VIN: the works / Jose Sala Herrarte Ariano / James Graham Porsche 550 chassis 02
History of chassis 02
Chassis 02 was one of the two 550s with which Porsche began its first sports car racing programme. Built to 550/1 specification, this brace of cars (01 and 02) both received a chassis and body fabricated by Weidenhausen in Frankfurt whereas the subsequent 550/2 prototypes (03 to 15) either had Wendler or Weinsberg chassis / body combinations with rear torsion bars mounted ahead of as opposed to behind the engine. 01 to 05 all received coachwork with fixed instead of hinged rear body sections.
Following chassis 01’s race-winning debut at the Nurburgring in late May (round one of the German Sportscar Championship), Porsche entered both 550s for the Le Mans 24 Hours which took place over the weekend of June 13th/14th (round three of the inaugural World Sportscar Championship). For this event, the 550s ran in closed Coupe form with an aerodynamically profiled detachable hardtop in place. Chassis 02 was allocated to Richard von Frankenberg / Paul Frere and chassis 01 to Helmut Glockler / Hans Herrmann.
In a testament to Porsche’s build quality, the 550s ran almost without fault at Le Mans. They ultimately crossed the line 15th (02) and 16th (01), a spectacular result that meant Porsche won the under 1.5-litre Sports class.
Four weeks later, the same 550s were on hand for round two of the German Sportscar Championship which took place at the Avus ring on July 12th. Once again appearing in closed Coupe trim, on this occasion the 20 lap 166km contest was won by Hans Klenk in his works Borgward 1500 RS while Herrmann came home second in chassis 02 and Glockler crashed out in chassis 01.
The next appearance for the 550s came at the Nurburgring Rheinland event on August 2nd (round three of the domestic series) where Porsche ran an updated 550/2 complete with four cam engine during practice (chassis 03). However, only the existing pair of 550/1s contested the 160km seven lap race (this time in Spyder trim).
Despite the strongest field of the year, Hans Herrmann vanquished the opposition to take victory in the freshly repaired chassis 01 while Helmut Glockler dropped out at mid distance with engine trouble in 02.
All three 550s were then on hand for the German championship finale, the Freiburg-Schauinsland Hillclimb, which took place a week later on August 9th. Notably, Hans Stuck gave the four cam 550/2 its competition debut, however, at this early stage the peaky new motor proved incapable of running perfectly and Herrmann took class victory in chassis 02. Karl-Gunther Bechem’s works Borgward was second, Stuck claimed third in class with chassis 03 and Glockler was fourth in chassis 01.
At this point, Porsche switched focus to the new and improved 550/2 with its tweaked chassis / suspension and four cam motor. Chassis 01 and 02 were refurbished and sold to Guatemalan-domiciled Czech, Jaroslav Juhan.
While Juhan retained 01, he sold chassis 02 to Guatamalan privateer Jose Sala Herrarte Ariano for his first foray into the world of international motor racing. Both men entered their freshly acquired 550s in the end-of-season Carrera Panamericana (round 7 of the World Sportscar Championship) which took place between November 19th and 23rd. Although Juhan failed to finish in 01, Herrarte Ariano finished 32nd overall and won the under 1.6-litre Sports class in chassis 02.
One week later, the same pair of 550s also contested the Guadalupe Grand Prix in Puebla where Juhan finished sixth overall and took the class win in chassis 01. Porsche’s head of PR and racing, Fritz Huschke von Hanstein, drove chassis 02 and placed seventh overall for a class 1-2.
Jose Sala Herrarte Ariano went on to contest the opening World Sportscar Championship event of 1954: the Buenos Aires 1000km where he placed 13th overall and fourth in class. Immediately afterwards he sold chassis 02 to American privateer James Graham.
1954 was Graham’s first season of racing and he generally preferred to compete with a Porsche 356 Super instead of the 550.
At the Sebring 12 Hours on March 7th Graham teamed up with John Stimpson but chassis 02 retired at mid-distance with fuel system trouble. Graham then contested a 15 lap race at Brynfan Tyddyn (July 24th) and placed second in the FM class behind Otto Linton’s OSCA MT4. Six weeks later, Sherwood Johnston borrowed chassis 02 and drove it to second in a ten-lap SCCA National event at Thompson (finishing behind Briggs Cunningham’s OSCA MT4).
Chassis 02 subsequently disappeared from view.
Notable History
Porsche KG
14/06/1953 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (R. von Frankenberg / P. Frere) 15th oa, 1st S1.5 class (#45)
12/07/1953 GSC Avus (H. Herrmann) 2nd oa, 2nd S1.5 class (#132)
02/08/1953 GSC Nurburgring Rheinland (H. Herrmann) 1st oa, 1st S1.5 class (#132)
09/08/1953 GSC Freiburg-Schauinsland Hillclimb (H. Herrmann) 1st oa, 1st S1.5 class (141)
Sold via Jaroslav Juhan to Jose Sala Herrarte Ariano, Guatemala
23/11/1953 WSC Carrera Panamericana (J. Sala Herrarte Ariano / C. Gonzalez) 32nd oa, 1st S1.6 class (#152)
06/12/1953 IND Guadalupe GP, Puebla (H. von Hanstein) 7th oa, 2nd S1.5 class (#152)
24/01/1954 WSC Buenos Aires 1000km (J. Sala Herrarte Ariano) 13th oa, 4th S1.5 class (#68)
Sold to James Graham, USA
07/03/1954 WSC Sebring 12 Hours (J. Graham / J. Stimpson) DNF (#48)
24/07/1954 IND Brynfan Tyddyn (J. Graham) 3rd oa, 2nd FM class (#48)
05/09/1954 SCA National Thompson (S. Johnston) 2nd oa, 2nd FM class (#148)
Disappeared
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
