One to Buy: ex-works 1984 Costa Smerelda & 1000 Pistes-winning Porsche 911 3.0 SC RS (SOLD)
Although Porsche had great things planned for the 959 in Group B, it was ultimately a specially enhanced version of the regular 911 that went on to uphold the marque’s honour during those crazy years from 1982 to 1986.
As a matter of course, the 911 SC had been homologated for Group B competition on March 2nd 1982. By contrast, the subsequent 3.2-litre Carrera was never homologated as its larger engine would have forced it into a class with a markedly higher weight limit.
When Porsche’s title sponsor, Rothmans, requested a 911 rally car for the ‘84 season, Porsche obligingly created the SC RS.
Group B regulations permitted 20 uprated Evolution machines to be constructed every twelve months from the date of homologation and this is where the SC RS came in.
20 of these heavily modified cars were built, most of which found their way to the special stages. However, only six were reserved for works use by Porsche’s chosen partner: David Richards Autosport (now better known as Prodrive).
Much like when John Wyer’s Gulf-backed organisation were recruited to run the factory 917 programme between 1970 and ‘71, Richards’ outfit was selected on account of its rallying prowess.
Chassis 007, currently on offer with Duncan Hamilton ROFGO in Micheldever, Hampshire, was one of those half dozen examples of the SC RS destined for life as a factory Rothmans car.
It appeared on 13 occasions during the 1984, ‘85 and ‘86 seasons, during which time it was driven by Henri Toivonen, Jean-Luc Therier, Saeed Al-Hajri, Bernard Beguin and Billy Coleman.
Most significantly, Toivonen used chassis 007 for his victorious 1984 outings on the Costa Smerelda and 1000 Pistes events (during which the Finn was navigated by Juha Piironen and Ian Grindrod respectively).
In 1985, Billy Coleman took 007 to a win on the Donegal Rally which he followed up with victory on the ‘86 Galway Rally (both times with Ronan Morgan in the co-driver seat).
Reprinted below is Duncan Hamilton ROFGO’s description for this superbly restored Group B Porsche.
The 911 SC/RS (or Super Carrera/RennSport) is truly the Holy Grail of the Porsche ‘RS’ lineage. And the rarest of all street-legal RSs, with only 20 cars produced. Built as a Homologation special for Rothmans and the Porsche factory using some of the vast sponsorship package released for the factory Group C/Le Mans program, it remains Porsche’s last ever factory rally car.
To conform to the FIA Gruppe “B” Rally Homologation rules, 20 examples of the SC/RS were to be build – with chassis numbering from 001 to 0020.
With the use of a lightweight version of the SC shell, plus lightweight bonnet, wings, boot-lid/’whale-tail’, doors, thin gauge glass, racing seats and Kevlar bumpers, the overall weight was reduced by over 1000lbs. The SC/RS also incorporates parts from some of the all-time great Porsche racers. The brakes were 917 and from the 911 RSR and 935 the SC/RS gained suspension components, fabricated exhaust headers, clutch, gears, mechanical fuel-injection, dry sump, front anti-roll bar, and limited slip differential.
At the time of production, the SC/RS was the fastest normally-aspirated production Porsche in existence.
Below is a list of parts and modifications within the SC/RS Homologation ‘special’ road car:
Lightweight body shell
Aluminium bonnet, boot-lid/wail-tail and doors, door panels, and front hood prop.
Aluminium six-point “Matter” safety roll-cage with removable door bars.
