Ultimate R thread

[70SATMan]

Thanks for the VERY DETAILED feedback. According to my father, Bucher told him it was a R. Same for Chasseuil's car in this rally. And my father saw lot of discussions between the officials and Buchet, about the plates, serial numbers & so on...
Btw, we will never know :-)
My father remembers discussing with Farjon, the pilot, during a special stage, and Farjon told him "Can you imagine ? we are at 240 km/h !?!!"... crazy when we know the small roads on that rally !
Buchet just wanted to know what were the limits of the car after the Le Mans testing. He wasn't surprised when the engine broke in the middle of special stage... According to my father, the engine AND the car are the one from the testings. No engine swap.
Then it could be the #45 testing car at le mans 1968.

If it’s the car shown in your picture, I think it’s a 67S. Steel fenders. Looks like steel hood and bumper (with S trim) as well. Standard signal lights and horn grills. I also see the pop out quarter window hardware and the rear view mirror looks 67 to me, not the 68 break away.

[Arnaud_france]

hi, small update from my father: the car had "lightweigh front trunk", and "plastic vented rear side windows" (I don't remember the english exact names, sorry... ).
He's 100% sure that was a "911R". Same for the 2 other porsche registered on that Rally. Also one of the 3 911 was a T on the listing, but there were no T on rallyes at that period. My father is 100% sure it was also a R with different plate & registration papers, because those 3 R were not registered correctly at that time and Buchet had only official papers for S and T plates...

[HughH]

That sounds correct - there were a lot of "games" played with those cars at the time as they were only in prototype class and not homologated for any competition apart from events that allowed prototypes (like Le Mans and TdF) and given they looked so similar to an ordinary 911 but had much better performance the temptation was there........

it did not take a big effort to fit horn grills - "normal looking" side lights and rear lights and a license plate and front bumper from another car.....
getting through scrutineering must have been a bit hit and miss depending on the event and ability and knowledge of the scrutineers

I will save that photo away with your comments

[Arnaud_france]

could be the #16 (as pictured on page 55 of this thread)

[HughH]

it could be and that would fit in with the Le Mans test narrative (thanks for digging that one up). I have posted the lightened up version for comparison

However I think much more likely to be this one below, R#18 seen here at the Cevennes rally with Chasseuil, I think, in 1968 although it may be as you noted BOTH were at that event with R #18 piloted by Chasseuil

Note that apart from the registration plate on either car ( which could be achieved with a change in front bumper) there are some significant visual differences between the picture you posted and these one especially around the lights, bumper etc and the center fill fuel tank


I lightened up the photo of R #16 at the Le Mans test and it is showing the license plate ending in WW 86 which is Buchet's registration when he first had it

[928cs]

"WW" plates were temporary plates used by "garages" to drive a car while waiting for the official registration to be assigned to a car.
86 at the end indicates that the car was then owned by Buchet, who was from Poitiers, in the center of France.

281 UE 75 and 8391 UT 75 were both assigned to cars belonging to someone from Paris, a few months apart.

[niall1]

@HughH
A small history correction regarding the 'Reventlow R' chassis #20.


Lance's half brother Richard (who previously owned my car (lance's 911E) and built it to ST spec with the help of the factory, as his personal hot rod for the road not racing) had ordered an R through Hahn Porsche in Stuttgart but cancelled when he realised how difficult it was going to be to get it into the States. As Vasek Polak was a dealer in race cars it makes sense that they picked up the cancelled order as it was already destined for the States and you had to be a dealer to get the race cars through USA regulations, etc. He told me that the confirmation papers for the order were with the paperwork for my car that has since disappeared:
https://www.early911sregistry.org/fo...perwork-appeal

I had sent him a picture from a book detailing the 'Reventlow R' yesterday


And he shot me back a photo of some RIA work boxes he has in the workshop at home.


Dick Troutman gave them to him as they were laying around the workshop when he finished our car in 1973. The #3 box in the magazine photo Richard gave to a friend in 1984.



Edit:
he also told me the story of how he came to order the R. In his words:
I was permitted to test drive this 911R as I had an interest in rallying with a friend in Munich. Ordered the 911R but cancelled. Got ideas for Mozart from the R and 2,7 RS. Just recently saw a model of the very same 911R on eBay. When I saw the model I vaguely remembered the license plate. Once I checked my scrapbook the numbers were the same.

That 911R was a very cranky one to drive on the street. Back in 1970 when I drove the R it was very fast. The factory driver assured me the car was rough below 2500 revs. He drove like a racer, of course. He drove it on the way out and I drove it back to the factory. This was my introduction to the R exhaust which I liked. Thus an example went on to Mozart.

[HughH]

Niall

that is a great story and great information. thanks for posting it

[Chuck Miller]

Amazing background story Niall .... Cheers

[niall1]

This all arose from a conversation we were having regarding the exhaust system he fitted to my car. He called it an 'R' exhaust in his notes, which I never fully understood. He just sent me a link to a video of Larrousse's R as there is a good shot of the exhaust setup and sound:
https://youtu.be/H6EjMtCuonw

I noticed that the reg was the same as the one from his 'scrap book' and he confirmed that was the same car he test drove. The picture above was taken in the factory service area before he got in for the test drive. It was filthy afterwards as the roads were wet that day.

You got to love these anecdotes and stories.