VIN: the Martini Racing Porsche 911 2.2 Carrera RSR Turbo chassis 9114609101 R12
History of chassis 9114609101 R12
Porsche used four works 911 RSR Turbos during the 1974 World Sportscar Championship campaign. These were the most highly modified 911s yet and so extreme, they had to run in the Group 5 class for three-litre Prototypes as opposed to the Grand Touring category.
R12 appeared with R9 for the annual Le Mans Test on March 24th. This was the first public showing for the brand new RSR Turbo and the pair of unsorted cars proved a real handful. Driven by Helmut Koinigg, R12 went a second quicker than R9 to take sixth fastest time overall.
Koinigg was joined by Manfred Schurti for the non-championship four hour race that immediately followed. They started fourth but retired at mid-distance with a broken rocker arm.
At the Monza 1000km on April 24th, R12 was driven by Gijs van Lennep and Herbert Muller. Practice and much of the race was wet which didn’t initially allow the Porsche to use all of its power. After qualifying twelfth, R12 ran fast and reliably to finish fifth overall.
The turbo engine was another model of reliability when R12 appeared at the Spa 1000km two weeks later (May 5th). With van Lennep and Muller again at the wheel, the silver 911 qualified sixth and soldiered on to finish third. Its only problem had been unscheduled changes for two left rear tyres because of fouling bodywork.
After single car entries at Monza and Spa, Porsche ran two RSR Turbos at each of the next four World Sportscar Championship rounds.
For the Nurburgring 1000km on May 19th, R12 was once again allocated to Porsche’s number one driver pairing of Muller / van Lennep. However, in the Saturday practice session, van Lennep got it all wrong when he tried to pass another car on the crest of Pflanzgarten.
R12 landed sideways and, before van Lennep could do anything about it, the car shot around and side swiped the guard rail. The mechanics then worked frantically through the night to fix the damage.
Fortunately, R12 was repaired in time to take its place on the grid (twelfth), two positions ahead of its sister car.
Muller was pushing and shoving at the start and had several other tangles during the race. There was speculation the RSR Turbo’s big rear wing obscured visibility and, by the end of the race, both works cars looked decidedly second hand.
After a long delay in the pits, Muller and van Lennep finished sixth overall.
With four major races under its belt in less than two months, R12 was given a major refresh ahead of its next appearance: the Le Mans 24 Hours (June 15th and 16th).
A brand new car (R13) was on hand for Muller / van Lennep while R12 was allocated to Koinigg / Schurti. The two cars qualified seventh and eleventh respectively.
Positions were steadily gained throughout the opening few hours and, by mid-way through the evening, the RSR Turbos were running third and fourth.
However, shortly before 11pm, R12’s engine blew at full revs down the Mulsanne Straight. It expired in a huge ploom of smoke that sent oil gushing onto the red hot exhaust which caused a brief but spectacular fire.
By contrast, the sister car of Muller / van Lennep finished an extraordinary second overall.
R12’s final appearance in 1974 came at the Zeltweg 1000km two weeks after Le Mans (June 30th).
Again driven by Koinigg / Schurt while Muller / van Lennep had the newer R13, the two cars qualified eighth and seventh respectively.
During the race, there was drama in the pits when Koinigg pitted ten or so laps after he had blasted by van Lennep. He had barely left the pits to rejoin when the car lost all power and was disqualified for receiving outside assistance.
It transpired that, in his desire to pass ven Lennep, Koinigg had turned up the boost and blown the engine.
R12 was thereafter retired from competition duty.
The car was retained by Porsche and today forms part of the factory museum.
Notable History
Porsche System / Martini Racing Team
Silver Martini livery
24/03/1974 IND Le Mans Test (H. Koinigg) 6th o, 6th S3.0 class (#10)
24/03/1974 IND Le Mans 4 Hours (H. Koinigg / M. Schurti) DNF (#10)
25/04/1974 WSC Monza 1000km (G. van Lennep / H. Muller) 5th oa, 5th S3.0 class (#8)
05/05/1974 WSC Spa 1000km (G. van Lennep / H. Muller) 3rd oa, 3rd S3.0 class (#14)
19/05/1974 WSC Nurburgring 1000km (H. Muller / G. van Lennep) 6th oa, 6th S3.0 class (#8)
16/06/1974 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (M. Schurti / H. Koinigg) DNF (#21)
30/06/1974 WSC Zeltweg 1000km (H. Koinigg / M. Schurti) DSQ (#8)
Retained by Porsche
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
