VIN: the Brumos Racing Porsche 911 2.8 Carrera RSR chassis 9113600328 R4
History of chassis 9113600328 R4
While the Martini Racing Team was brought on board to manage the European legs of the 1973 World Sportscar Championship with the new 911 RSR, in the USA, that responsibility fell to Brumos and Penske Racing.
Brumos was the hugely successful Porsche, Volkswagen and Audi dealership run by Peter Gregg out of Jacksonville, Florida. The famous white, red and blue Brumos racing cars had recorded many of Porsche’s biggest successes stateside; in 1973 they would campaign a 917/10 in the Can-Am series and 911 RSRs in the World Championship, IMSA and Trans-Am series.
Chassis R4 made its debut alongside Penske’s R3 at the season-opening Daytona 24 Hours which took place over the weekend of February 3rd and 4th.
The pair of new works-assisted Porsches had not yet been homologated into the Group 4 GT category so ran in the Group 5 Prototype class.
R4 was entered for Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood who qualified eighth. The dark blue Penske machine was driven by Mark Donohue / George Follmer and started twelfth.
Both cars ran strongly in the early stages with the Brumos machine fifth and the Penske entry sixth.
At the five hour mark, problems for some of the Prototypes meant the two 911s had been promoted to second and third, twelve laps behind the lead Matra.
Later in the evening, Donohue managed to get the Penske machine ahead while R4 was black flagged for a faulty headlight.
At this stage, it looked like Matra’s race, but shortly after midnight, Francois Cevert rolled to a halt with a connecting rod sticking out the side of the block. This left Penske and Brumos holding the first two positions in the so far faultless Carreras. Third placed Arturo Merzario was 18 laps behind in his Group 4 NART Ferrari 365 GTB/4C.
At around 5am, the Penske machine pitted with a three-quarter lap lead over R4, but soon after it rejoined, an ominous trail of smoke began to emerge. The blue Porsche was quickly back into the pits where it was diagnosed with a holed piston and retired.
By 9am, the 53 car field that started the race was down to just 17 runners. R4 had by this time developed a large crack in its windscreen, but with a 35 lap lead, the eight minute stop to fit new glass was inconsequential.
Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood ultimately went on to win by 22 laps.
After its historic victory, R4 was retired from competition duty.
Brumos went on to race another RSR in the IMSA and Trans-Am series for the rest of 1973 (chassis 9113600727).
In the late 1970s, R4 was sold by Brumos to a private collector, since which time it has been restored.
Notable History
Brumos Porsche, Jacksonville, Florida
White, Red & Blue livery
04/02/1973 WSC Daytona 24 Hours (P. Gregg / H. Haywood) 1st oa, 1st S3.0 class (#59)
Late 1970s sold
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Supercar Nostalgia & Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
