Carpokes

Pefa wrote: Thu Feb 02, 2023 1:46 pm Those GTR:s are truly amazing! Porsche should have kept pushing and developing the transaxle cars instead of dropping its work in -81and leaving it to non factory outfits.
If these awesome mashines had full factory support the story of the transaxle cars would had been very successful.

I was told that when Al Holbert died (tragically in a plane crash) that was pretty much the end of the 944 GTR program. There was just no one left to really push it forward the way he did after he was gone.

Sad indeed in more ways than one.....

Incredible collection!

The No. 7 Electrodyne car was at Rennsport this year. Thought is was a nice addition to this thread...

gruhsy wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:23 am Was that the Andial engine or similar configuration?

Yes, Andial did the engines for the 944GTR and Tom's photos show one. They are unique blocks with integrated oil pans, 2.5L - nicely developed for the time. I'm likely getting involved in building one and I've got in mind a displacement increase, more modern turbo, modern ECU and perhaps 4V.

I did a ton of research for the 000 article I did on these cars. One of the more interesting things I learned was that the original engine was built by McLaren Engines in Michigan, complete with Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection, despite all published references being about the Andial/Motronic motors. Porsche was building the TAG-branded turbo motors for McLaren's Formula One cars at the time, but that may have been little more than coincidence. I spoke to Wiley McCoy at McLaren Engineering in Michigan, who was heavily involved in that project back in the day, and he confirmed a lot of details about the original motor, and how Andial stepped in toward the end of the first season with support for Porsche via custom parts, Motronic engine management, etc. It was never really clear why they started with McLaren, but it's possible Porsche just wasn't ready by the time the car needed a motor. Greg Brown told me he is in possession of the original McLaren/Kugelfischer motor that came with the car he restored, though he opted to install the Porsche Motorsport Motronic motor like the one in the pictures above -- presumably since that's the motor everyone associates with this car.

This is great (and obscure) info. Fascinating. Any chance I could get a copy of the article you wrote, Tom? I believe you have my email. I've also got to imagine you have Porsche/Andial/McLaren/Fabcar documents and/or specs on the GTR. Anything you're willing to share would be fantastic. What could I trade with you?
MM

michaelmount123 wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2023 6:28 pm This is great (and obscure) info. Fascinating. Any chance I could get a copy of the article you wrote, Tom? I believe you have my email. I've also got to imagine you have Porsche/Andial/McLaren/Fabcar documents and/or specs on the GTR. Anything you're willing to share would be fantastic. What could I trade with you?
MM

I actually did unearth quite of bit of interesting stuff, including hand-done drawings, spec sheets, angry letters, etc. A lot of the car was developed around the same time Porsche introduced the 951, so it is interesting to see how much carried over. Without permission for Pete/000, I'm not really sure what I can and cannot share, but the good news is that they reproduced virtually all of that material with the article. It's about 50-pages worth of article, pictures, and previously unpublished materials. It's issue No. 8 for those who want to check it out. MM --shoot me your physical address, and I'll send you my spare copy of that issue. I am a subscriber, so have my own hardbound copy in my collection, but they also send article authors a soft-bound complementary copy. I'd be happy to send that one to you -- never opened and still in its shrink wrap. Can't think of a more worthy use for it.

That Intake is a work of art.