Monday, March 26, 2018

What a cute baby!

My last blog post was about the 1979 world-record speed cycling attempt drafting behind a Porsche 935.

I thought I should add that the 935 used for this endeavor was a 1977 Porsche 935/2.0.

This particular 935 was nicknamed ‘Baby’ for it's smaller displacement engine compared to the other 935 race cars Porsche manufactured at the time.

The 935 ‘Baby’, based on the successful 935 Group 5 race sports car, was created in 1977, after only four months of development, specifically for entries in the small division (up to 2000cc) of the German Sports Racing Championship.

A quick history lession: A 935 is a Porsche 930 street car further developed for the previously mentioned Group 5 racing category. The "5" was added to the 930 renaming it the 935. Porsche also made a 934 for the Group 4 and 936 for the Group 6 categories.

Compared to the Group 5 car, this little 935 'Baby' had a six cylinder turbo engine of 370bhp, reduced to a displacement of just 1.4-litres. A thorough diet helped ‘Baby’ meet the minimum weight of 750kg as dictated by the rules.

At a race in Germany, only on it's second race start, the ‘Baby’ set the fastest qualifying time and went on to score an outright victory by nearly a minute. So, this car is fast. A good choice to attempt a cycling world record.

I even had a scale remote control version of this 1977 Porsche 935/2.0 race car. It was a Christmas present from my parents in 1979. I wish I still had that today!


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