Guide: Special Commission - a Historical & Technical Appraisal of the Porsche 911 3.0 SC RS (954)
BACKGROUND
Having first got involved with sports sponsorship during the early 1970s, Rothmans International went on to make a big splash in the world of motor sport towards the end of that decade when works Ford Escort RS1800s wearing the company’s handsome blue, white, gold and red colour scheme began to make the odd appearance appear during 1978.
For 1979, Rothmans became the title sponsor of David Sutton Motorsport and the Rothmans Rally Team was born. With Ford having officially quit rallying to focus on the development of a Mk3 Escort rally car, the Sutton-Rothmans squad became the Blue Oval’s quasi-works outfit between 1980 and ‘81. Famously, Ari Vatanen went on to win the 1980 British Rally Championship driving one of the Rothmans RS1800s, a feat eclipsed in 1981 when the Flying Finn was crowned World Rally Champion.
1982 saw Rothmans switch allegiance to the works Opel squad and Walter Rohrl delivered another WRC Drivers’ crown. That year, the British tobacco manufacturer also struck up a title sponsorship deal with Porsche whose new Group C 956 would contest the World Sportscar Championship in Rothmans colours. In addition, a one year partnership was signed with the RAM Formula 1 team, but this collaboration barely lasted six months after the team’s March 821 failed to score a single point.
By contrast, Rothmans’ big money tie-up with Porsche proved enormously successful and the Group C 956 went on to deliver back-to-back Driver and Manufacturer titles in 1982 and ‘83.
Meanwhile, the second year collaboration between Opel and Rothmans for the World Rally Championship proved less successful than the first as the ageing Ascona 400 was made obsolete by a new generation of machinery. With the original two year deal at an end, Rothmans decided to commission Porsche to create a car for the 1984 season.
This is where the 959 could have conceivably come in; with its all-wheel drive layout and a twin turbocharged engine capable of producing in excess of 500bhp, the 959 would have made a formidable challenger to anything the likes of Lancia, Peugeot, Audi or Ford had to offer. However, the 959 programme was running behind schedule and, with no likelihood of its conclusion on the horizon, an alternative was sought.
Over the winter of 1983-1984, Porsche was already in the final throes of developing an all-wheel drive 911-based challenger for the Paris-Dakar Rally dubbed the 953, but owing to its experimental nature, the 953 was not deemed appropriate for an outsourced programme as Rothmans had lined up a partnership with fledgling British outfit Prodrive to run its rally affairs for the coming seasons.
Run by David Richards (who had been Vatanen’s navigator between 1979 and ‘81), Prodrive would handle the new 911-based challenger under the Rothmans Porsche Rally Team banner in 1984 and 1985.
What Porsche came up with was an evolution of the 911 SC which as a matter of course had already been homologated into Group B on March 1st 1982. In privateer hands, Group 4 iterations of the rear-drive 911 SC had been successfully rallied since its introduction, most notably picking up victories in the 1978 Monte Carlo and 1980 Tour de Corse World Championship events. It had also delivered the 1980 European Rally Championship Drivers’ crown thanks to the quasi-works Almeras outfit.
The car Porsche developed for Rothmans was dubbed the Type 954 911 SC RS. Unveiled at Weissach during January 1984, it combined various aspects of the wide-bodied 930 with a normally aspirated three-litre engine derived from the recently replaced SC. The three-litre SC engine was chosen instead of the new 3.2-litre Carrera motor because the larger engine would have forced it into a class with a higher weight limit. Because the base SC had long since been homologated in Group B only 20 examples of the SC RS would have to be built as it qualified as an Evolution model.
As part of the deal with Porsche, Rothmans agreed to finance the 954’s development and purchase at least five of the 20 cars for Prodrive’s European and Middle Eastern Rally Championship attacks. The remaining cars would be sold to customers who could order their SC RS for street or competition use. The price was DM 188,000 (equivalent to around £60,000 or $90,000) which was roughly three times the cost of a standard 911 Carrera Coupe and double that of a 911 Turbo. Rally preparation was an additional DM 30,000 while Prodrive also went on to develop an array of their own trick parts.
CHASSIS
Each 911 SC RS started with a lightened version of the regular galvanised steel monocoque. The bodyshell was stiffened by way of double the usual number of chassis spot welds, welded-in rear shock member braces from the Carrera RSR, welded-in strengthening sections around the rear torsion bar tubes and an aluminium Matter rollcage. A front strut brace was often fitted as well.
