24h Le Mans
The first turbocharged engine prototype to win at Le Mans, in 1976, the Porsche 936 was replaced by the 956 in 1982, but its story was not yet over. In this fifth and final installment, two Porsche experts give it new life long before it was to celebrate its 40th anniversary in victory at the 2016 Le Mans Classic.
The year 1982 saw new regulations go into effect for prototypes, called Group C, one of the key techical elements of which was fuel consumption limitation. That year, Porsche released the 956, to become, with its cousin the 962 C appearing in 1985, the queen of the 24 Hours of Le Mans until 1987.
Longtime loyal to Porsche, in 1982 the owner of and driver with the Reinhold Joest outfit decided to enter at Le Mans a new version of the 936, closed body, as set out in the Group C regulations. The 936 chassis was provided by the Porsche factory, and finished second at the 1980 24 Hours under the name 908/80, driven by Joest himself along with Jacky Ickx. Seen in 1982 and '83 representing Joest Racing, he was forced to retire after those two editions, despite a good showing in 1982 behind the three factory 956s. This 936 made a final appearance at Le Mans in 1986, entered by Ernst Schüster and finished sixth, along with Siegfried Brunn and Rüdi Seher.
Based on the 936 specs provided by the factory, in 1982 two other Porsche expert preparers - brothers Erwin and Manfred Kremer - created their own prototype called the CK5. Its unique shape was distinguished namely by its plunging windshield and the shark fin connecting the closed cockpit to the rear wing. But this prototype, which appeared at the 24 Hours in 1982 then again in 1983 (two models entered that year), never managed to cross the finish line at Le Mans.
Forty years after the first of its three wins at the 24 Hours (1976-77-81), the Porsche 936 celebrated its anniversary in style July 8-10, 2016 at the 8th edition of the Le Mans Classic. At its wheel was German driver Marco Werner, himself a three-time winner at the 24 Hours (2005-2006-2007), who won in Field 6 - cars that had competed at Le Mans between 1972 and 1981.
Click on the links below for previous installments of this series:
Porsche 936, the making of a prototype (1) - Porsche 917, 1971-1973
Porsche 936, the making of a prototype (2) - Porsche Carrera RSR Turbo, 1974
Porsche 936, the making of a prototype (3) - 1976-1977, two wins and a historic first
Porsche 936, généalogie d'un prototype (4) - 1978-1981, setbacks and victory
Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
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Photo: At the 2016 edition of the Le Mans Classic, the Porsche 936 achieved a fourth win of sorts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, thanks to Marco Werner.
