GALLERY: Bringing Historic Racing To The Street With A Modified Porsche 911

Photography by SSSZ Photo

There are only so many ways to describe fast and agile street cars, but “race car for the road” has to be the most tired trope of them all—and besides a handful of truly hardcore homologation specials, a few instances of “creative” vehicle registration, and WRC cars driving on public roads between rally stages, it’s also hardly ever close to accurate. An alcantara-wrapped steering wheel and a good skidpad stat do not constitute a purpose-built competition car, and to say that it does is something of a disservice to both.

But on the other hand, there is definitely a space between the world’s people-movers and race-winners that’s harder to define. In the case of this 1980 Porsche 911 SC, it may not be the stiffest and loudest and meanest sports car on the street, but in another life it was destined for the circuit.

Modified to compete in vintage racing series in the Fahrergemeinschaft Historischer Rennsport (I’ll let you guess the country), this car is more than just a backdated SC with a few fender swaps and a muffler kit. The car underwent a pretty thorough round of changes to get it ready to compete in historic racing events, but as of last year it has a new owner, and it is once again wearing a set of license plates.

The mods to compete have been retained though, and the kinks of the high-performance setup have been massaged out, the end result being something like an urbane track weapon that arrives in the paddock on its own four wheels instead of on a trailer. 

Owned today by a lifelong Porsche enthusiast named Piet, the car is mainly driven on the road these days, but it is very much up to the job of a hot-lapping thanks to a thoughtful set of alterations that enhance the feeling of the stock car instead of erasing it in favor of outlandish power or a chassis less forgiving than Beatrix Kiddo.

That said, it is not a stock 911. The body has of course been backdated from the original wide body SC style to the original 911 look (although it is an inch or so wider than an F-model LWB 911), and though this is a turn-off for Porsche purists, they will be happy to know that the conversion is not a sloppy mess of body filler either. With a light weight being part of the objective during the race-preparation phase, the car makes use of aluminum for the engine cover and the “frunk,” and the front and rear bumpers are made from thin fiberglass.

To continue the so-called “lightweighting” diet, thinner glass replaced the stock windows, and the interior carpeting was swapped for thinner, lighter material. The windows are roll-up, and there is no sunroof, naturally. Piet estimates that the total weight of the car is right around the 1900-pound mark.

An impressive figure on its own, the weight (or lack of) is complemented by increased output from the three-liter flat-six, as well as a few chassis modifications like RSR-spec stabilizers, Elefant Racing suspension bushes and bearings, and a cage from Heiko. Under the quick-release engine cover, the motor benefits from RSR-spec camshafts, higher-compression (10.5:1) pistons, a 2.7 RS fuel pump, and the MFI direct injection features a 3.0 RS injection pump.

The drivetrain also features a lightweight flywheel, and the rest of the car has been fettled with a number of other details that add up to this comprehensively well-sorted 911. Some 260hp combined with a scale reading under a ton makes for a downright fun car to drive on the street, as Piet can attest, “It looks so sweet natured, but it’s really made. It’s a thrill to go out and drive, anywhere.”