Kremer of the crop
Considering the cheapest car on the list has a sale price estimated between 800,000 - 1,000,000 dollars, it’s safe to say Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island 2022 auction will have some seriously lust-worthy metal crossing the stand. One of just 54 examples, this 1974 Carrera 3.0 RSR initially served as the favourite racing mount of Conte Girolamo Capra, a count and barrister from Vicenza, Italy. Clearly Capra had great taste, because the 3.0 RSR is bit of rocket with just 950 kgs to shunt and a healthy 330 horses to do the shunting. This RSR was restored during 2006 from a disassembled state, and due to some erroneous information about the car’s history, it was given the Kremer/Brambring livery you see here. Further examination post-restoration revealed that this was in fact the Girolamo Capra RSR, but as far as accidental paint jobs go, you couldn’t hope for a better livery than this.
The Brumos brute
Masterminded by Wolfgang Berger and Norbert Singer, the Porsche 934 was the unhinged FIA-homologated Group 4 racer counterpart to the 930 Turbo. Considering the road car earned the “widowmaker” nickname, it’s no surprise that the 934 proved lethal to the competition on track, winning the 1976 European GT Championship and the SCCA Trans Am title for 1976 and 1977. Built in 1977, this car, chassis 930 770 0951, is the first of ten 934/5s to leave the factory - a further evolution on the already dominant 934. Equipped with a gargantuan 935-style wing and even wider wheels, it was delivered to Peter Gregg at the famed Brumos racing team just in time for the 1977 12 Hours of Sebring. In fact, it was so close to the wire that they only had time to replace the white hood with another that already had the iconic red and blue Brumos colours, marking a fascinating start to this highly significant Porsche’s successful racing history. Estimated to fetch between 1,000,000 - 1,300,000 dollars, this must certainly be one of the most tasteful ways to spend seven figures.
IROC racer
When Roger Penske was in the process of creating the International Race of Champions, he consulted Mark Donohue on which car should serve as the basis for the single-make series. Donohue answered that if Penske wanted a to strike a balance between speed and reliability, the only choice was Porsche. Thus, Porsche built 15 911 Carrera RSRs for the IROC series, including this Guards Red 1974 RSR. Although it never found its way to the podium, this RSR is one of just a few that competed in all four of the races in the IROC series. This red rocket is estimated to fetch between 1,100,000 - 1,300,000 dollars, a hefty sum for sure, but this RSR certainly has the looks and history to justify the numbers.
Vintage Racing Blue bullet
While most 935s were delivered with plain white bodywork, this 1979 Porsche 935 was ordered by a Mr Otis Chandler in Vintage Racing Blue to match his Sunoco-liveried 917/30, thus creating possibly the coolest two-car garage of all time. This 935 only ever took part in one competition, the inaugural Los Angeles Times Grand Prix of Endurance in 1979. Piloted by Chandler and wearing the San Miguel Beer sponsorship you see here, this 935 managed to climb as high as 3rd before an engine failure forced an early retirement. As a result, Chandler had the car equipped with a more reliable twin-turbo 3-litre engine built by ANDIAL, a common upgrade at the time, and would continue to occasionally take it for demonstration runs at POC and PCA events during the 1980s. Still equipped with the ANDIAL 3-litre, this 935 remains a fantastic sight to behold and easily justifies the 1,500,000 - 1,800,000 dollars estimate.
The final evolution
While any 935 should be considered a god-tier racing legend, between 1977 and 1979 Porsche developed special versions of the 935 for the works team, and built just 37 of these highly-evolved racers for their favourite customers. This 935 is the penultimate example of those extra-special racers, and was sold new by Porsche to Volkswagen of America, who used it for research and development work before selling it on to legendary Porsche dealer and racing team owner Vasek Polak in mid-1979. Mr. Polak entered the car under Ted Field’s Interscope Racing team in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans, where atrocious weather and engine troubles saw the car retire after 154 laps. Following this 935’s only international race, it would hop between collections before being purchased by Lloyd Hawkins in 2004, who had his in-house experts optimise the car for use in vintage motorsport events. This car’s late placement in the production run means it would have benefited from the most advanced technology fitted to any 935, and following 18 years of fastidious and loving ownership, this is surely one of the most well-sorted 935s out there. Estimates range between 1,700,000 - 2,000,000 dollars, although we wouldn’t be surprised if this black beauty fetches far more.
