Guide: Dauer 962 LM Sport
Background
During the early 1990s, Jochen Dauer used the Porsche 962 as the basis for a road-going super sports car.
Porsche were helpful in sourcing parts and even provided Dauer with technical advice. However, soon after the Dauer 962 LM made its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1993, Porsche became even more enthusiastic.
At the time, Porsche’s road car sales were faltering and it was thought a win at Le Mans would be hugely beneficial.
The firm’s last victory at la Sarthe had come in 1987. Since then, Jaguar and Mercedes had largely dominated while Mazda and Peugeot had also picked up outright wins.
In terms of racing machinery, all Porsche had to offer at the time was the 965 Turbo S LM and 964 Carrera RSR. Neither of these GT class machines were likely contenders for outright victory.
A racing version of the Dauer 962 LM would be a serious proposition though, especially as there appeared to be several loopholes in the GT1 regulations.
GT1 rules permitted engines with up to 600bhp which was 100bhp more than the LMP1 class. GT1 cars could also run fuel tanks that were 50% bigger than LMP1 machinery.
Importantly, just a single road-going car had to be manufactured to secure GT1 homologation.
Senior Porsche motorsport engineer, Norbert Singer, approached Dauer in December 1993 and a deal was quickly struck. In return for helping Dauer achieve type approval for the 962 LM, Porsche would be permitted to race Dauer 962s at Le Mans in 1994.
The competition cars would be built at Weissach and campaigned under the Le Mans Porsche Team banner. Joest Racing would help manage the on-track operation.
Once they got wind of Porsche’s plan, the Le Mans governing body (the ACO) tried to exclude the Dauers but to no avail.
However, in January 1994, the ACO did manage to introduce a flat-bottom rule for GT1 that banned ground effect devices within a car’s wheelbase. This caused Porsche a real headache as ground effect was how the 962 derived most of its downforce.
As a result, Porsche had to create a revised variant: the Dauer 962 LM Sport.
Bodywork
To claw back the lost downforce, a new body was designed and considerable attention was paid to the aerodynamics.
Porsche devised a lengthened nose with a subtly flattened leading edge and a carbon splitter.
At the back, the extended and re-profiled tail featured a new bi-plane spoiler.
Chassis
Elsewhere, only minor modifications were made.
Most significantly, narrower tyres were installed as per the GT1 regulations.
The brakes were uprated and the electronically adjustable ride-height system was ditched to save weight.
The aluminium honeycomb monocoque was unchanged.
Suspension was via conventional double wishbones with adjustable dampers and anti-roll bars.
Engine & Gearbox
Aside from mandatory air restrictors, the three-litre water-cooled Flat 6 used in the 962 LM was retained.
Equipped with two intercooled KKK K27 turbochargers, it displaced 2994cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 95mm and 70.4mm respectively.
The catalytic converters were removed and the TAG engine management was re-mapped to optimise performance. Compression stayed at 9.0:1.
In this configuration, the engine produced 600bhp at 8000rpm (compared to 730bhp at 7400rpm for the standard 962 LM).
A conventional five-speed manual gearbox was employed.
Production
Three 962 LM Sports were built.
The first was chassis 169 (re-numbered GT001). This initially yellow example was used to secure type approval and then attended the Le Mans Test day.
Chassis 173 (GT002) and 176 (GT003) were the two 24 Hour race cars.
Launch & Testing
The controversial new machine was unveiled during the last week of March 1994. Hans-Joachim Stuck, Hurley Haywood, Yannick Dalmas, Mauro Baldi and Thierry Boutsen were announced as drivers with Danny Sullivan confirmed a few weeks later.
Back-to-back tests then took place at Mireval and Paul Ricard during late April.
1994 Le Mans Test
The model made its public debut at the annual Le Mans Test on May 8th where its arrival was met with a chorus of disapproval from practically every other team (including some of Porsche’s most loyal customers).
The GT contenders were not happy as the Dauer 962 was clearly not in the spirit of the regulations.
The LMP1 teams were also dismayed as the Dauers were able to run with an extra 100bhp and 50% more fuel which would allow them to eke out an extra two to three laps between stops.
Porsche attended the Le Mans Test with chassis GT001 for drivers Hans-Joachim Stuck, Mauro Baldi and Thierry Boutsen. The now white 962 proved fastest for much of the day, but was ultimately eclipsed by the two Porsche-powered LMP1 class Courage C32 LMs.
Neither the Toyota or Kremer teams attended.
