VIN: the works Porsche 911 2.7 Carrera RS 'Safari' chassis 9113600288
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HISTORY OF CHASSIS 9113600288
Following an unexpected second place finish for Sobieslaw Zasada and Marian Bien driving a factory loaned 911 ST on the 1972 East African Safari Rally, Porsche built up three specially prepared cars for the 1973 event based on the recently introduced 911 2.7 Carrera RS.
One of these was chassis 9113600288 (registered S-AR 7910) that like sister car chassis 0285 (registered S-AR 7909) started life as a Grand Prix White M471 Lightweight and which was retained by the factory following completion in December 1972. The third example, chassis 0203 (registered 857 Z 7028), was also completed in December 1972, but as a Yellow M472 Touring version.
All three vehicles subsequently underwent extensive modification to prepare them for the gruelling Safari Rally which took place from April 19th to 23rd on 5300km of tortuous gravel roads across Kenya and Tanzania. 0285 and 0288 were both re-painted Yellow and ran with backing from title sponsor Bosch.
Chassis 0203 was a quasi-works entry that was sold to Bill Fritschy and appeared under a Chipstead of Kensington banner. Fritschy had arranged a preparation and service deal with Porsche and was navigated by Viscount Kim Mandeville.
As for the official works cars, 0285 was allocated to Bjorn Waldegaard / Hans Thorszelius and 0288 to Zasada / Bien.
Unfortunately, the 1973 Safari proved a major disappointment for Porsche as all three cars retired from the event.
In 0288, Zasada and Bien dropped much time with gear selection and suspension problems having initially run as high as third. Later, as the rally headed for its most southerly point with a flat out section down to Dar es Salaam, Zasada lost control going into a corner while defending from Hannu Mikkola’s Ford Escort: 0288 rolled twice across a bank which knocked both screens out and badly damaged the car’s rear end.
Zasada did make it to the Dar es Salaam checkpoint where his screens were replaced, but he retired shortly afterwards having lost second, third and fourth gears.
Chassis 0288 subsequently returned to Germany where it was repaired and, like 0285 and 0203, further upgraded for an attack on the 1974 Safari.
The ‘74 event was held along a 5557km route entirely within Kenya and took place in horribly wet conditions following more rain in the six-weeks prior than had previously fallen in the preceding ten years. All three 911s appeared in a white and blue colour scheme to reflect backing from Kűhne & Nagel logistics.
On this occasion, 0288 was allocated to Waldegaard and Thorszelius while Edgar Herrmann and Hans Schuller were in 0285. In 0203, Bill Fritschy (who had negotiated a similar preparation and service deal to 1973) was co-driven by Peter Moon.
During the early stages, the much-fancied paring of Waldegaard and Thorszelius lay fourth but they arrived at Thompson Falls with just one bolt holding the suspension arm to the torsion bar and lost 35 minutes having the clamping plate changed. However, despite the appalling conditions, 0288 subsequently made its way back up the leaderboard and, as the field headed out for the final leg, Waldegaard had overhauled his rivals to lead by 36 minutes and appeared destined for an easy win.
Unfortunately though, coming out of Taita Hills towards the main road at Maunga, 0288’s rear suspension arm that had caused so much trouble on the first leg collapsed. It took well over 80 minutes to fix which dropped the car to second. With so few stages left, Waldegaard was only able to recover 13 mins from eventual winner Joginder Singh’s Mitsubishi Colt before the rally finished.
After the event, 0288 returned to Stuttgart and was retained by Porsche. As for the other works 911s (both of which had failed to finish), 0285 remained in Kenya and was sold to a local competitor while Peter Moon purchased 0203 from Bill Fritschy.
Notable History
Porsche KG
Grand Prix White
Registered S-AR 7910
Repainted Yellow
19-23/04/1973 WRC East African Safari Rally (S. Zasada / M. Bien) DNF (#5)
Repainted White & Blue
Chipstead of Kensington (Porsche KG)
11-15/04/1974 WRC East African Safari Rally (B. Waldegaard / H. Thorszelius) 2nd oa (#19)
Retained by Porsche
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
