VIN: the Martini Racing Porsche 935/2 'Baby' chassis 001
History of chassis 935/2 001
In July 1977, Porsche sprang a surprise when it entered a heavily revised 935 for the annual Norisring races in Germany.
Although the new 935/2 looked outwardly similar to the firm’s existing 935, it was very different under the skin.
In addition to an all-new spaceframe chassis, the ‘Baby’ featured a 1.4-litre single turbo engine. This diminutive powerplant enabled Porsche to compete in the hotly contested sub two-litre Division 2 category of the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM).
The super lightweight car was also the first iteration of the 935 to use a five-speed gearbox.
Why go to all this trouble?
At the time, there was considerable speculation that the ’Baby‘ had been produced so Porsche could assess the engine as a potential Formula 1 powerplant. Two weeks after the 935/2 appeared, Renault’s pioneering 1.5-litre turbocharged RS01 debuted at the British Grand Prix.
935/2 chassis 001 was completed five days before its first race. Jacky Ickx tested the car at Weissach after which it was trucked west to Nuremberg.
Although Ickx only qualified in the midfield, the team were quite satisfied. Ickx moved from twelfth to sixth in the race but retired just past the halfway mark when heat in the cockpit became too much to bear.
The morning’s DRM event was followed by the big money 200 mile Norisring Trophy in the afternoon.
On this occasion, Ickx drove the ‘Baby’ to seventh overall and third in the Division 2 class.
Four weeks later, Porsche entered chassis 001 for a DRM race that supported the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
In front of a vast crowd, the 935/2 proved immensely quick. Since its last outing, it had been considerably improved with a smaller turbo and several other top secret upgrades.
Ickx qualified nearly two seconds faster than his closest competitor and was never headed in the 19 lap race.
Only Hans Heyer’s Zakspeed Escort was able to stay within 15 seconds of the Martini Porsche, but when Heyer’s engine blew under the strain, Ickx took an easy win; he finished nearly a minute clear of Manfred Winkelhock’s works BMW 320.
Chassis 001 was subsequently retired from active duty and today resides in the Porsche museum. No further examples were made.
Porsche did go on to build a forced induction F1 engine when Mansour Ojjeh bankrolled the TAG Turbo programme for McLaren in 1983. The project yielded a hat-trick of Driver’s titles between 1984, 1985 and 1986 plus back-to-back Manufacturer championships in 1984 and 1985.
Notable History
Martini Racing
03/07/1977 DRM Norisring (J. Ickx) DNF (#40)
03/07/1977 IND Norisring Trophy (J. Ickx) 7th oa, 2nd Div.2 class (#40)
30/07/1977 DRM Hockenheim (J. Ickx) 1st oa, 1st Div.2 class (#40)
Retained by Porsche
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
