The Porsche 959, part 5

By sabrebIade at 2007-08-09
The 959 was not street legal in the United States prior to 1999 when the "Show and Display" law was finally passed, although an unknown number were imported via the "grey market" during the late 1980s as show pieces. During the model's development, Porsche refused to provide the United States Department of Transportation with the four 959's they required for crash testing, and the car was never certified by the NHTSA for street use in the U.S. With the passage of "Show and Display" the crash test requirements were removed and importation of the 959 was allowed, assuming the car could meet with the local emissions standards that would have existed as of 1987. The 959 can be fitted with a catalytic converter and a rechipped computer which will allow it to meet those emissions requirements. However most owners refuse to modify their 959s, and the cars remain as collection pieces. While the initial selling price was $230,000, today one of these cars would be worth upwards of a million dollars. Most 959s are currently in the hands of collectors, but the ones that are available do occasionally come to market.

The lessons learned from the 959 in terms of engine management, aerodynamics, suspension tuning, and four wheel drive were what enabled the production life of the 911, once thought to be nearing obsolescence due to the extreme rearward placement of the engine, to be extended to the present day with no end in sight. In this way, the 959 project more than paid for itself many times over, and owners of new Porsche 911s can, to a large degree, benefit from the great strides forward made by this technological tour de force.

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The Porsche 959, part 4

The 1983 Frankfurt Motor Show was chosen for the unveiling of the Porsche Group B prototype. Even in the waning hours of October 9th, finishing touches were placed on the car to go on display the next morning. When the curtain was drawn the next morning, the Group B car became an instant celebrity. After the first two prototypes, the bodywork was modified to include air vents in the front and rear wheel housings, as well as intake holes behind the doors. The first prototype modified like this was code named "F3", and was destroyed in the first crash test.

The street version of the 959 debuted at the 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show as a 1986 model, but numerous issues delayed production by more than a year. The car was manufactured in two levels of trim, "Sport" and "Komfort", corresponding to the race version and the street version, respectively. First customer deliveries of the 959 street variant began in 1987, and the car debuted at a cost of $225,000 USD per unit, still less than half what it cost Porsche to build each one, production ended in 1990. In total, fewer than 300 cars were built and the total number (which hovers around 250) includes both 959 street variants and 961 race variants as well as at least 4 prototypes Porsche built during development. 226 of the cars built were street legal (in Europe) and were sold to consumers. At least one 959 and one 961 remain in the Porsche historic hall in Stuttgart, Germany.

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The Porsche 959, part 3

Porsche also developed the 959's aerodynamics which were designed to increase stability, as was the automatic ride height adjustment that became available on the street car (961 race cars had fixed suspensions).
Its "zero lift" dynamics were a big part of keeping it drivable.
The 959 also featured Porsche-Steuer Kupplung (PSK) which, at the time, was the most advanced all wheel drive system ever used in a production car. Capable of dynamically changing the torque distribution between the rear and front wheels in both normal conditions and slip conditions, the PSK system allowed the 959 to have the adaptability it needed both as a race car and as a "super" street car.
Under hard acceleration, PSK could send as much as 80% of available power to the rear wheels, helping make the most of the rear-traction bias that occurs during such instances.
It could also vary the power bias depending on road surface and grip changes, helping maintain sure footedness at all times.
The magnesium alloy wheels were unique, being hollow inside to form a sealed chamber contiguous with the tire and equipped with a built-in tire pressure monitoring system.

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The Porsche 959, part 2

Development of the 959 (originally called the Gruppe B) started in 1981, shortly after the then-new company Managing Director, Peter Schutz, took his office. Porsche's head engineer at the time, Helmut Bott, approached Schutz with some ideas about the 911, or more aptly, a new 911. Bott knew that the company needed a sports car that they could continue to rely on for years to come and that could be developed as time went on. Curious as to how much they could do with the rear engined 911, Bott convinced Schutz that development tests should take place, and even proposed researching a new all wheel drive system. Schutz agreed, and greenlit the project. Bott also knew through experience that a racing program usually helped to accelerate the development of new models. Seeing Group B rally racing as the perfect arena to test the new mule and its all wheel drive system, Bott again went to Schutz, and got the go ahead to develop a car, based on his development mule, for competition in Group B.

