VIN: the Martini Racing Porsche 911 2.2 Carrera RSR Turbo chassis 9114609102 R13
History of chassis 9114609102 R13
Of the four 911 2.2 Carrera RSR Turbos used during the 1974 World Sportscar Championship, chassis R13 was the most successful.
Assembled for a two-car attack on the Le Mans 24 Hours, R13 was allocated to Porsche’s number one drivers, Herbert Muller and Gijs van Lennep, for this and its subsequent three outings as a works car.
At Le Mans, it ran a flat-mounted fan arrangement (first trialled at Imola two weeks earlier). R13 qualified seventh ahead of the older sister car in eleventh (R12).
After two hours of racing, R13 was up to fifth position. By early evening, it had risen to third behind the lead Matras. R12’s engine blew at 11pm followed soon after by that of the second placed Matra which meant, come midnight, R13 was second overall.
At the 4am half way stage, Muller and van Lennep were still second but now seven laps behind the Matra after a long stop to replace a coil-bound front suspension unit.
The Porsche team still had a glimmer of hope when, shortly before 8am, the Matra’s engine started to misfire which required several stops to rectify.
Having closed the gap, the Porsche then lost 15 minutes at around 10:30am with gearbox and steering problems.
R13 completed the rest of the race with just fourth and fifth gears and, with Matra accumulating an eleven lap lead, any faint hope of a Porsche win seemed to have evaporated.
However, the French team lost 47 minutes when their car required a gearbox rebuild and it eventually re-appeared just one lap ahead of the 911.
To the delight of the crowd, the French car then pulled out a six lap lead which left Muller and van Lennep to console themselves with the runners' up spot.
Chassis R9 and R12 were then used at the Zeltweg 1000km.
R13 re-appeared to single-handedly tackle Porsche’s final three races of 1974.
The 6 Hour race at Watkins Glen in the middle of July did not get off to a great start. Muller and van Lennep were forced to sit out the opening day of practice when R13’s tail section and wheels went missing en route to the circuit. Despite gearbox and distributor problems in what little practice time remained, Muller still managed to qualify fourth.
Two hours into the race, R13 was up to third. It gained another position when the second-place Alfa Romeo hit trouble. Muller / van Lennep eventually took second place and crossed the line eleven laps behind the winning Matra.
Four weeks later, R13 was present for the 1000km race at Paul Ricard where it had an unusually troubled weekend.
After Muller and van Lennep qualified the car eighth, the gearbox problems that affected it at Le Mans returned.
R13 lost fifth gear in the first hour and then couldn’t be re-fuelled properly so spent a long time in the pits where it got very hot and dropped a lot of oil.
More gears subsequently went AWOL during the race and, with half an hour to go, only the second cog could be selected. R13 limped home to a creditable seventh overall.
Although there was a six hour race at Kyalami scheduled for November, Porsche’s final race of 1974 was the Brands Hatch 1000km at the end of September.
R13 qualified further back than usual (13th) as the circuit’s twisty nature meant it was difficult to keep the car on boost. Special new Dunlop tyres were said to be good for a second a lap, but R13 proved little quicker than the normally aspirated customer RSRs.
With 30 laps of the race to go, Muller emerged for his final stint and went off the circuit while lapping another car. The front spoiler was torn away by the bumpy ground and, although Muller immediately pitted, he was instructed to complete the race.
This was not so easy as every time he changed into fifth (at around 120mph), the acceleration and rear downforce was sufficient to lift the front wheels clean off the ground. Muller claimed fifth spot to continue R13’s 100% finishing record for the season.
In 1975, the factory sold R13 to Vasek Polak for the Porsche collection at his dealership and workshop in Hermosa Beach, California.
The car was brought out of retirement in 1977 when it was leased to Ted Field’s Interscope Racing for the Daytona 24 Hours.
R13’s original Martini livery was covered with a Fablon wrap. Driven by Field, Danny Ongais and George Follmer, it qualified sixth but went out after 35 laps with piston trouble.
Six months later, George Follmer leased R13 from Polak to contest another IMSA race: the Mid-Ohio 3 Hours. Follmer and Howdy Holmes qualified twelfth and eventually finished 26th overall but were 21 laps behind the winner.
Thereafter, R13 returned to Vasek Polak’s collection until it was sold in 1998.
Notable History
Porsche System / Martini Racing Team
Silver Martini livery
16/06/1974 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (H. Muller / G. van Lennep) 2nd oa, 2nd S3.0 class (#22)
13/07/1974 WSC Watkins Glen 6 Hours (H. Muller / G. van Lennep) 2nd oa, 2nd S3.0 class (#9)
15/08/1974 WSC Paul Ricard 1000km (H. Muller / G. van Lennep) 7th oa, 7th S3.0 class (#14)
29/09/1974 WSC Brands Hatch 1000km (H. Muller / G. van Lennep) 5th oa, 4th S3.0 class (#5)
1975 sold to Vasek Polak
Leased to Ted Field, Interscope Racing
06/02/1977 IMS Daytona 24 Hours (D. Ongais / G. Follmer / T. Field) DNF (#00)
Leased to George Follmer
28/08/1977 IMS Mid-Ohio 3 Hours (G. Follmer / H. Holmes) 26th oa, 4th Gr.5 class (#16)
Retained by Vasek Polak until 1998
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