Either an 80 or 110-litre FIA grade fuel cell was mounted under the front lid. Some cars also came with front and rear aluminium bolt-on skid plates, a full belly pan and rear wheel gravel guards.
Suspension followed the familiar 911 layout of torsion bars and telescopic shocks plus an anti-roll bar at either end. The front used a compact MacPherson strut arrangement with a single lower wishbone. At the rear, semi-trailing arms were installed.
SC RS upgrades included reinforced front wishbones and rear semi-trailing arms, heavy duty fully adjustable Bilstein coil-over dampers and thicker anti-roll bars (either 19mm or 22mm up front and 26mm or 27.5mm rear).
Instead of the standard 286mm front and 294mm rear ventilated brake discs fitted to the 3.2 Carrera, 917-derived cross-drilled and ventilated items of 304mm and 309mm with four-piston calipers were imported from the contemporary 3.3-litre 911 Turbo (930). Further enhancements to the brake system included adjustable balance, dual master cylinders, a hydraulic brake regulator, rebound and compression stops on both axles, a hydraulic handbrake system with control valve and increased front brake cooling.
Also sourced from the 930 were the 16-inch diameter Fuchs forged alloy wheels which measured 7-inches wide up front and 8-inches across at the back. These were mounted on reinforced hubs and shod with 205/55 and 225/50 VR16 tyres respectively.
ENGINE / TRANSMISSION
In the engine bay was a trick Type 930/18 version of Porsche’s renowned all-alloy, air-cooled, dry-sumped, single overhead cam, two valve per cylinder three-litre Flat 6.
Displacement was the familiar 2994cc thanks to unchanged bore and stroke dimensions of 95mm and 70.4mm respectively. However, pretty much everything else was heavily uprated.
The comprehensive list of enhancements included 935 cylinder heads, new camshafts with bigger, high-lift valve settings to permit a higher rev limit, a high butterfly induction system, new forged pistons, an RSR-style exhaust system without heat exchangers and a custom air filtration system.
In the interest of weight distribution, the oil tank for the dry-sump lubrication system was relocated to underneath the front lid. An enlarged oil cooler was now mounted behind the front apron.
A six-piston Kugelfisher mechanical fuel-injection pump replaced the standard SC’s Bosch K-Jetronic unit.
Compression was hiked from 9.8 to 10.3:1.
In road trim (and with the standard air pump still in place to aid emission control), the SC RS produced a peak output of 255bhp at 7000rpm and 184lb-ft at 6500rpm.
In competition guise the SC RS started with 270bhp but was soon creating around 290bhp.
For comparison, the last-of-line SC had developed 204bhp at 5900rpm and 197lb-ft at 4300rpm.
Like the engine,the SC RS gearbox was also specific to this model: a Type 915/71 short shift five-speed unit that came with a choice of ratios, a 3.2 Carrera oil cooler and an uprated oil pump.
Transmission was through a reinforced single dry-plate RSR clutch, a 40% locking limited-slip differential and reinforced driveshafts.
Two alternative final drive ratios were used: 8:35:1 and 7:37:1.
BODYWORK
In terms of bodywork, the SC RS adopted 911 Turbo-style wide-arched steel panels but with a number of custom additions.
The front lid and doors were switched to lightweight aluminium. No springs or brackets were fitted to the front lid.
The normal side sills were deleted.
The standard (and very heavy) impact-absorbing bumpers were dropped in favour of simplified fibreglass aprons. Front brake cooling was optimised by way of two larger rectangular intakes. Underneath was a Turbo-style polyurethane chin spoiler.
The rear spoiler was imported from the 3.2 Carrera and mounted on a fibreglass engine cover. Fibreglass was also used for the naked sills.
Thinner glass was fitted to save weight along with a single, manually adjustable exterior mirror.
In competition trim, quick-release panels were sometimes adopted as was a front lighting pod.
Only one colour was originally offered: Grand Prix White with matching wheel centres.
INTERIOR
Inside, the SC RS was pared right back in order to save as much weight as possible. With this in mind, quite a bit of the usual upholstery was absent along with the soundproofing, rear seats, the glovebox door and much of the electrical equipment to include the electric windows and audio system. The normal heater was replaced with a lightweight Eberspacher gas unit complete with protective aluminium cover.
Single-piece 935-style bucket seats trimmed in fire-resistant fabric replaced the type normally found in the SC and 1984 model year 3.2 Carrera. The seatbelts were junked in favour of competition harnesses.
