When the Porsche 956 was developed in late 1981, Porsche intended to run the car in both the World Sportscar Championship and the North American IMSA GTP Championship. However, IMSA GTP regulations differed from Group C, and the 956 chassis was banned in the US series on safety grounds because the driver's feet were ahead of the front axle center line. Additionally, when running under IMSA rules, the 956's water-cooled twin-turbo engine had to be replaced with an older and simpler air-cooled single turbo engine until a compromise was found.
To make the 956 eligible under IMSA regulations, Porsche extended the 956's wheelbase to move the front wheels ahead of the pedal box and integrated a steel roll cage into the new aluminium chassis. The engine used was the Porsche 934-derived Type-935 2.8L flat-6 with air cooling and a single Kühnle, Kopp und Kausch AG K36 turbocharger, as twin-turbo systems were not permitted in IMSA's GTP class at the time.
By mid-1985, the newer Andial-built 3.2L fuel-injected flat-6 was fitted to the 962 for IMSA GT competition, making the car more competitive against Jaguar. The 2.6L unit from the 956 was not replaced in the World Sportscar Championship until 1986, when 2.8L, 3.0L, and 3.2L variants with dual turbochargers were introduced. Cars run under World Sportscar Championship regulations were designated as 962C to distinguish them from their IMSA GTP counterparts. The 3.2L unit, eligible under IMSA's Group 3 engine rules, was banned by IMSA in 1987. In 1988, to counter the factory Nissan teams and the threat of Porsche teams withdrawing, water-cooled twin-turbo Porsche engines were permitted again but with 36 mm restrictors.
In total, Porsche produced 91 962s between 1984 and 1991. Sixteen were used by the factory team, while 75 were sold to customers. Some 956s were rebuilt as 962s, with two being previously written off and four others simply rebuilt. Three 962s that were badly damaged were rebuilt and given new chassis numbers due to the extensive reconstruction required. Due to high demand for 962 parts, some aluminium chassis were built by Fabcar in the United States before being shipped to Germany for completion.
Derek Bell, a five-time Le Mans winner, drove the 962 to 21 victories between 1985 and 1987 and remarked that it was "a fabulous car, but considering how thorough Norbert Singer (the designer of the 962 and head of Porsche's motorsport division at the time) and the team were, it was really quite easy to drive."
Due to the large number of 962s produced, some teams adapted the car to better suit their needs or to remain competitive, including new bodywork for aerodynamic efficiency and mechanical changes. Long-time Porsche campaigner Joest Racing heavily modified a pair of 962s for the IMSA GTP Championship in 1993, taking the 962's final sprint race victory at Road America that season.
Beyond minor modifications, some private teams re-engineered the entire car. One noted problem of the 962 was a lack of stiffness in the aluminium chassis, which led some teams to design a new chassis and purchase components from Porsche to complete the car. Among the most popular privately built variants was Kremer Racing's "962 CK6", which replaced the original aluminium sheet tub with a carbon fibre tub; eleven chassis were built. John Thompson designed a chassis for Brun Motorsport, eight of which were built and helped the team take second in the World Sportscar Championship in 1987. Thompson later built two chassis for Obermaier Racing. Richard Lloyd Racing's GTI Engineering turned to Peter Stevens and Nigel Stroud to develop five 962C GTis featuring revised aerodynamics and aluminium honeycomb construction. Former factory Porsche driver Vern Schuppan built five new chassis, some known as "TS962s".
In the United States, Holbert Racing began making modifications to their own chassis, rebadging them with "962 HR-" serial numbers. Jim Busby contracted Jim Chapman to build a more robust version of the 962 monocoque. Fabcar became the de facto factory tub supplier, supplying chassis with official Porsche serial numbers and incorporating aluminium honeycomb and billet aluminium bulkheads to substantially increase crashworthiness and stiffness. Dyson Racing purchased a Richard Lloyd Racing/GTi Engineering 962 monocoque for their Porsche 962 DR-1, while a Fabcar tub was used in the 962 DR-2.
Several open-cockpit versions were developed in the mid-1990s for new sportscar regulations. Kevin Jeanette built the Gunnar 966, drawing on elements from the 917/30 Can-Am cars. Kremer Racing developed the open-cockpit CK7 for Interserie competition and the K8 for international sportscar races including Le Mans and Daytona. Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen converted his 962 (chassis 011) to an open-top version that he raced in the Interserie in 1995 and 1996.
Porsche debuted the 962 at the 1984 24 Hours of Daytona with Mario Andretti and Michael Andretti driving the factory car; it led the race until retiring on lap 127 with engine and gearbox problems. The first 962 to appear at Le Mans and in Europe was also in 1984, entered by American Preston Henn in the IMSA GTP class. Driven by Henn, Michel Ferté, and Edgar Dören, it was classified 26th after retiring after 247 laps with ignition failure.
For 1985, the 962C debuted in the World Sportscar Championship, but was beaten by an older 956 that had already taken WEC top honours four times. Under pressure from new cars from Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz, in 1987 Porsche introduced a more durable and powerful 3.0L unit that powered the car to an overall win at the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans — Porsche's record seventh consecutive victory at the race.
After a post-1987 dry spell, Porsche customer Jochen Dauer had the 962 re-classified as a road-legal GT1 car under a loophole in the new ACO regulations, ultimately winning the 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans. Team Taisan took the final victory in an original 962C, winning an All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship event at Fuji Speedway in August 1994, just over ten years after the car's debut.
The championships won by teams campaigning the 962 included the World Sportscar Championship title in 1985 and 1986, the IMSA GT Championship every year from 1985 to 1988, the Interserie championship from 1987 to 1992, all four years of the ADAC Supercup series from 1986 to 1989, and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship from 1985 to 1989. The 962 also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1986 and 1987, with Derek Bell, Al Holbert, and Hans-Joachim Stuck at the wheel on both occasions.
Towards the end of the car's competition life, several privateer teams and tuners began converting 962s for road use. The first company outside Porsche to do so was Koenig Specials, a German tuner that had previously raced 962s. Known as the C62, the car was completed in 1991 with entirely new bodywork and an engine expanded to 3.4L. German tuner DP Motorsports completed a road conversion in 1992, building three cars known as DP62s on existing 962 racing chassis with a 3.3L twin-turbo flat-6. In 1991, Vern Schuppan created the Schuppan 962CR for Japanese customers, listed at 195 million Yen, featuring new bodywork and chassis designed by Mike Simcoe of GM Holden in Australia but retaining the 962 engine expanded to 3.3 litres. Jochen Dauer used original racing chassis for his GT1 versions of the 962 — the Dauer 962 Le Mans — for both road and race use, leading to the 1994 Le Mans victory. A Derek Bell edition 962 road car was planned, but only one was completed, powered by a 580 bhp engine from the 993 GT2.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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