BLUE BLOODS
Introducing the Stuttgart Classica RSR.
Freed from the confines of FIA regulations, but fuelled by generous budgets and an enthusiasm for our favourite marque’s most successful motorsport machinery, club-level Porsche racing in the United States has spawned some of the most outlandish track-bred automotive creations on the planet. Wide-bodied, fire-breathing homages have been plucked from a wish list of parts spanning the entire 911 era, modernised with the latest technology and as dramatic to watch as the wildest prototype racers.
Often hidden away in collections between events, if these custom creations are considered a rare sight in North America, then it’s almost unheard of to spot one lurking in the Cotswolds. Even so, in amongst the racks of high-end parts designed to aid the next phase of its evolution, the outrageous 911 on the pages before you is in safe hands — Will Chappell and Jase Eaton, co-founders of Blockley-based independent air-cooled Porsche parts specialist, Stuttgart Classica, confirm they’re excited to get stuck into what’s likely to be their trickiest project to date.
“The previous owner managed a race team,” Will explains, while we wheel the coupe’s swollen bodywork out into sunlight. “This was the guy’s track day toy. He built an absolute monster. In fact, this 911 is so hardcore it probably won’t comply with any race series rules in the UK. It’s not suitable for the road, either.”
A Stuttgart Classica customer imported the car from North America after deciding he wanted to make the blue brute street legal, but as Will stresses, “it’s not going to be a case of adding wipers and indicators”. Make no mistake, the task ahead will prove challenging, not least because Will and Jase are engaged in a process of unpicking how this 911 got to its current specification. Mercifully, the previous owner avoided skyrocketing prices of air-cooled Porsches, acquiring what started life as a 1973 911 E in 2010. Being based in North
Carolina located close meant to geography Charlotte Motor was firmly Speedway, on his he side could — rest assured there’s a wealth of motorsport knowledge within the locale. Better still, he was ambitious enough to enlist the best people for the job of transforming his once tame 911 into an angry track attacker. Porsche’s motorsport prowess in mid-1970s Group 3 and Group 4 racing means there’s no shortage of motorsport-inspired classic 911 builds dotted around North America, but few have the provenance this one brings to the table. More specifically, much of the time, energy and direction the car’s development invested in came from firsthand professional motorsport experience — as the no.59 sticker on the nose and roof suggests, the process was led by Mike Colucci, former crew chief for Jacksonville’s famed Brumos Racing outfit. Of course, this isn’t a Brumos build, but there’s definitely Brumos DNA at play.
Arguably, this bold bloodline to genuine RSRS has become stronger than the car’s link to its earlier status as a standard 911 E, given the fact an aggressive programme of weight saving left only the roof and supporting pillars intact. Flared bodywork is based
SIXTEEN-INCH BBS E50 WHEELS MEASURE ELEVEN INCHES OF WIDTH AT THE FRONT AND FOURTEEN AT THE REAR
on that of a 1974 RSR and is made with lightweight fibreglass panels fixed in place with cam-locks to ensure they can be easily removed in the pits. Every inch is function over form, from the front splitter channelling air up through wide-mouth mesh (to the front-mounted oil cooler and out of vents at the front of the hood), to the 935 rear wing stretched out as if in motion blur beyond the rear bumper. Emphasising how thorough the exercise in ridding weight was, not only was the rear glass replaced with a Lexan polycarbonate item, the doors were trimmed down to little more than a barely rigid skin — their corresponding windows and the frames around them were deleted altogether! It’s a step toward counteracting the necessary extra weight introduced in the name of safety and structural rigidity. Added by CM Performance in Bessemer City, this amazing 911’s roll cage includes door bars, additional bracing under the remains of the dashboard and another diagonal across the roof, while the shock towers and front crossmember were strengthened to take the strain of cornering on wide slicks. Adjustable Tarett Engineering anti-roll bars and JRZ bespoke race-specification coilovers allow for
trackside fine-tuning, while a bump-steer kit keeps the car manageable on imperfect surfaces.
Grip certainly wouldn’t have been an issue provided the asphalt was dry. Unfastening the front and rear wings to strip this cool coupe to its skeletal structure reveals an almost unnatural amount of rubber. The sixteen-inch BBS E50 wheels measure eleven inches of width at the front and fourteen at the rear, wrapped in thick-sidewalled Hoosier black circles and concealing a full 993 Turbo brake setup. During assembly, the car was also equipped with an AP air jack system. We’re talking about a serious collection of race-competitive parts for a classic Porsche built purely as an adrenalineinducing plaything.
