Can you imagine seeing this car for the very first time, and not knowing whether it was capable of winning a single race – let alone no fewer than seven overall Le Mans victories? Porsche’s 956 and the subsequent 962 quickly became the stars of Group C racing, but the beginning of the story represented a whole world of unknowns for Porsche: a full monocoque chassis, ground-effect aerodynamics and, of course, the strict Group C efficiency requirements.
Porsche’s financial situation wasn’t particularly bright heading into the 1980s, either, which put pressure on the motorsport department to consider its priorities carefully. The competition programme was almost scrapped entirely in 1980, but thankfully a change of leadership and direction for Porsche from the top gave it a stay of execution.
After yet again working his magic with the old 936, Norbert Singer and his team of engineers had managed to take the win at Le Mans in 1981, with Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell driving. It was an important moment, one that quickly led to Ferry Porsche approving a foray into the brand new Group C category for 1982. Led by Singer, a group of five long-serving Porsche engineers began working on the project just as soon as that race was over.
Although Group C had been on the
