One to Buy: 1 of 3 ex-works 1980 Porsche 924 Carrera GTP
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Having bought back production rights to the 924 (a car it had originally begun to develop for the Volkswagen Audi Group), Porsche subsequently created a significantly enhanced forced induction variant to sell alongside.
Six months after the resultant 924 Turbo had made its debut, Porsche surprised the automotive world by revealing a prototype of a further uprated version that was conceived to homologate a Group 4 competition car: the Carrera GT.
At the time, Porsche were not competing with the 911 and company Chairman, Ernst Fuhrmann, was planning to drop the air-cooled rear-engined model. In addition, the firm had pulled out of the Group 6 Prototype class after the 936 had delivered a brace of outright Le Mans wins.
Without much going on in the competition department, Porsche thought racing and rallying the Carrera GT would improve the 924’s image. This was considered doubly important as conventional water-cooled front-engined models were set to become Porsche’s future.
To precede the arrival of a bona fide Group 4 machine (which would have to be homologated by a production run of 400 units), the 924 Carrera GT’s Frankfurt Motor Show launch in September 1979 coincided with an announcement that Porsche would run a trio of such cars at the 1980 Le Mans 24 Hours.
However, because the Carrera GT would still be un-homologated when the race kicked off that June, the three works 924s would have to run in the GTP class for Grand Touring Prototypes as opposed to the more appropriate Group 4 category.
Despite having been up against much more powerful machinery designed purely for racing, the wet conditions at Le Mans in 1980 somewhat levelled the playing field and enabled the production-based 924’s superb handling to shine.
Remarkably, the Jurgen Barth / Manfred Schurti entry finished sixth overall and third in the GTP class. As for the other pair, niggling issues caused some delays, but the Andy Rouse / Tony Dron machine nevertheless came home twelfth overall (fifth in class) while the Derek Bell / Al Holbert car was 13th (sixth in class).
On January 23rd, that very car piloted by Bell and Holbert (chassis 003) will be going under the hammer during RM Sotheby’s sale at the Arizona Biltmore.
Following its heroics at Le Mans, chassis 003 was acquired by Al Holbert’s team for the 1981 season. That year, Holbert and Doc Bundy drove it to a trio of podium finishes in the Trans-Am series and also contested a coupe of other major races such as the Daytona 24 Hours.
Towards the end of 1981, chassis 003 was sold to Bruce Leven who continued to campaign it in the Trans-Am series.
Having spent time being club raced in later ownership, chassis 003 was acquired by noted Porsche collector, Kerry Morse, in December 1987. Kerry Morse in turn sold the car to David Morse (no relation) who was another well known enthusiast of the German marque. In the ownership of David Morse, chassis 003 was restored back to its 1980 Le Mans trim.
During 2012, the historic and highly eligible car was acquired by the consigning owner.
It remains the only one of the three 1980 Le Mans entries in private hands.
