Another hot rod

Hi Cam:

If you keep flattering me that way I will continue to pound away on this thread. Seriously, I have always loved the final days of the pre-aero 911 competition car and the idea of privateers competing with them on the big stage of international motorsports. We know that this era drew little more than a few paragraphs in Ludvigsen's otherwise magnificent opus. The other popular sources provide no more than a cursory review of some of the most basic specs of the ST. I have the advantage of preaching to the converted, always the most devoted and observant of all followers of a faith. It seems to have fallen on this Board to record details of the ST, perhaps the least understood of all 911 based race cars. I am delighted to provide what understanding has come my way from conversations with so many nice folks around the world during the progress of this hot rod project.

Hello Hugh:

You are nothing if not dependable, once again providing meticulous play-by-play and authoritative color commentary too. Thanks for identifying the Mauroy/Lagniez nbr 37 car with its raked suspension settings and generally mean demeanor.

Thanks also for posting some other very interesting Gr 4 cars sporting Minilites. I was not familiar with the the image you posted of the ex-werks "special" - a very straightforward and especially pure looking ST. Somehow, the look of the "special" conveys a feeling of extreme light weight. What a lovely car.

Minilite Eights

A popular update was to install eight inch Minilite wheels for the front as soon as an eight inch rim was homologated. The gulf orange "special" is undoubtedly so equipped. Unfortunately the detail of the image when magnified is insufficient to determine if the usual casting plugs are in evidence. However, it can be determined from a quick look that this Minilite is the small hole center hub variation and it appears to have the same distinctive Minilite-supplied valve stem seen in previously posted images of the nines for the Tart. Thanks again for the pic Hugh.

SWB Headlamp Housings 901 631 101 31

Readers:

I have been waiting for the SWB crowd to chime in regarding the almost universal use of SWB head lamp housings with clear USA lenses on these Spl GT Gr 4 2,3L. The teams favored the SWB housings with USA spec clear lenses for a few reasons:

-provide superior aerodynamics as compared to H1/H4

-allows use of any lighting manufacturer's lamps and bulbs: Carello, Cibie and Marchal; with the attendant benefits of free components and perhaps even a bit of sponsorship money

-superior protection of the all-important lighting for endurance events involving high speed driving under low ambient light conditions

Here the spectators in the paddock at Magny Cours are inspecting the SWB lamp housing (or more likely a broken spindle from the looks of things) on the ex-werks "special" ST 911 030 0949 as posted by Hugh.

Aren't those 901/SWB lamp housings?

Please review the images of 2.3L cars in the preceding posts. Almost all of them have SWB lamp housings.Their usage became less prevalent with the 2,5L cars but the racing community's preference for SWB scheinwerfer continued well into the RSR era with teams such as Kremer et al. Thoughts?



OliveR:

Thank you for your post nbr. 212 in which you identify M. Louis Meznarie in this period image. I updated this post with a recent photo of M. Meznarie, who it seems remains active with clubs in Belgium devoted to Porsche 911 as well as NSU TT.

The last "spectator" on right seems to be Meznarie himself ;)

The underside of the old balsa-reinforced grp front lid was stripped of its Blutorange paint. The unknown donor of the lid, a 2,3L ST, also provided its plexiglas rear screen and is thought to have been a factory built car.

When constructing these cars to Special GT Group 4 specifications, the Race Department sometimes left the underside of the front lids unpainted, in furtherance of their constant pursuit of lightness. This was the look that we hoped to duplicate for the hot rod, a reflection of that constancy of purpose so ably demonstrated by the Race Department.

When we set out to strip the lid, it was with the anticipation of seeing pristine amber and natural tones of hand laid matting and the clear crisp look of unfinished balsa encased in resin.

However, realization of this goal proved elusive. The orange pigment of the old paint leeched into the resin itself, lending a blotchy orange hue to its surface, and lodged stubbornly in nooks and crannies of the textured matting where it proved impregnable to attack.

Once the initial disappointment passed, we reconsidered our objective and thought it perhaps better in any event that we preserve evidence of its past.

The variegated hues of natural and amber resin are indeed present while the surprisingly pale shade of the unfinished balsa stringers clearly shows through the transluscent resin.

But our view is obscured as if by an indelible film of time, a residue of lurid Blutorange livery and the stains of high octane fuel spilled on race days long since forgotten.

That imperfect surface, now stabilized beneath three fresh coats of epoxy resin, will look like this when the lid goes back onto the hot rod.

Hi Tom- The history behind every detail of this car continues to
amaze me.

Tom, a lot of questions that I've had over the years about these cars have been answered in this thread. How they glassed in the balsa strips is a good example. Your research, uncompromising build quality, and thoroughness of thinking things through are an inspiration.

Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing the car "in the flesh".

Tom,
great great ST infos provided in this thread,always learning with you guys ;)
Just a quick note,seems most of the 2.3 were fitted with the standart(non enlarged) front bumper(check pics);)

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Why Minilite?