The quickest legitimate GT1 machine was the Bugatti EB110 of privateer, Michel Hommell, which lapped an astonishing 20 seconds slower than the Dauer.
More testing then followed at Magny Cours one week later.
1994 Le Mans 24 Hours
For the 24 Hour race (June 18th and 19th) Porsche arrived with all three 962 LM Sports.
By this time, GT001 (which had attended the Test day) had been put back into its yellow road car configuration.
GT002 (sponsored by Shell) would be driven by Stuck, Sullivan and Boutsen.
GT003 (backed by FAT Turbo Express) was entered for Dalmas, Haywood and Baldi.
Porsche’s main opposition would be the solitary Gulf-backed Kremer-Porsche K8 Spyder, the Courages and the Toyota 94 CVs of which the SARD and Trust teams had one example each.
While Porsche and Toyota played things cool in qualifying, Courage and Kremer went all out for pole. They took first and second positions respectively.
The Peugeot-powered LMP2 class WR LM93 secured a surprise third on the grid alongside the SARD Toyota 94 CV.
Quickest of the Dauers was the Shell-backed entry of Stuck, Boutsen and Sullivan in fifth. Another Courage was sixth followed by the FAT Dauer of Baldi, Dalmas and Haywood in seventh.
In the race, Derek Bell’s Kremer K8 took an early lead but was quickly passed by Alain Ferte’s Courage and the FAT Dauer of Mauro Baldi.
Stuck (in the Shell Dauer) had also tried to pass Bell during the opening lap but span and dropped to eighth. He was back up to third by the time the Courages and Toyotas started to make their first fuel stops on lap ten.
Baldi (FAT) built up a sufficient gap that he was able to emerge from his first stop still at the head of the field.
At the two hour mark, the Dauers sat first and second and looked poised to runaway with the race. However, a series of mishaps during the next few hours meant they dropped behind the Toyotas.
First, Yannick Dalmas lost time in the FAT machine when he failed to engage the reserve fuel tank and needed a push from the marshals to reach his garage.
A left-rear puncture then caused Sullivan to arrive at the Ford chicane in a cloud of tyre smoke. His Shell-backed 962 cut across the grass and span back onto the track. Sullivan then had to limp round almost the entire circuit with a deflated tyre. Eleven minutes were lost and the car dropped to sixth.
By this time, the FAT entry had moved into second but subsequently fell down the order when Haywood suffered a broken driveshaft out on the circuit. The American crawled back to the pits where the offending item was replaced. Twelve minutes later, Haywood was back on his way.
These incidents allowed the Toyotas breathing space at the head of the field and also enabled the Courages to move up the leaderboard. After six hours, the two Courage C32s sandwiched the Shell car which was now in fourth.
Before the night was out, the Courage challenge was over as both cars succumbed to engine failure.
A fast double shift by Eddie Irvine in the SARD 94 CV meant Toyota held a comfortable overnight lead but, at the end of his stint, the car underwent the first of three brake pad and disc changes.
Irvine emerged in second, a lap behind the Trust Toyota, which held the lead until a series of pit stops around 5am dropped it to fifth.
The Porsches had strived to get back on terms with the Toyotas throughout the night, but the hours of darkness were not without drama. In the Shell entry, Stuck took a trip across the sand at the second Mulsanne chicane and, shortly afterwards, the car lost more time when its nose flew off when Boutsen hit a bump in the road.
Meanwhile, consistent lapping saw the FAT Dauer move into second just as dawn was breaking.
A subsequent driveshaft problem for the Shell car meant it lost another three laps; only the sister car now seemed to have a realistic chance of catching the lead Toyota.
With 90 minutes to go, the SARD 94 CV of Irvine, Martini and Krosnoff looked set for victory but disaster struck when it suddenly stopped in front of the pits. 13 minutes were lost while a broken gear linkage was replaced.
This enabled the Dauers to move into first and second positions.
Irvine resumed for Toyota and managed to chase down the Shell-backed car which was on old tyres. The Irishman went past Boutsen on the penultimate lap to claim second but could do nothing about the gap to the FAT entry which was a minute-and-a-half up the road.
Victory at the 1994 Le Mans 24 Hours was a fitting last hurrah for one of the greatest sports car designs of all time. It was a record seventh win for the 956 / 962 platform.
To avoid a repeat scenario in 1995, the ACO announced a minimum 25-car production requirement for the GT1 class.
Chassis GT001 and GT002 were retained by Porsche. The winning car (GT003) was gifted to Reinhold Joest who had a contract that if either car won, he would get to keep it.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
