1981 Porsche 936/81 Pilots: D. Bell, J. Ickx Team: Porsche System Engineering Race: 1st overall (Group 6 class) at Le Mans in 1981 Minichamps - 430816911 (diecast)
Published 05/20/17
The 936 got its name from two factors. It was a Group 6 car and it used a variant of the 930’s engine, thus, “936”. It was Porsche’s weapon for the new Group 6 class of 1976, and marked Stuttgart’s return to prototype sports car racing after the 917 era of 1969-1971. The engine was an air-cooled, single-turbocharged flat-6 engine with 2140 cm³. From the 917 came the space frame chassis, with many of the parts also coming from that car. The large hump and the air box above the engine was mainly used for the intercooler.
The 936 debut’s at Le Mans in 1976 was a success, with an overall victory. Development of the car persisted for 1977, specially for the engine. It gained water-cooled heads and therefore NACA ducts were added to the sides for the radiators. As a result, with the improvements the 936/77 won again. Conversely, things did not go smoothly in 1978, and the 936 lost to Renaults’s A442. That being so, Porsche retired the car from active duty. The car was literally mothballed and stored in their Stuttgart museum.
However, with the new rules for 1981 Porsche saw an opportunity, and decided to go for another overall win. So the race department rescued the 1977 and 1978-winning 936 spyder out of the museum. To improve the car’s chances, they fitted the “new” 936/81 with a twin-turbo 2649 cm³ flat-six that provided around 620 hp. This 936/81 #11 was chassis #003, and piloted by Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell won with 14 laps on the 2nd-placed Rondeau. And with this I have another perfume car: Jules is a fragrance for men by Christian Dior. A nifty model from Minichamps, that competently translated the read deal into scale.