This car has been an ongoing development, in both power and general maintenance for the over 22 years of my ownership. Power has been steadily increased to twice what it was today. Being an '86' model year it's light, very light when compared to today's models, and the lightest of the range. I have driven many powerful cars in my lifetime, none have impressed me as much as this and it brings a big smile to my face each time I drive it.

This car is my daily driver for the simple reason that I am a car fan and no other car delivers what the 951 does and thus feels boring in comparison, it's ultra-reliable too even when highly modified. 951 is the factory model number which is used in Porsche circles to easily identify the model, it's also much easier to type than 944 turbo.. the true number is 952 which means it's an R/H drive variant but in general, we just settle with 951 for both.

I have created a new album for the car to show more images but will add more to this page as things change.

Currently, I have been working on the interior, this included a retrim to the dash and centre console, the dash had developed a few cracks which is common for these cars, I had got away with it for a long time so wasn't really surprised when cracks began to show a couple of years ago.

I have now covered the dash and console in stitched black leather replacing the original vinyl. This picture gives some idea of the cracks that had developed on the top of the dash near the windscreen. The cracks here have been cleaned up and opened before filling

Here we see the dash after being filled and sanded, for this job I used a flexible plastic bumper filler which does this particular job very well.

The dash now covered in a stitched black leather kit which I purchased some 6 years ago, only now finally getting around to fitting. 6 years ago is when the car went through it's last round of mods which this time involved removing the engine and doing a complete rebuild, I'll give more details on this at a later date.

And the last picture for the dash showing it refitted to the car.

Lastly for now a couple more general views of the car

engine bay

And those sexy hips which fill the door mirrors when driving

Parked at the famous Ace Cafe for one of the monthly Porsche meets, pre lockdown of course

Some of the images seem to have distorted a little, sorry about that, I have no idea why?

Hopefully, she will be going in for a full respray this June, the second respray in my ownership, the first was over 20 years ago. This time she will have modern paint and a good few coats of ceramic clear coating which means she should still be looking good long after I've fallen off my perch.

Next time I'll give some details on the engine.

Pete

Is ithis not the 'vehicle restoration page?

Thank's Henry, she's an early '86' model year, the only year that was homologated as a Group B race car, IIRC there are currently 5 left on the road with a few SORN.. They are approx 100kg lighter than the last in the range.

Pete

Thank you Peter.. a Porsche as a company car??.. it's I who is envious, all I got was a VW golf…

Ok, so that's the 368bhp covered, now onto the beast.

Block: bored/skimmed out to 101mm *
Con-rods to remain unchanged although will be checked for balance, whilst researching the options the general consensus is that you can't beat the original Porsche forged items as used for the Turbo cup cars.
Pistons: IASA 101mm full race spec forged pistons with extra machined grove below the first ring, this allows a far higher boost without risk of blow by past the rings.*
IASA gudgeon pins*
Crankshaft machined undersize 0.25mm , both main and rod journals*
Raceware Head stud kit*
Raceware Main stud kit*
Raceware rod stud kit*
Genuine Porsche 0.25mm oversize Main/rod bearings*
Crankshaft scraper*
replaced water pump/belts/tensioners/pulley's
Lindsey Turbo super 61 rebuilt
Vitesse + V-flex MAF for ignition timing
3" custom made Magnaflow free-flow exhaust including the all-important turbo downpipe*

Of course, a lot of what was already on the car was reused after a good clean or rebuild where needed.

Recently I have also added…

80lb injectors

race-spec high temp fuel lines

map adjusted and the Vitesse chipboard now switched to a more aggressive ignition profile, I still have one more setting for what the creator describes as an extreme setting… Basically, the chipboard has 8 jumper switches, some are written to run the smaller 55lb injectors which I used when running in the freshly rebuilt engine. The other setting gives a more aggressive ignition of for when running on race fuel. Everything is controlled through the piggyback via laptop.

The air filter has now been moved to just behind the lower front apron, it's the biggest filter that K'N produces. The last 6" cone which had been fitted higher up inside the wing was sucked too hard and collapsed a number of times so clearly couldn't handle the amount of intake force being produced. Not the first time as the earlier Piper ram air intake had it's bonded foam filet within sucked out and damaged the turbo and destroyed the intercooler. Porsche originally designed the intake to run via a snorkel which takes cold air from the passenger wing, this hole is 3-inch dia and so I have now run 3-inch reinforced ducting throughout the intake system. down to the air filter. produces a lovely roar which when added to the burble from the exhaust on overrun and the whoosh when changing gear from the dump valve makes it a real head-turner long before they actually see the car.

Well, I think that covers most of the details, there is bound to be something that I have forgotten, will it now stay at this level? now there's a question, I'm over 60 now and too old for boy racer antics, even my wife says that I drive like an old man these days. This is a very fast car, not much out there to bother it, it will fly past 180 mph with ease and who knows where it stops when finally restricted by the wind. In the USA with similar power levels, they have seen 200+mph. The fastest that I have driven her is a recorded 174mph on one of my trips to Le Mans, back then she only had 282 bhp...recorded by sat nav, not my speedo which at the time was bouncing off its 170 mph pin and still accelerating hard until the column of cars backed off a little…

She is a beast, I would guess the 0-60 time is safely under 4 secs, in standard form auto road tests of the day cars managed 5.9 secs, and according to one auto mag the fastest speed at that time of any car roadtested on the autobahn in 1986 at 159 mph. The best thing about these cars, is they are just as planted on the road at 140mph as they are at 40mph, I can attest to this having driven much faster and never feeling light at the wheel.

Ok, I think that covers it, you can perhaps see now why I still have this car after so many years of ownership, it would be a very hard act to follow and it's 35 years old?…

Pete

No apology needed Roy, I didn't realise that this thread existed until recently either..

Pete

Thanks, Dave

I know what you mean about getting in and out, I also find it difficult these days. No problem with the cockpit being tight though, lots of room in these cars with their fairly modern design. The earlier 944 was more difficult as its steering wheel sat much lower making it difficult for taller gents. This was corrected for the 86 model year when what's known as the 'oval dash' model first appeared.

I used to also believe that the 944 engine was basically half of a 928, recent reading has changed that view a little but the jury is still out.. There are a lot of similar parts though, IIRC they have the same stroke too. I've had 5 adults in my car, the result of giving 3 girls a lift home from a night club late one night, with my mate sitting on the tunnel in the rear with his head through the roof… he didn't complain, he had two beautiful girls to sit between.

Having been in the back of a 944 I would say it's only for very short people, I say that as someone who's under 5' 8"… This was while at Le Mans when a group of us decided to go to the pub in one car, never again….

Pete

thank you, IMHO a garage queen is only good for one thing, sitting in a garage. Start driving it and it will soon break down. I love the E-type, perhaps the most beautiful car in the world, I put the 951 right behind it in looks. A good friend/old work colleague of mine has an E type which he fully restored, it was he who got me into Porsche when he persuaded me to drive his own 951. Up until then, I had been a fast Ford man. Today he builds Bugatti's, not replica's per se but real cars built to the original drawings, the coachwork has been a challenge as no drawings exist. Last time I visited he was building a Bugatti Royale, an enormous car which IIRC has a locomotive type Bugatti engine in it? I recall seeing the engine castings sitting on a pallet ready to be shipped to holland for machining… no cylinder head, all built-in one with the block.