The car, now weighing just 916 kilos, also has the engine to match. The previous owner managed to source a 3.8-litre flat-six from a 964 RSR, but also called in the expertise of former Renngruppe Motorsports technician, Dave Brown (another North Carolina resident), for a comprehensive rebuild. The work saw the addition of more aggressive cams, slightly larger intake valves and uprated JE pistons and Carillo rods, as well as Electromotive XDI ignition. The system runs six individual coils driven by the crank, allowing the original distributor to be removed. With individual PMO throttle bodies and a large centre-exit exhaust, it’s safe to say we’re in the presence of no wallflower. “The 3.8-litre unit now makes around 400bhp and is mapped to run on Us-specification race fuel, though it’s quite difficult to come by in the UK,” says Jase. That ferocious engine is paired with a 915 transmission kittedout with a lightweight Rsr-style flywheel and 930 (911 Turbo) driveshafts to take abuse dished out by the spooltype limited-slip differential, which locks the two shafts together to ensure no loss of power through one wheel spinning faster than the other. Traction is also aided by 930 trailing arms, which dial in negative camber more quickly under load than the standard setup and help to maintain a better contact patch as a result. And yet, this awe-inspiring 911 has also encourage been designed hassle-free to maintenance — the rear firewall was removed during the build in order to allow easier access to the drivetrain and suspension adjustment when required.
SIX OF THE BEST
The tuned six-banger’s thirst for dinosaur bones is met by a high-flow Bosch pump and centre-fill fifteen-gallon fuel cell, complete with a surge tank packed in under the scuttle panel to avoid starvation under heavy cornering. Fuel and oil lines run alongside the transmission tunnel on the passenger side. In turn, this extra equipment meant relocating the battery to a compartment inside
ROLL CAGE TUBING SURROUNDS THE COCKPIT, WHICH IS PUNCTUATED BY A WEVO SHORT SHIFTER
one of the front wheel arches. No detail was overlooked, and every non-essential part (including the cabin heaters, headlights and even the windscreen wipers) was removed. That said, it’s a minor consideration given the total lack of creature comfort inside. What’s left of each door opens with a lightweight red strap cut into the plan panel, revealing a single Racetech seat joined by a Schroth Racing safety harness. Roll cage tubing surrounds the cockpit, which is punctuated by a WEVO short shifter (available from exclusive European distributor, Twinspark Racing) rising out of the transmission tunnel. The skin of the original dashboard remains, but is now home to only an Auto Meter a rev counter and a combined oil pressure and temperature gauge, while the speedometer has been replaced with a nozzle channelling fresh air from a duct in the bumper into the cabin. That’s a few more kilos saved, versus using an electric fan.
Needless to say, this potent Porsche has a long way to go before it reaches the ‘gentleman racer’ status its new owner has asked for. “It will remain a track focused 911, but needs to be compliant enough to be driven between events,” Will tells us. “The RSR look will stay, but probably without the mad spoiler. The quick release bodywork is unnecessary for the car’s new intended use, too. This certainly won’t be an air-cooled 911 configured for everyday driving, but I’m confident we can make it more usable.”
Jase agrees. “We’ll be adding thin carpets, sound deadening material and more practical seating, as
well as windows and door frames to ensure the car is watertight. It also needs a less aggressive differential and softer suspension for road use. Put it this way, if I raise the car with a jack, there’s only about an inch of droop in the coilovers. It’s a very stiff ride.”
If recent reactions are anything to go by, this striking 911 isn’t going to lose any of its appeal as a result of Stuttgart Classica’s changes. As highlighted in the previous issue of Classic Porsche, the car was one of the star attractions at the recent Oilcooled event, held at Frank Cassidy’s Oxfordshire-based Porsche-specific business destination, Boxengasse, where the blue beast drew crowds and dropped jaws throughout the day.
Unsurprisingly, images of the car quickly went viral on social media, leading some of the engineers who helped with the build to reach out to Will and Jase with the offer of information. Suffice to say, this exciting project is ongoing, though pre-build inspections and import paperwork have now been dealt with in advance of the next phase in this powerful Porsche’s evolution. Rare because of its special link to genuine race cars through a mass of motorsport-derived mechanical equipment and a former project manager with a glittering resume, this modified air-cooled classic is about to start the next chapter in its story of engineering evolution.
THE ENGINEERS WHO HELPED WITH THE BUILD REACHED OUT TO WILL AND JASE WITH THE OFFER OF INFORMATION