Type 935 Recaro Racing seats
“Glaverbal” lightweight glass
Fibreglass/Kevlar front and rear bumpers
Front aluminium skid plate (removable)
Rear aluminium skid plate (removable)
Full belly pan
Fabricated aluminium gas heater protective cover
Factory 3-point passenger seat belt with a 5-point racing belt for the driver
FIA rear-wheel gravel guards
Factory front tower strut brace
80-litre fuel tank with mini-spare inclusion
917/930 turbo derived brakes
RSR-type hand fabricated exhaust system
7 & 8 inch Alloy Fuchs road wheels
Adjustable Bilstein coil-over shock absorbers
Front brake cold air system
Hydraulic hand brake system with control valve
Eberspacher fuel heater
180mph (300 km/hr) speedometer
External & internal “battery off” master switches
Pair of “Oscar” hood-mounted rally lights (optional)
Heavy duty torsion and anti-roll bars
3.0-litre 290bhp engine with 10.3:1 compression-ratio with Bosh/Kugelfisher mechanical injection and dry-sump lubrication
Engine oil cooler system
Custom rally air cleaner system with central port conical filter housing
915/71 Transaxle with cooler, RSR clutch, close ratio gears and 40% limited slip deferential
Whilst 20 Homologation ‘specials’ were built in road specification, just 6 of these would be plucked from the factory line-up, destined to become fully-fledged international rally cars for the works Rothmans Porsche Team.
The Porsche factory entrusted Prodrive (David Richards Autosport) to carry out the necessary modifications, which were numerous. From front to back the SC/RS Group B rally cars were thoroughbred competition cars, and there was no shortage of funding from Rothmans. With further weight removed from the now strengthened shell, even more sophisticated suspension, and the howling flat-six now producing around 300bhp, Porsche would go about securing some of the great names in international rallying to drive their new car – names like Henri Toivonen, Juha Kankkunen, and Saeed Al Hajiri. Whilst the works rally cars were certainly based on the homologation road car, the differences between the two are too numerous to list.
This particular SC/RS, chassis #007 competed in 13 international rallies for the Rothmans Porsche team, winning 4 outright, 2 with Henri Toivonen and 2 with Billy Coleman. The full list of results is below. Whilst the car is chassis #007 and ran the registration A974 BRX, it was always known as ‘Car 3’ within the team. This numbering lived with the car its whole competition life and is still identifiable on the car today – and still correlates with the original Prodrive records from the day.
Following #007’s retirement, it was purchased by Peter Livanos and made its way to America where it remained in his storage for many years. Upon being sold to a British collector based in the States, it was sympathetically restored to concours standard, retaining all of its original works rally parts – including engine and gearbox, whose individual histories are identified using their numbers. On display in his stunning collection for over a decade, #007 subsequently came back to the UK where it was reunited with its original registration of A974 BRX. It also benefitted from a thorough authenticity inspection by Prodrive Legends. Today the car is still in concours condition and has only seen the light of day when invited to events such as Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Heveningham Concours or to be the cover feature of Octane Magazine (October 2021)
Whilst the SC/RS might not have the wide-reaching fame of the 2.7 RS, it is without doubt the rarest and most specialised RS derivative ever built by Porsche. And the works rally cars even more so. An air cooled, high-revving, naturally aspirated factory competition Porsche in the greatest livery in the manufacturer’s history, built at a time when Rothmans Porsche ruled the world.
Results 1984-1986
17/03/1984 Costa Blanca - Toivonen / Grindrod: DNF
30/03/1984 Rally Garrigues - Toivonen / Piironen: 3rd
26/04/1984 Costa Smeralda - Toivonen / Piironen: 1st
07/08/1984 Rally Des 1000 Pistes - Toivonen / Grindrod: 1st
24/09/1984 Tour de France - Therier / Michel: DNF
12/10/1984 Rally D-Atibes - Therier / Michel: DNF
25/11/1984 RAC Rally - Al-Hajri / Spiller: 17th
05/04/1985 Circuit of lreland - Begiun / Lenne: 5th
02/05/1985 Tour de Corse - Coleman / Morgan: 5th
21/06/1985 Donegal - Coleman / Morgan: 1st
05/10/1985 Cork 20 - Coleman / Morgan: 2nd
07/02/1986 Galway - Coleman / Morgan: 1st
28/03/1986 Circuit of lreland - Al-Hajri / Spiller: DNF
