NO SUBSTITUTE
Don’t mess about! If a particular competition model has caught your eye, or if a specific era of Porsche production turns you on, then go for it. This is precisely what Dave Lewis did — infatuated by the legendary 911 ST of 1967, he found just what he wanted in a 1981 SC backdate...
As 911s go, it looks pretty young, but this SC retrospective sets out to evoke the 911 ST. What exactly is an ST? Let me take you back to 1967, when Porsche was not the given race winner we take for granted today. Sure, during the 1950s and 1960s, the brand was regular class victor in top-line international motorsport, even winning the Targa Florio outright, but it had yet to top the podium at Le Mans, which it did for the first time in 1970. The 911 was slowly gaining ground in the lower orders, but was yet to realise its full potential at international level.
The first factory racing 911 was simply designated R (for Renn) and was unveiled in 1967. It was an austere, pared-tothe-bone, hot two-litre coupé with many fibreglass panels and perspex windows. Its successor was the TR of 1968, quickly followed by the ST in 1970. Under the direction of Porsche motorsport director,
Fritz Huschke Von
Hanstein, the intention was to run the R in sportscar racing, but homologation rules pitched it in with prototypes. Consequently, in 1968, Porsche created the 911 TR, a 911 T chassis making use of a 911 S engine and homologated as a Group 3 GT car — still relatively modified, but less so than the R. Somewhere in the region of thirty-six TRS were built and campaigned by professional and amateur race and rally teams.
For 1970 and 1971, following the FIA’S decision to allow big changes to production cars for GT racing, Porsche reasoned a lightweight version of its 2.2litre S would be the perfect 911 for touring car racing and rallying. Thus, the ST was born, and though the rally cars retained
standard engines, racing versions were initially increased by 52cc, accompanied by a power hike from 180bhp to 240bhp, fired by twin-plug ignition and mated with a 901 transmission and limited-slip differential. Only a handful of 2.3-litre STS were built in race and rally form, with a further twenty-three units of the later 2.5litre ST designated as race cars.
Like the TR, the ST designation was an in-house Porsche amalgam of existing model identifiers: an S engine and the lighter T chassis.
There was far more going on with the ST than just an increase in swept capacity. Wider wheels and tyres for enhanced grip required flared wheel arches front and rear. The solution was a fascinating mash-up of materials. For example, on the early ST, the front wings, bonnet and bumpers were made of fibreglass, the rear quarters were steel, while the doors and engine lid were constructed from aluminium. Aside from the windscreen, all windows were acrylic. The rear three-quarter panels, roof and rear seat-pans were made from thinner-than-usual gauge steel, while all extraneous fixtures and fittings were left out, from glovebox lid and ashtray to front and rear lid locks, door and bumper trim strips. There was no sound deadening or floor mats, and the paint was even thinned down.
Apart from a front strut brace, 908/2 brake calipers and a competition fuel tank with a central bonnet filler cap, the running gear was little changed from the stock 911 S. Visually, the most obvious indicator of the ST’S identity is the difference in wheel types — since Fuchs did not yet produce rims boasting nine inches of width, Porsche had to look elsewhere. It found what it needed at Minilite. The company’s eight-spoke competition wheels, ubiquitous in contemporary touring car racing, were not only available in the desired size, but they were made of sand-cast magnesium, lighter than aluminium.
FRENCH LEAVE
Looking back at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is an excellent guide for seeing what race cars were on the scene at any particular time. In 1970, four of the eleven 911s running in the daylong French enduro were ST specification. The 2.3-litre Ecurie Luxembourg entry, sporting no.47 down its flanks and driven by Erwin Kremer and Nick Koob, was the only finisher, placing seventh overall. Meanwhile, an ST dressed in the well-known (and often copied) swirling psychedelic red-andyellow livery inspired by the Shell Oils logo was built for the 1970 Xvème Tour de France Automobile. It finished third overall at the hands of Gérard Larrousse, who encouraged Porsche’s engineers to ditch even more weight from the ST than they already had. As a result of his powers of persuasion (the promise of champagne may have helped), they dropped a scant eight hundred kilos by another twenty.
Larrousse was leading the event until a clutch complaint on the final day of the tournament saw him drop to third overall. Even so, this particular ST has gone down in history as the lightest 911 ever built. The following year, however, was arguably the ST’S heyday, when there were nine STS out of eighteen 911s running at Le Mans.
FLARING OF THE WHEEL ARCHES AND THE WAY THE FRONTS MARRY UP SO BEAUTIFULLY WITH THE BUMPER AND VALANCE