Even though the april 71 Competition Spare Parts manual lists the Fuchs 9x15 wheels part nbr 911.361.020.03 as being available, it seems that the factory had difficulty in actually providing any Fuchs nines during the 1970 and 1971 seasons for use on the 2,3L ST. I suppose this situation stemmed from production problems at Fuchs. As a result of this production snafu, the nine inch Fuchs did not seem actually to get into circulation until the 1972 season.

As Minilite had already been a wheel of choice for several seasons, as from about 1968 onwards, and was used by most teams competing with sports cars in the endurance racing events, it was only natural that the factory Race Department reached out to them for 9x15 rolling stock for use on the 2,3L ST. Although supplied on factory prepared 2,3L cars, the race department never assigned a part number to the Minilite magnesium 9x15 wheel.

Having been caught flat footed, it became the Race Department's standard fitment for a 2,3L ST to include magnesium Minilites size 9x15 for the rear while up front, the Fuchs 7x15 as originally fitted to the rear of the 911R ("7R") was specified.

The Fuchs 7R was used on the front in conjunction with a 27mm spacer to obtain the homologated front track and to fill out the front flares.


Tom, I have seen 7s,8s&9s dated 1/71, 2/71, 3/71. There may have been some made eariler-these are just the ones that I have had my hands on. I think that they were available by the time that the April 71 parts book was out.
There was as always with racers the use of "anything that works". The 7s were clearly availble for the Ginther car but he used 7Rs on the front with 8s on the rear.
When talking to the race dept about ordering Fuchs in 73, Fuchs wanted at least 50 at a time to make a order. I think that there are at least 50 of each month that I have seen. they were available but clearly race teams used what they had or what was easier to get.


The Minilites that I have seen were like you said. The four casting lugs shows that they were a universal wheel or designed originaly for a four lug car. The large center hole with the flat lip and cut spokes seems to be on the 6, 6 1/2,7,&10s. The only unusal wheels that I have seen recently were some 8 1/2s that were with a factory 914 GT kit that was NOS. They looked just like the 8s and 9s. Before I saw them I would look at a photo and assume that they were 8s or 9s. Throwing 8 1/2s into the mix makes it difficult to estimate the width from a photo
Harvey

Tom,

Maybe some of that color on the hood is from a signature like the one on my GT. I'm not sure if the 911 hoods were signed.

John

"I have seen 7s,8s&9s dated 1/71, 2/71, 3/71. There may have been some made eariler-these are just the ones that I have had my hands on. I think that they were available by the time that the April 71 parts book was out."

Hi Harvey,

Thanks for sharing your authoritative knowledge.

It is interesting that the evidence seems to lead us towards a conclusion that the new 7s, 8s & 9s became widely available beginning only in calendar year 1971. This was possibly later than the build date for many of the MY71 cars that raced in the '71 season and all of the MY70 cars.

Recently a board member in Europe sent me a photo copy of the Spare Parts List for Type 911S Model 72 competition type. This edition of the factory race parts bible is the Editon November 1971. It lists all of the new equipment homogated for the 72 season: front bumper with spoiler, 915 with pump and spray bars, etc.

One of the many interesting areas illuminated by this November 1971 edition is the section on wheels. Listed are the new Fuchs 7s and 8s as well as the Fuchs 9s all with the relevant part numbers ( the deep sixes and 7R are shown on another page of the Nov 71).

However, only the Fuchs 7R and the 9s are listed in the April 70 edition (the deep sixes are listed as well and are recommended for Rally use).

Here are the relevant scans of the Nov 71 list: cover page and page listing the new wheels.

At some point between publication of the April 70 Spares list and the publication of the Nov 71 Spares list, the new 7s and 8s hit the radar screen for the Spares List, implying that availability prior to April 70 was perhaps somewhat challenged.

We should all keep looking at the stamps on 7s 8s and 9s for pre 1-71 dates - they are the rare ones!

In the interests of full disclosure, Weidman Wheels has restored a set of 8s and 9s for the Tart in RSR finish. For use with the Minilites, a pair of standard finish 7R was restored by Weidman Wheels.

Harvey also provided some good information on the Minilites. Just how popular were Minilites back in the day? The ad congratulating the winners of the SCCA runoffs circa 1971 published by Hank Thorp, the exclusive distributor for the USA, is remarkable.

Thanks again for the post Harvey. Wonder if you can shed some light on the Minilite lugs used on the D'Ieteren ST shown below?

Hello John,

That is some beautiful resin and balsa underneath that lid!

I am going to take a close look in the reddish areas for a similar maker's mark.

In the meantime the shadowy mark shown in the prior post and magnified again in the image below caught my eye.

This looks to me like 8 or a g with a rounded bottom instead of a tail and is drawn in black.

Whatever it is certainly lacks the visual impact of the lovely markings on the lid of your SixGT.

Thank you for your post.