With Subtle Hints Of The 917, This Is No Ordinary Porsche 930

Known by most as the widow maker, the 930 Turbo was the final piece for Porsche to pave their way to success. With the 911 launched in 1964 is became obvious that there was a gap in the market for such a car, with the unique rear engine layout and air-cooled capabilities.

After Porsche had cleaned up at LeMans in the early seventies, the regulations changed for entry, and sadly the bellowing flat 12 from the 917 could no longer compete with the new 3 liter capacity limit.

With more money than they had ever dreamt of thanks to Norbert Singer’s engineering prowess, the attention was turned to their most popular sports car, the 911.

View in gallery

Porsche refrained from competing in LeMans for several years in order to throw some research and development money at the model, and in 1974 they used the new 930 platform to pave their way back to LeMans.

Unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, they accomplished an industry first by strapping a turbocharger to the new platform. Their intent was to homologate the car and make 400, under the assumption that no one would want them. How hilariously wrong they were.

With the beefiest rear wheel arches seen to accommodate all the additional plumbing for the turbo, the car looked like a beast, and it was. 3-liter flat six developing 256 horsepower and became known as the widow-maker, thanks to its poor weight distribution and biblical turbo lag that would frequently bite when you weren’t paying attention.

View in gallery

View 6+

View

View

View

View

View

View

View 6+

The car featured here, however, looks very different. Underneath the custom bodywork lies a 930 911 Turbo. The body has been completely changed in what looks like an attempt to mimic a miniature 917 crossed with a 956. Finished in Gulf racing colours, it comes with a matching trailer to ferry it around in.

Despite a lack of detailed information, the vendor does confirm power, and there is a lot of it. By 1978 Porsche had increased the engine capacity to the 3.3-liter engine you see here, albeit this one is far from standard. With 500 horsepower to play with this is one lethal weapon. With 770 newton meters of torque to help you wrap yourself around any stationary object, it hits 60 miles per hour in under 3-seconds. Shame it’s not road legal.

View in gallery