VIN: the Dauer Racing / Sultan of Brunei Dauer 962 LM chassis 172
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History of chassis 172
Chassis 172 was a Fabcar 962 tub ordered by Jochen Dauer Racing over the winter of 1990-1991.
It made its only competition appearance at the 1991 Daytona 24 Hours alongside Dauer’s sister Fabcar 962, chassis 175.
Chassis 172 was entered at Daytona for Mario, Michael and Jeff Andretti. It ran an all-black livery with backing from Texaco Havoline. The sister car (chassis 175, painted plain white) was driven at Daytona by four members of the Unser racing dynasty.
Both of Dauer’s 962s ran with special bodywork produced by the Arrows F1 team.
The brand new cars were only just finished in time to race; teething and scrutineering problems created a good deal of stress within the team.
The 1991 Daytona 24 Hours began with Michael Andretti launching the black Porsche from sixth on the grid into second. He then harried leader Bob Wollek (Joest Porsche 962) before scrabbling inside under braking for the left-hander that took the cars back onto the West banking.
Wollek re-took the lead on lap two as Andretti’s car, with more rear wing, was visibly slower on the straights.
Wollek, Andretti and Arie Luyendyk (Nissan R90C) battled furiously over the next few laps with the lead changing hands several times.
Andretti then settled into second position before pitting on lap 24 complaining of a misfire.
Mario Andretti took over and rain soon swept in. The 1978 F1 champion initially stayed out on dry tyres but, on lap 48, he struck debris from a stricken Porsche 911 and swerved onto the grass in front of the pit lane. A new nose was fitted along with wet weather tyres.
At the 100-lap mark, the black Porsche had fallen 16 laps behind the leaders. By midnight, it was lying seventh but was 17 laps in arrears.
However, a spectacular early morning stint by Michael Andretti and problems for rival teams meant chassis 172 was back in second position by 7:30am, even though it had lost fourth gear an hour before.
Just after 9am, the Andretti Porsche took the lead but, at 10:30am, the dream of a fairytale victory ended when a bolt in the flywheel sheared which caused significant damage to the starter motor.
The Dauer crew had to spend 78 minutes effecting a repair.
It looked like the Porsche might have been able to recover to finish third but overheating and oil loss ultimately dropped it to fifth at the chequered flag.
After its appearance at Daytona, chassis 172 was stored at Dauer’s Nuremberg workshop before being converted into a road-going 962 LM for the Sultan of Brunei.
It was one of five Dauer 962 LMs purchased by the Brunei royal family, all of which were finished in different colour schemes.
Chassis 172 was painted black with a matching black interior.
Prior to delivery, the car appeared in various promotional images wearing number plate N CM 962. It also wore N XN 343 and BB P 962.
Once landed in Brunei, the car was registered KF 9911.
It later returned to Germany for installation of a red interior.
Jochen Dauer later purchased an unused 962 chassis that had been built by Vern Schuppan Ltd. for Schuppan’s own road-going 962 programme. Dauer used this tub to recreate the 1991 Andretti Daytona 24 Hour entry.
Notable History
Jochen Dauer Racing
Black Texaco Havoline livery
03/02/1991 IMS Daytona 24 Hours (M. Andretti / M. Andretti / J. Andretti) 5th oa, 3rd GTP class (#00)
Converted to Dauer 962 LM specification
Painted Black with Black interior
Registered N CM 962 / N XN 343 / BB P 962.
Sold to the Sultan of Brunei
Registered KF 9911
Later returned to Dauer for installation of a red interior
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com & Dauer Sportwagen
