1976 Porsche 936
Pilots: J. Ickx, G. Lennep
Team: Martini Racing / Porsche System
Race: 1st place at Le Mans in 1976
Troféu - 1901 (diecast)
Published 04/21/17
The 936 was an interesting car. The first real-life trial was at the Nürburgring 1000 km race in April of 76, just 6 months(!!) after the development of the project started. The car was the combination of Porsche’s new (for 1975) 2.1 l turbocharged engine, a 908/3 tubular space frame, 917 gearbox and a smaller version of the 917/30 body.
For 1976 only two units were built, and both cars were present at Le Mans, but in slightly different configurations. The winning car, #20 (936-002), had a big air intake over the engine for the intercooler, while the #18 (936-001) had only a flat roll cage behind the pilot.
This Porsche 936 #20 was the first turbocharged car to win at La Sarthe, and from 1976 to 1981 it brought the manufacturer three overall victories at Le Mans and one World Championship. This car was one that I dreamed having in my garage ever since I got serious about collecting Le Mans models, but unfortunately it was never available in 1:18.
I would say that the model is very good, with great proportions and very decent paint job. Bottom line, I was certainly happy with it. Well, decals could have been better, not exactly dead-on aligned, but okay. But then I saw the dashboard… On the 1:1 the dashboard is curved and follows the windscreen. Moreover, there’s no horrible gap between the dashboard and windscreen like you have here in the model. So this is a car I’ll have to upgrade – it’s too important to keep a faulty version like this. A real shame.
05/14/21: The W-143 Garage now has a better version of this model.