Porsche 959
| Porsche | |
|---|---|
,_21._M%C3%A4rz_2013,_D%C3%BCsseldorf.jpg) |
|
| 959 | |
| Production period: | 1986-1988 |
| Class : | Sports car |
| Body versions : | Coupe |
| Engines: |
Gasoline engine : 2.85 liters (331 kW) |
| Length: | 4260 mm |
| Width: | 1840 mm |
| Height: | 1280 mm |
| Wheelbase : | 2272 mm |
| Empty weight : | 1350-1450 kg |
| Previous model | Porsche 911 |
| successor |
Porsche 911 GT1 Porsche 961 |
The Porsche 959 is a super sports car from Porsche . When it was first delivered in 1986, it was considered to be the fastest production vehicle in the world with road approval and for a long time was considered a technology carrier and state of the art in automotive engineering. With it, Porsche introduced a number of technical innovations, including register charging and electronically controlled variable all-wheel drive .
history
Because Porsche wanted to show success in rallying after several victories in the Le Mans 24-hour race , the 959 rally project was created in 1982, which was developed from the 911 SC according to the then current Group B regulations of the FIA . This initially resulted in three extensively revised 911s with all-wheel drive, which were known as 911 4 × 4 (or 953 ). The 959 was presented to the public at the IAA in Frankfurt in 1983. In 1984 the Prodrive team won a surprise victory in a 911 4 × 4 (953) at the Paris-Dakar rally under Frenchman René Metge . The 200 road models required for Group B homologation were already ordered at this IAA , but due to the great complexity of the construction of the 959, completion was delayed and the first examples were not delivered until 1987.
After the success of the 911 4 × 4 last year, three 959s took part in the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1985. Because the 600 hp twin-turbo engines were not ready in time, they had to start with the weaker 911 engines. All three drivers stopped the rally prematurely. At the Pharaohs rally from October 10th to 19th, 1985, Porsche used the 959 with the intended biturbo engine for the first time; Saeed Al Hajri and John Spiller won the rally.
In January 1986 three 959s competed in the Paris-Dakar rally; René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne won. In 1986 they also won the 1000-piste rally in France. After the Finn Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto on 2 May 1986 in the Corsica Rally in Lancia Delta S4 were killed in an accident, the FIA finally decided against the Group B and also rejected all plans for the prepared group S . After that, Porsche put the project back on hold.
Porsche converted a 959 for the GTX class . This single specimen was called the Porsche 961 and was overall seventh at Le Mans on June 1, 1986 . In 1987 the 961 also competed in the Daytona 24-hour race . In June 1987 the 961 suffered an engine failure at Le Mans (more information: Porsche 961 in the category Das Ende ).
The 959 was built until 1988. There are contradicting information about the number of units. The number 288 is often mentioned. Porsche itself mentions the number 292 on its homepage, divided into 113 units in 1987 and 179 units in 1988. Most buyers chose the comfort version and a few the lighter sport version.
In 1992 eight vehicles were produced as a small 'special series'. The vehicles were somewhat improved in detail (especially the level control and the dampers) and were sold for DM 747,500 (including the then applicable sales tax of 15% in Germany). Although they were much more expensive than the vehicles sold in 1987/1988, they sold out quickly. Today they are considered particularly sought-after collector's items.
technology
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body
The body is self-supporting. Using production techniques from the aircraft industry, the roof, the fenders and the rear area were made from aramid fiber-reinforced plastic, the front apron from polyurethane and the front hood and doors from aluminum .
engine and gears
The Porsche 959 is powered by a turbocharged six-cylinder boxer engine with dry sump lubrication that works according to the Otto process . The crankcases, cylinder blocks and heads are made of aluminum alloys . Its displacement is specified as 2849 cm 3 and it develops 331 kW (450 hp) at 6500 rpm; the maximum torque is 500 Nm (51 kpm) at 5000 rpm. It is the first series car engine to have a register turbocharging system with two water-cooled KKK turbochargers with charge air coolers . The valves, two inlet and two exhaust valves per cylinder, are actuated via two overhead camshafts per cylinder bank (DOHC). The cylinders themselves are air-cooled in the Porsche tradition; however, the cylinder heads are water-cooled. The shafts of the outlet valves are hollow and partly filled with sodium for better heat dissipation . The engine has intake manifold injection , injection and ignition are controlled by a joint Motronic engine control unit from Bosch GmbH . The power is transmitted by a hydraulically operated single-plate dry clutch and a synchronized six-speed manual transmission.