Porsche began with an engine they already had, and moved on with development from there. The powerplant, a twin turbocharged boxer six engine, with an air cooled block and water cooled heads displaced 2.85 total litres, about half a litre less than a contemporary 911 engine. The motor had originally been developed for the "Moby Dick" race car, then was redeveloped slightly for the short-lived Porsche Indy Car and several other projects before being "tweaked" a last time for use in the 961, the 959's racing counterpart. The water cooled cylinder heads combined with the air cooled block, 4 valve heads and sequential turbochargers allowed Porsche to extract 444 hp (331 kW) from the compact, efficient and rugged power unit. The use of sequential twin turbochargers rather than the more usual identical turbochargers for each of the two cylinder banks allowed for smooth seamless delivery of power across the engine RPM band, in contrast to the abrupt on-off power characteristic that distinguished Porsche's turbocharged engines of the period. It has been speculated the engine was capable of over 600 horsepower if fully tuned. The engine was used, virtually unchanged, in the 959 road car as well.

In an attempt to create a rugged, lightweight shell, Porsche adopted an aluminium and Aramid (Kevlar or Twaron) composite for body use along with a Nomex floor as opposed to the traditional steel that was normally used on their production cars. The vehicle's light weight (2917 pounds) gave astounding performance:

(mph)
0-60: 3.6 s.
0-100: 8.3 s.
0-125: 12.7 s.
0-140: 19.0 s.
0-1/4 mile: 11.8 s. @ 119 mph (standing)
Top Speed: 198+ mph

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The Porsche 959

The Porsche 959 is a supercar manufactured by Porsche AG from 1986 to 1989, first as a Group B rally car and later as a road going vehicle designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring that a minimum number of street legal units be built. It is widely regarded as Porsche's first true supercar.

During its production run, it was hailed as being the most technologically advanced road-going sports car ever built and the harbinger of the future of sports cars; it was the world's first high-performance vehicle to use an all-wheel-drive system, it provided the basis for Porsche's first all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 model and convinced Porsche executives of the system's viability so well that they chose to make all-wheel-drive standard on all versions of the 911 Turbo starting with the 993 variant. During its lifetime, the vehicle had only one other street legal peer with comparable performance, the Ferrari F40.

The 959's short production run — 268 road legal versions were built - and astonishing performance have always kept values high. In 2003, Canepa Design corporation, famed for their high-quality SUV conversions, began using new hardware and modification techniques to modify 959s, making them more powerful as well as bringing their emissions levels into acceptable standards so that they could become street legal under recent U.S. legislation, bolstering the vehicle's status as a collectible among American buyers who were wary of spending vast sums of money on a vehicle that previously they would not have been allowed to drive in the U.S.

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The Porsche 944

The Porsche 944 was a high performance sports car produced by German auto manufacturer Porsche. It was introduced in 1982 to replace the Porsche 924 as their entry level model, although the 924 continued until 1988 as an even lower-priced alternative. Production ended in 1991 when it was replaced by the Porsche 968. The 944 was a huge success for Porsche throughout the 1980s, and was available in several forms throughout its evolution: 944, 944S, 944 Turbo, 944S2, and the 944 Turbo S.

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The Porsche 928, part 5

Styling was the same from 1978 through 1979 and the body lacked both front and rear spoilers. From 1980 (1983 in North America) through 1986, front and rear spoilers were present on "S" models, rear spoilers were integrated into the hatch. From 1987 through 1995, the front spoiler is integrated into the nose and the rear spoiler became a separated wing rather than an integrated piece, and side skirts were added. The rear tail-light configuration was also different from previous versions. GTS model had wider rear fenders added to give more room for 9" wide wheels.

Another easily noticeable visual difference between versions is the style of the rims. Early 928s had 15" or 16" "phone dial"-style rims, while most 1980s 928s had 16" slotted "flat disc"s, CSs, SEs and 1989 GTs had 16" "Club Sport", later GTs had 16" "Design 90" style which were also option on same period S4s, the GTS used two variations of the 17" "CUP" rims.

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