car; built in period and raced against the full factory efforts, it has some pretty significant names and achievements attached to it:
The Porsche 911 is a favorite when it comes to Motorsports Monday features. There are plenty of examples out there which have been race prepped by amateurs and professional race teams alike, along with some rather valuable factory built examples. They are a very versatile vehicle to go racing with, having seen action in everything from IROC to the rally circuit. This 1971 911E for sale in Atlanta has seen race action on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. It ran in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in the late 1980s and was subsequently imported to the US and raced by John Forbes and the crew at Black Forest Racing.
A 1934 Mercedes-Benz W25 lines up to race in front of a several Bugattis looking decidedly more aerodynamic and modern.
It seems fitting that a day after the Formula 1 season commenced in Australia with a resounding sweep of the top spots by the Mercedes-Benz W06s of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. It was not particularly a surprise given the Mercedes-Benz domination of last year’s competition, yet it was a poignant reminder in light of the major difficulties faced by other successful racing manufacturers over the past few years with the new F1 regulations. While storied teams like McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull have struggled to even finish at times, Mercedes-Benz has looked virtually unchallenged with wins only really contested between the two teammates. The same could be said of the original Silver Arrows between 1935 and 1939; however, in 1934 it was quite a different story when success was anything but a given:
TWO : NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND THE REVOLUTION OF AUTOMOBILE RACING
Motorsports Monday often revolves around Porsches, as we saw with the 1984 911 Carrera that Carter posted earlier today. However, it’s rather rare you see a 928 of any sort prepped for competition use. More of a grand touring machine, these wouldn’t be on the radar of most track day enthusiasts. However, this 1989 928GT 5-speed for sale in Vancouver, British Columbia, has been prepared just so, with an FIA log book to go along with it. Care to take the road (or track) less traveled? This P-car is for you.