Powertrain
The Porsche 959 has all-wheel drive. A modified drive train from the Porsche 911 4 × 4 was used. The rear wheels are driven via an ordinary differential ; the front differential is connected to the gearbox via a wet multi-plate clutch (running in oil) and a drive shaft . A control system uses sensors to detect wheel speed, slip, engine speed and steering angle, presses the friction surfaces of the multi-plate clutch against one another in the event of slip and thus compensates for the speed of the wheels. The all-wheel drive adapts automatically to the respective situation.
Chassis and tires
The 959 has all-round independent suspension on double wishbones and coil springs, two variable Bilstein - telescopic shock absorbers per wheel and an automatic speed-dependent level control . The hardness of the suspension can also be adjusted. Disc brakes are installed on all wheels. Their diameter is 322 mm on the front wheels and 304 mm on the rear wheels, with four-piston fixed calipers acting all around the brake discs. As standard, the 959 has an anti-lock braking system newly developed by Porsche and Wabco . The tires are 235 / 45VR17 at the front and 255 / 40VR17 at the rear. The magnesium alloy wheels are eight inches wide at the front and nine inches at the rear and have hollow spokes, which enables tire pressure monitoring that is unique at the time of production. This system was first used in the Porsche 936 at Le Mans in 1980. As soon as the tire pressure falls below a certain value, an optical and an acoustic signal inform the driver. Four indicator lights show him which bike it is. Originally, the Porsche 959 was to be delivered from the factory with denloc tires from Dunlop . However, when series production began, Porsche switched to Bridgestone RE 71 because the Denloc tires were not street legal.
Porsche 959 S.
29 of the Porsche 959s were built as 379 kW (515 PS) sports versions with larger turbochargers and a modified pressure relief valve for a maximum boost pressure of 1.1 bar (internally referred to as 959 S), for the 1988 von Auto, Motor und Sport 339 km / h were measured on the high-speed course in Nardò .
Unique piece: 959 convertible
In 1987, Porsche delivered a Porsche 959 to the racing driver Jürgen Lässig . In 1988 the 959 was badly damaged in a collision with an Audi 80 on the A 81 near Singen on the front right and on the side. The damaged car went to Auto Becker , where it was converted into a convertible. The engine technology and the complete electronics remained untouched; Stiffeners were welded in. Then the car was shown at the IAA in Frankfurt. A collector from the USA bought it for allegedly 3 million Deutschmarks. In the meantime, it was later on sale in Italy at ADR Motorsport SAS ( Fossalta di Portogruaro ). The car can be converted at any time into a normal convertible, a Speedster and, with the original roof that has been retained, a hardtop - in just a few simple steps and by exchanging the windshield and top.
Performance
Test in Auto, Motor und Sport 12/1987
- 0-60 km / h 2.1 s
- 0-80 km / h 3.0 s
- 0-100 km / h 3.7 s
- 0–120 km / h 5.3 s
- 0–140 km / h 6.5 s
- 0–160 km / h 8.5 s
- 0–180 km / h 10.5 s
- 0-200 km / h 13.3 s
- 400 m with a standing start: 11.8 s
- 1000 m with standing start: 21.6 s (final speed 245 km / h)
- Top speed: 317 km / h
Technical specifications
| Porsche 959: | Data |
|---|---|
| Engine: | 6-cylinder boxer engine with register turbocharging (four-stroke) |
| Displacement: | 2849 cc |
| Bore × stroke: | 95 × 67 mm |
| Power: | 331 kW (450 PS) at 6500 rpm |
| Max. Torque : | 500 Nm at 5500 rpm |
| Compression: | 8.3: 1 |
| Oil capacity: | 18 l |
| Liter output: | 116.2 kW / l (158 hp / l) |
| Valve control: | two overhead camshafts twice |
| Cooling: | Air cooling (fan), cylinder heads with water cooling |
| Transmission: | 6-speed gearbox, all-wheel drive |
| Brakes: | Disc brakes (internally ventilated), 322 × 32 mm in front and 304 × 28 mm in rear, ABS |
| Front suspension: | individually on double wishbones per wheel |
| Rear suspension: | individually on double wishbones per wheel |
| Front suspension: | one coil spring per wheel |
| Rear suspension: | one coil spring per wheel |
| Body: | Self-supporting steel body with components made of ( aramid fiber reinforced plastic) and light metal ( aluminum ) |
| Track width front / rear: | 1504/1549 mm |
| Wheelbase : | 2272 mm |
| Tires rim: |
Magnesium wheels (FA: 235 × 45 VR17 / RA: 255 × 40 VR17) with tire pressure sensor |
| Dimensions L × W × H: | 4260 × 1840 × 1280 mm |
| Tank capacity: | 85 l |
| Empty weight : | 1450 kg (1350 kg for the lightweight version) |
| Top speed: | 317 km / h |
| Acceleration 0 - 100 km / h: |
3.7 s |
| Acceleration 0 - 200 km / h: |
13.3 s |
Others
Performance
The purchase price for the cheapest 959 version was 420,000 DM in 1987, but the car could not be bought freely - it was originally offered to a select group of buyers. In order to avoid even higher prices on the used market, customers were also ordered not to sell their cars for the first six months. Nowadays used vehicles are traded in a rough range of 1 to 1.5 million euros. In the case of well-cared for and rarely used copies, the purchase price called can also be much higher. The rare sports variant in particular achieves a significantly higher price due to the low production figures. At the height of collector cars (towards the end of the 1980s), 959 purchase prices of over DM 1 million were known.
