1966 Porsche 906 Coupe

In 1965, Ferrari introduced a new featherweight hill climber, the 206 Dino. This made the fiberglass-bodied Porsche 904 GTS instantly obsolete. In response, Porsche introduced their Type 906 for 1966, soon to be known as the Carrera 6. It had a mid-mounted engine, which was placed ahead of the rear transaxle. It was constructed on a tubular steel space frame that had a 90.6-inch wheelbase, a rear track of 55.2 inches and a front track of 52.7 inches. The suspension was fully independent, with wishbones and coil springs at all four corners. The car rode on 15-inch steel and alloy disc wheels, four-wheel disc brakes, and a ZF rack-and-pinion steering. Experimental Department head Ferdinand Piech, Ferdinand Porsche's grandson, had wanted to use 13-inch diameter Formula One wheels to lower the vehicle's profile. The company, however, had already purchased a large quantity of new 15-inch wheels for the second production run Type 904s. Not wanting to write-off the expense, these larger wheels were used on the 906, giving the car its steeply arched front fenders.

The engine was air/oil cooled boxer six-cylinder unit that had a lightweight, magnesium alloy, seven-main-bearing case. Several of the magnesium cases proved to be problematic, so the company switched to a new factory sand-cast aluminum pieces. The cylinder heads were of aluminum alloy, carrying sodium-filled exhaust valves. The crankshaft was forged steel, and the connecting rods were titanium. An 80-millimeter bore and 66-millimeter stroke gave a swept cylinder volume of 1,991 cubic centimeters.

The engine was given a pair of Weber 46 IDA 3C triple-throat carburetors and a 10.3:1 compression ratio. The 210 DIN horsepower produced by the engine was sent to a five-speed, fully-synchronized transmission, for which a wide variety of gearing was offered, including close-ratio sets for hill climbing.

The chassis was clothed in a new fiberglass body shell with top-hinged, gullwing-type doors. They also had a distinctive louvered and yellow-tinted clear plastic engine cover. Atop of the nose was a large air intake for the oil cooler, and split air intakes could be found ahead of the rear wheels.

The lightweight, 1,275-pound vehicle had a top speed in excess of 170 mph.

In January of 1966, the Carrera 6 was homologated for FIA racing as a group 4 GT, for which a construction run of at least 50 examples was required. Each of the production cars was individually tested at the Hockenheim circuit before being shipped to their new owner.

Nine prototypes were built with Bosch mechanical fuel injection (dubbed the 906E), and two more chassis were given flat eight-cylinder engines.

The 906 made its racing debut at the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours where it was shared by factory drivers Hans Hermann and Herbert Linge. The car finished 6th overall and won its class.

This particular example if chassis number 906-116. The car would enjoy a successful racing career while being driven by several talented drivers. The car was delivered to Baden Auto in Freiburg, Germany, on March 15th of 1966. The first owner was occasional racing driver Werner Brockhaus. It is understood the Brockhaus never raced the vehicle; in 1968, it was sold to a young racing driver from Reutlingen, named Helmut Leuze.

Leuze won his class in his first hill climb with the car. He would go on to enjoy an extremely successful hill climb and road racing career with his Porsche, before moving to an Abarth 2000 Spyder for the 1969 season and ending his racing career with a Porsche 908/02 (Flounder) in the 1970 Interserie.

The next owner was Speyer industrialist Manfred Weißmann, who changed the registration from RT-FR 80 to SP-KE 84. Weißmann did not race the car but instead gave driving duties to Gerhard Schuler and later Gunther Schwartz. Schuler was rather successful with the car but Schwarz had mixed results.

In 1970, the car was repainted red and then sold to Albert Pfuhl, of Darmstadt, and the next year, it went to Harald Link from Saarbrücken.

During a testing session at Nürburgring's challenging Nordschleife circuit, Link suffered a crash. The car slid off-course, damaging the right rear corner and ending Link's efforts. The car was sold to Freisinger Motorsports in Karlsruhe, where the car was completely disassembled and stored. In 1973, the car was sold to the Southern California Porsche dealer and race team owner Vasek Polak. After purchasing the car, it was put into storage.

In 1989, Freisinger re-acquired the car and began a lengthy restoration. Over its many years of racing, the car was continually updated, including the engine case, wheels (to all-steel), and an on-board FIA-approved fire system.

In 2008, the car was sold to a Greek industrialist, who completed in several 'gentlemen's rallies' in Europea. In the summer of 2013, the car was purchased by the current owner.

During its racing career, it had 13 finishes from 15 starts in 1967 and 13 finished from 17 starts in 1968. It had many class victories that season, including a hill climbing record. During the 1969 season, it recorded eight more results, including several class wins in the European Hill Climb Championship series over its first three years of competition.

By Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2014