In road trim, standard type door trim panels were retained albeit without the normal storage pockets and bins. Competition versions used further lightened and simplified versions.
A lightweight dash retained the same basic layout as every 911 of the era, but the clock normally found on the far right was either blanked off completely or (in competition trim) replaced with a trio of flick switches.
Housed directly behind the three-spoke steering wheel was a 10,000rm rev counter, off to the right of which was a 300kmph speedometer. To the left of the rev counter were the normal combined read outs for oil temperature / oil pressure and oil level / fuel.
Normally positioned ahead of the passenger seat was a rally tripmeter and map reading light. A fire system was also often installed.
WEIGHT / PERFORMANCE
In road-going trim Porsche quote the 911 SC RS at 1057kg with a top speed of 153mph and 0-62mph time of 4.9 seconds.
With 270-290bhp on tap, and with weight further reduced towards the 960kg class minimum (at which competition versions were homologated), the SC RS would have been a tremendously fast little machine.
PRODUCTION RUN
Although 20 examples of the 911 SC RS were required according to Group B Evolution rules of the time, Porsche actually completed 21 units with one car retained for the company’s museum.
Chassis numbers ranged from WP0ZZZ91ZES110001 to 21.
Cars delivered to customers were invoiced between January 11th and April 24th of 1984.
PRODUCTION CHANGES
Various updates were homologated for the SC RS during its competition life to include bigger bore exhaust manifolds (September 1st 1984), reworked rebound and compression stops on the front and rear axles, heavy duty rear suspension support arms, uprated brake calipers, big bore brake master cylinders and an alternative steering ratio (December 1st 1984), beefier anti-roll bar bushes (January 1st 1985), a new Matter rollcage with additional side and rear quarter bracing (March 1st 1985) and new final drive ratios (April 1st 1985).
COMPETITION HISTORY
During 1984, the Prodrive-run Rothmans Porsche Rally Team had a very successful campaign which would almost certainly have delivered the European Rally Championship to Henri Toivonen had lady luck not intervened.
In his ten outings with Porsche that year, Toivonen won the Costa Smerelda and Vinho da Madeira rallies (both with Juha Piironen as navigator) along with the Ypres 24 Hour and 1000 Pistes rallies (with Ian Grindrod). He also picked up a brace of second place finishes and two thirds and at one stage looked destined to become ‘84 European Champion.
However, Toivonen was also contracted to the works Martini Lancia squad for five World Championship events that season and his campaign ended prematurely after sustaining a back injury on the 1000 Lakes Rally in August. Toivonen’s lead in the ERC standings was eventually overhauled by Carlo Capone driving a Jolly Club Lancia 037.
In addition to the European series, Prodrive also ran a car in the inaugural Middle Eastern Rally Championship for Saeed Al-Hajri and John Spiller.
Al-Hajri and Spiller took victory on the SC RS’s debut event, the Qatar International Rally, and went on to score two more wins in the Middle Eastern series (at the Oman International and Dubai International rallies). Thanks to having never finished off the podium, Al-Hajri and Spiller were crowned 1984 champions.
Another highly rated outfit that ran the SC RS in 1984 was RAS Sport in Belgium who campaigned cars for Robert Droogmans / Ronny Joosten and Patrick Snijers / Dany Colebuders.
Droogmans / Joosten picked up a trio of European Rally Championship wins that season (the Haspengouwrally, Criterium Lucien Bianchi and Rallye du Condroz) along with a single victory in the Belgium domestic series (at the 12 Heures de Braine-le-Comte).
En route to becoming Belgian champions, team-mates Snijers and Colebuders collected a quintet of wins at the Circuit des Ardennes, Rallye de Hannut, TAC Rally, Rallye International de Wallonie and Omloop van Vlaanderen.
Elsewhere, privateer drivers scored multiple wins with the SC RS in the Spanish Tarmac Cup, the Catalunyan Tarmac series and the Coppa Italia.
Although the SC RS was rallied successfully for another few years, from 1985 the car was more frequently eclipsed by the new breed of all-wheel drive Group B specials. Nevertheless, the ‘85 campaign saw Saeed Al-Hajri / John Spiller claim their second of three straight Middle Easter Rally Championship titles thanks to wins on the Qatar, Jordan and Oman events. In Europe, Rothmans Porsche team-mates Billy Coleman and Ronan Morgan won the Donegal Rally while Bernard Beguin / Jean-Jacques Lenne scored half-a-dozen podium finishes in Europe, their most notable result having been second on the Tour de France.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