The eight reproduced vehicles from the 1992 special series are most sought after by collectors. These were sold by Porsche in 1992/1993 for DM 747,500. For them, a price is not quantifiable today, as these collector's items practically never come on the market.
At least two copies of the 959 are known to have been withdrawn from circulation after accidents without personal injury due to total economic losses.
According to the special edition for Oldtimer-Markt from 2016, the collector's value at that time was around 1.3 million euros (condition 1) and 900,000 euros (condition 2).
Customers
When the 959 was introduced, the selected drivers included a. the American comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Martina Navrátilová . Herbert von Karajan landed his first 959 in the ditch because of excessive speed and was later given another one. Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen each bought a 959 in 1988, but it was not approved in the USA because Porsche did not want to provide four 959s for crash tests . Gates is said to have contributed to the "Show or Display" law coming into effect in 1999 after long lobbying work. It allowed the approval of important vehicles, provided that the exhaust emission limits were complied with, which was possible with the 959 by retrofitting. Boris Becker also bought a Porsche 959, but at the time he had an advertising contract with Ford.
Replicas
Some tuning manufacturers offered 959 body conversion kits for the Porsche 964 . Vehicles modified in this way look very similar to an original Porsche 959 from the outside. Nevertheless, a conversion can be seen on some features - especially on the front of the car.
The headlights of the 959 are flatter in the fenders and have different lenses. Headlights from the Porsche 993 are used for the conversion . On the original, the fenders and bumper are separate units. The front ventilation opening in the bumper runs across the entire width of the car. In the original, the indicators are led around the edge of the bumper. In the replica, the front fenders and the bumper consist of one element. The ventilation opening for the oil cooler is smaller and the indicators are also smaller than on the 959.
Another difference is the location for the filler neck of the petrol tank. The original has an opening for this in the front hood. In the replica, the tank filler neck is on the driver's side in the front fender like the standard 964.
The 959 was delivered with different exterior mirrors, while the normal exterior mirrors of the 964 were retained in the replica.
Vehicles converted in this way with the 964 series boxer engine with 184 kW (250 PS) do not offer any comparable performance compared to the original, whose boxer engine develops 331 kW (450 PS).
literature
- Jürgen Lewandowski: Porsche 959.Southwest Verlag, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-517-01195-9 .
Web links
- Spiegel Online: PORSCHE 959 - Über-Car of the eighties
- The Porsche 959 at www.ClassicDriver.de ( Memento from September 20, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- "Trailblazer" - article from Christophorus magazine October / November 2004 (PDF file; 328 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.autotopnews.de
- ↑ Porsche 959 S Porsche Museum Stuttgart. Accessed December 17, 2015
- ↑ Auto, Motor und Sport 12/1987 (June 5, 1987)
- ↑ https://www.classic-trader.com/de/magazin/porsche-959-cabrio-der-seltenste-porsche-der-welt
- ↑ Article "So desired, even the famous were denied" by Dan Jedlicka from February 26, 2007, http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/autos/research/jedlicka/270620,CAR-News-Clas26.article ( Memento from 2 March 2007 in the Internet Archive ) , as of October 23, 2008: "Other 959 owners had to promise not to sell the car for six months because it could be sold for a huge profit after a buyer took delivery."