The Porsche 911 GT1 was a car designed for competition in the GT1 class of
sportscar racing, which also required a street legal version for homologation
purposes. The limited-production street-legal version was labeled the 911
GT1 Straßenversion. History
With the revival of international sportscar racing in the mid-1990s,
though the BPR Global GT Series Porsche expressed interest in returning to top
level sportscar racing and went about developing its competitor for the GT1
category. Cars in this category were previously heavily modified versions of
road cars, usually supercars such as the McLaren F1 and Ferrari F40, but when the
911 GT1 was uneveiled in 1996 Porsche had exploited the rule book to the full
and stunned the sportscar fraternity. Rather than develop a race version of
one of their road going models, what they created was effectively a purpose
built sports-prototype, but in order to comply with regulations a street legal
version was created, 911 GT1 Straßenversion - literally a road-going
racing car. = 911 GT1=
In spite of its 911 moniker the car actually had very little in common with
the 911 of the time, however its frontal chassis was shared with the then 911,
while the rear of the car was derived from the Porsche 962, including its
water-cooled, twin-turbocharged and intercooled, four valve per cylinder
flat-six engine which was arranged in a mid-mounted position, compared to the
rear-engined layout of a conventional 911. The engine was making about 600 PS.
In comparison, the 993 generation 911 GT2, which was otherwise the company's
highest-performance vehicle, used an air-cooled engine with only two valves
per cylinder. The new vehicle was an outright success
at Le Mans, winning the GT1 class at its debut race, although it lost the overall
victory to Joest Racing's Porsche WSC-95 prototype, still a success in that this
vehicle used a Porsche powerplant. The 911 GT1 made its debut in the BPR
Global GT Series at the Brands Hatch 4 hours, where Hans-Joachim Stuck and
Thierry Boutsen won comfortably, although they were racing as an invited
entry and were thus ineligible for points. They followed up by winning at
Spa and Ralf Kelleners and Emmanuel Collard triumphed for the factory team
at Zhuhai. The '96 GT1 had around 600 PS and was
clocked at a top speed of exactly 330 km/h on the legendary Mulsanne Straight
in the practice sessions of the 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours Race.
would reference the 1996 Porsche 911 GT1 at Le Mans as 640 bhp. This compares
favourably in that race, with the 1996 Ferrari F40 GTE II, and the 1996 McLaren
F1 GTR,. = 911 GT1 Evo=
In 1997, the new Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR was successful in the new FIA GT
Championship that replaced the BPR, as it was developed for racing. Mercedes
did not enter Le Mans yet with their new car, though. The Porsche did not prove
to be as fast in the FIA series, and failed to win a single race, first
against the McLaren F1 GTR, and then against the new CLK-GTR.
Towards the end of the 1996 season Porsche made revisions to the 911 GT1 in
preparation for the 1997 season. The front end of the car was revised
including new bodywork which featured headlamps that previewed the all-new 2nd
generation Porsche 911 which would appear in 1997. The revised car was
known as the 911 GT1 Evo. As far as performance goes, the car had the same
600 PS turbo-charged engine, but new aerodynamics on the car allowed the '97
car to be considerably faster than the 1996 model - acceleration was better,
although the top speed was still around 330 km/h on the La Sarthe Circuit.
However, the works cars suffered from reliability problems and did not last
the full race distance; a privately entered 1996 specification GT1 managed
5th overall and third in its class, but was beaten by the BMW-backed and powered
McLaren F1 GTRs. = 911 GT1-98=
For the 1998 season Porsche developed an all-new car, the 911 GT1-98. Designed to
match the also new Toyota GT-One and Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR, the 911 GT1-98
featured bodywork which bore more of a resemblance to traditional
sports-prototypes than the previous 2 models while a new sequential gearbox
was installed. As per the regulations a street-legal version of the 911 GT1-98
was spawned, but it is believed that only one variant was produced which was
still sufficient to satisfy the regulations.
During the 1998 FIA International GT season the 911 GT1-98 struggled to match
the pace of the Mercedes, which also were improved, with the main reason
being down to the air-restrictor rules being which were regarded as
unfavourable to the turbo engine. The Michelin tyres of the factory team and
especially the Pirelli of the private Zakspeed team were also considered
inferior to the Bridgestone of Mercedes. At the 1998 Le Mans however, it was a
different story. The BMW V12 LM retired with wheel bearing trouble, and the
Mercedes CLK-LM vehicles had oil pump troubles in the new V8 engines that
replaced the former V12. The Toyota GT-One, which was considered to be the
fastest car, also suffered gearbox reliability problems.
The 911 GT1-98, despite being slower than the Toyota or the Mercedes,
fulfilled Porsche's slim hopes, taking both first and second place overall
thanks to reliability, giving Porsche its record-breaking 16th overall win at
Le Mans, more than any other manufacturer in history.
At Petit Le Mans race in Road Atlanta, the 911 GT1 '98 of Yannick Dalmas made a
spectacular backward flip and landed rear first before hitting the side
barriers, as did the BMW V12 LMR at the same race in 2000, and most infamously
the Mercedes-Benz CLR at Le Mans in 1999.
The GT1 '98 was set up with higher downforce in the race than the previous
two years, which reduced its race maximum speed to 310 km/h. However, in
the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours test days, the car hit 330 km/h on the Mulsanne
Straight on a lower downforce setup. = 1999=
With Mercedes dominating FIA GT1 in 1998, all other entries including
Porsche withdrew for 1999. The GT1 class was cancelled, and the FIA GT
Championship was contested with GT2 cars. Porsche could have entered at Le
Mans, but chose not to try to defend the win of '98 against new machines from
other factories. Champion Racing brought a 911 GT1 Evo to
America to race in the American Le Mans Series, but was only allowed to do so as
an LMP class entry, where it proved uncompetitive against actual prototypes
such as the BMW V12 LMR. = Gunnar G-99=
Following Champion's purchase of a 911 GT1 Evo for 1999, Gunnar Racing offered
a custom race car to the team with intentions to race in 2000. The car,
known as the Gunnar G-99, was a custom-built 911 GT1 with an open
cockpit. The chassis was made from scratch yet remained nearly identical to
the 911 GT1 mechanically, even using the bulk of the bodyparts. A large rollbar
was put over the open cockpit to help protect the driver. A 3.6 litre flat-6
from a Porsche 911 GT3 was used in place of the standard 911 GT1 unit.
However, Champion would instead turn to buying a Lola B2K/10, so the Gunnar G-99
was temporarily abandoned. The car would resurface in the Rolex Sports Car Series
in 2002, yet would not be allowed to race until it had a roof again.
Therefore Gunnar Racing rebuilt the car with a near identical GT1 roof, and
briefly competed in 2003. The car would take a best finish of second in class
twice before being retired due to lack of funding, and the ban on SRP cars in
favour of Daytona Prototypes. Street-legal version
Regulations for the GT1 category stipulated that to be eligible, a total
of 25 cars must be built for road use. Porsche developed a fully road-legal
version, dubbed "911 GT1 Straßenversion", and delivered one in
early 1996 to the German government for compliance testing, which it passed. The
engine had to be slightly de-tuned to meet European emissions laws, although
its 544 PS and dry weight of 1,150 kg proved to be more than adequate; the
vehicle could accelerate to 100 km/h from a standstill in 3.9 seconds on its
way to a top speed of 308 km/h. References
External links Official Porsche History of Racing Cars
website 1996 Porsche 911 GT1 at official Porsche
website 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Evo at official
Porsche website 1998 Porsche 911 GT1 '98 at official
Porsche website