Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Helmuth Bott’s Porsche 959 prototype. Still image from eGarage video.
In 1981, Porsche found itself struggling for a clear direction forward in the sports car marketplace. Its iconic 911 was nearing the two-decade mark, and many Stuttgart insiders believed that the water-cooled, front-engine Porsche 928 was the logical replacement for the air-cooled, rear-engine 911. One executive who believed the Porsche 911 still had life remaining was Porsche’s head of engineering (and later, director of research and development), Helmuth Bott. Bott believed that Porsche would be well served by developing a “super 911,” to see how far existing technology could progress the 911 platform. Porsche’s managing director at the time, Peter Schutz, agreed, and development work was begun on a Porsche 911 variant for Group B competition.
Porsche retained the traditional flat-six engine for its new car, but improved performance via the use of sequential turbocharging and water-cooled cylinder heads with four valves per cylinder. Porsche was able to get 444hp from its 2.8-liter flat-six, but more significantly, the power was delivered in a far more linear form than on the often-unforgiving 911 Turbo. The 959, as the car would ultimately be labeled, also introduced a high-performance all-wheel-drive system to the 911 platform, paving the way for future models like the Carrera 4 series. Though focus shifted away from Group B competition during the 959′s gestation, the street car went on to become one of the most iconic supercars of all time, and its DNA can be seen in many high-end sports cars to this day. In the words of Peter Schutz, “The engineering in this car probably touched more of the automotive population in the world since then than any other single automobile.”
The Porsche 959 prototype once owned by Helmuth Bott now resides in the Brumos Collection in Jacksonville, Florida. As this video from Frazer Spowart and eGarage shows, Bott’s vision of the future is as impressive today as it was when the car debuted to European consumers in 1986. (via)
