1976 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Pilots: J-C. Andruet, T. Sabine, P. Dagoreau Team: ASA Cachia Race: 13th overall (5th in Group 5 class) at Le Mans in 1976 Spark - S2098 (resin)
Published 08/24/19
The first Porsche Carrera RS came out in 1973, and Stuttgart produced around 1580 of them. Though officially a “passenger car”, it had a very spartan interior. And counted on a 2.7 l flat-6 that delivered 210 hp. But Porsche decided that the next generation should be even more race-orientated. So, in 1974 Porsche released the Carrera RS 3.0. It had the same chassis as the previous version, but with a much lighter body. The breaks came from the 917K and they deleted everything not essential. In the end, the car only weighed 900 kg. But the biggest difference was the engine. The original 2.7 l flat-6 was expanded to 2993 cm³, and with Bosch mechanical fuel injection it delivered 230 hp. Porsche made only 55 of the RS 3.0, and being ready to race from the factory, basically all ended on a race track.
French racing team ASA Cachia had two cars in the 24 Heures du Mans of 1976. They had 934 #61, in the GT class, and also this RS #53 in the Group 5 class. The RS #53 started in 33rd place on the grid, while #61 was slightly ahead, on 29th. It was a very diverse race that year, with all kinds of cars. Though both of their cars started out close, #61 had an eventful race. It lost lots of time in the pits and though it finished the race, it DNC. On the other hand, #53 did a consistent race and finished in 13th overall and fifth in class. As a side note, in December that year, Thierry Sabine was stranded at the Côte d’Ivoire – Côte d’Azur Rally for days. When safe back home he decided to create his own desert race – the Paris Dakar Rally.
Though a VERY nice model (regular Spark awesomeness), I had a bear of a time on research. I just couldn’t find anything on the car or the team. Therefore, it’s one of those cases where the history does NOT justify the model. And in general terms I’m not comfortable with that for my cars. Consequently, even though it’s a very nice one, it’s not a model I’ll recommend. In fact, not even for me.
It may not have pages of history behind it but its a good looking car .
The stance of the car is your side profile shot is killer .
The model is a real dandy but I always like to have “what to talk about” with my models. Of course it has history but unfortunately not something that can be easily found on the web.