THE GROUP C PORSCHE 956/962 OF THE 1980s has a stronger claim than most to be the greatest sports-racing car of all time. Consider that it turned a wheel for the first time in March of 1982, but that a derivative (the Dauer 962LM) won Le Mans outright as late as 1994. In between, it won the 24-hour race at La Sarthe six times in a row, the period equivalent of the WEC five times in a row, the American IMSA series three times, and scored so many individual race wins and regional championships that there simply isn’t the space to mention them all here.
New for 1982, the Group C regulations were centred on the use of production-based engine blocks, providing a lower cost base for potential teams and a wide variety of engines for the fans, while fuel consumption limits restricted the ultimate performance of the cars and equalised the field. The initial allocation decided upon was 600 litres for 1000km races and 2600 litres for Le Mans, although these would drop to 510/2210 litres later. Group C cars could be no longer than 4.8 metres, no wider than 2m and no higher than 1.1m. Ironically, the rulebook’s cockpit dimensions were based on those of the Porsche 917, measured in the Porsche museum. A flat reference plane, measuring a metre by 800mm, was positioned behind the front wheels, and the venturi tunnels were only allowed to begin after it. Group C cars would be ‘ground effect’ cars, but there were no sliding skirts (as found in contemporary F1) at the time of inception and their subsequent use was tightly regulated. The minimum permitted weight was initially just 800kg.
Porsche built ten ‘works’, by Serge Vanbockryck), with an initial run of eight customer chassis, eventually running to 19 cars (including independently constructed tubs). Built in far greater numbers were the 962 and 962c. The former was initially built to satisfy the American IMSA series, the FIA and IMSA having failed to agree on uniformity of regulations. IMSA was concerned its championship would turn into another Porsche benefit and placed obstacles in the path of the 956. Firstly it outlawed the type on account of the driver’s feet being in front of the front axle line, and secondly banned its twin-turbo, partly water-cooled flat-six. When the 962 debuted at the 1984 Daytona 24 Hours its front suspension had been moved further forward (a shorter front overhang meant it retained the same overall length) and it had a single-turbo air-cooled flat-six that owed more to the one in the old 935s of the 1970s. Almost inevitably, once teething issues were overcome it would dominate the championship for years, much to the chagrin of IMSA.
