Background
Porsche’s victorious rally journey started with 4 wins on the Monte Carlo Rally. Londoner and racing legend ‘Quick’ Vic Elford and Pauli Toivonen took the first Monte win in 1968, with Bjorn Waldgard and Gerard Larrousse securing wins in 1969, 1970 and Jean-Pierre Nicolas in 1978. Porsche secured the overall 1970 European Rally Championship in 1970. However, in 1971 season Porsche believed that the 911 was ultimately too big to be a huge success so they pretty much walked away from rallying to concentrate on the circuits. In spite of this Jean-Luc Thérier did claim first place on the Tour de Corse in 1980.
In 1984 Porsche were back, this time entering three cars into the renowned Paris Dakar Rally taking the overall win with the 953, a four-wheel drive 911, driven by René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne. This car was designed purely for the Dakar and was essentially a test bed for the Rothmans 959 which replaced it only 12 months later. A works rally 911 has nevertheless been a fairly rare occurrence, with the handful of rally cars in the sixties and the SC-RS in the eighties.
It took until 2000’s before another series of works rally cars were built. Ten cars were specially developed for the Future World team in Belgium, in collaboration with former race manager Hartmut Kristen, by Porsche Motorsport in Weissach under the name RS GT3 Road Challenge. Porsche Motorsport took a road going GT3 RS chassis and built it into a fully-fledged rally car, specifically for the Belgian Rally Championship. Gérard Magniette, owner of the Future World Rally Team still owns the first car. The 996 GT3 RS Road Challenge is probably the smallest Porsche-production series ever made. Even the rare 1968 911R was produced in larger numbers.
This Car
Built to the same spec as the rare works Porsche Futureworld 996 GT3 Cup Rally cars of which only 10 were built. It is a 2001 model that has been rebodied into a 2003 Porsche 996 GT3 Cup car, the front of which has been changed to a Carrera 2. This makes space for the spare wheel and therefore aids weight distribution and ultimate balance.
This car came from Italy where it was raced up until 2011 before being converted in Belgium to the Works rally spec. The car was originally rallied by Slovakian legend Jozef Beres, before passing into the hands of Rodovan Mozner for use in the Slovakian Rally championship. It was then placed into storage for several years before being bought by its current owner and used on Slowly Sideways events.
Technical Specification
Engine: 3600cc Flat inline 6-cylinder 24v DOHC
Induction system: Naturally Aspirated Fuel injection
Transmission: 6 speed RWD
Power output: 370 Bhp