Porsche 956

Porsche 956

The Porsche 956 was one of the most successful prototypes in the history of sports motorsport. Specially designed to compete in Group C of the FIA World Championship, this car adopted the engine already used in the Porsche 936 that won at Le Mans 1981. It was a 6-cylinder Boxer aluminium with a displacement of 2,650 cm3 and 4 valves per cylinder.

Since the regulation set a fuel limit available for each car in the races, Porsche further optimised fuel consumption. With the help of Bosch they switched the mechanical injection system to a digitally controlled one. A new 5-speed gearbox with synchronisms was also adopted. This reduced consumption by increasing performance and obtaining a higher torque.

Another major improvement was the adoption of a new chassis. After competing with the same base for years, Porsche engineers designed a new aluminum monocoque chassis on which the suspensions were mounted and a rear substructure where the engine was mounted. The rear suspension was also anchored to the transmission in that substructure.

While the FIA allowed very little ground effect, Porsche's ingenious solution was to place venturis in the ground area behind the front wheels, where the regulation did not prevent this. The engine was moved slightly upwards to channel the air and the result was brilliant. The Porsche 956 was the first car of the brand to generate ground effect, creating a downforce three times that of the famous Porsche 917.

The Porsche 956 debuted in May 1982 at Silverstone. Drivers Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell led 956 to victory in their category and second place in the overall table, behind a Group 6 Lancia LC1 . Then came the turn to run the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Porsche absolutely dominated the competition, placing its three cars in front during the entire race.

The strength of the 956 made Porsche decide to compete in the rest of the 1982 championship races. In the last race Porsche scored good points with the victory at Brands Hatch and won the championship.

In 1983 Porsche continued to evolve the 956. As a development strategy and mastery on the tracks, the factory built 12 cars, of which 9 were sold to private teams such as Joest Racing, Obermaier Racing, John Fitzpatrick Racing, Richard Lloyd Racing, Kremer Racing and Brun Motorsport.

The 1983 campaign demonstrated the overwhelming superiority of Porsche prototypes. The Joest Racing team won the inaugural race, while the official team won all the remaining races of the year.

In 1984 the strategy was the same, although only 7 cars were manufactured. Another 5 cars were built under the 962designation. Porsche saw such a surprising potential in its development that it decided to take it to compete in IMSA.

In order to adapt the car to IMSA GTP regulations, minor modifications had to be made, which led to the change of designation. The Porsche 962 triumphed in the USA securing years of dominance in the IMSA Championship.

Returning to the history of Porsche 956, with this prototype the German brand won all the races in which it was presented (10 of 11) for the 1984 FIA Championship. Highlights include the overwhelming victory at Le Mans, where Porsche took the top seven places. That's how the FIA Championship once again took over the home of Stuttgart, which added more than double the score of its competitor Lancia.

For this instance, the 956 prototypes of Group C were real racing cars that outperformed F1 performance. They were extremely light (820 kg) and used 6-cylinder Boxer engines with two twin K KK K27 turbos at 2.2 bar pressure, developed a power of 620 hp and reached speeds over 360 km/h.

In 1985 almost all of the Porsche present in the FIA Championship corresponded to the 962 model, although the Le Mans 24 Hours competition led and escorted two Porsche 956 from the private teams Joest Racing and Richard Lloyd Racing respectively.

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© Adrián Blanco 2007 - No full or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —