Quoted from Ultimatecarpage.com:
"During the second half of the 1970s, Porsche built racing cars for two classes; the 935 (Group 5 for production based GT cars) and the 936 (Group 6 for prototypes up to 3 litre). The various incarnations of the 935 dominated its class while the 936 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright in 1976 and again in 1977. Over the winter of the 1977/1978 Porsche's brilliant engineer Norbert Singer had another good look at the latest draft of the Group 5 regulations and figured that he could turn the 911 Turbo based 935 into a contender for the outright victory at Le Mans. The rules stipulated that only the cockpit section of the original car had to be used, so Singer chopped off the front and rear third of the car and replaced the standard chassis structures with purpose built spaceframes. The new 935 also benefited from the latest engine developments, which included water-cooled, four valve per cylinder heads. Displacing just over 3.2 litre, the twin-turbocharged engine was very cons ervatively rated at 750 bhp by Porsche; 850 bhp was closer to the truth. To improve the top speed on the long Le Mans straights, Singer fitted the car with ultra-wide bodywork, which earned the car the nick-name 'Moby Dick'.
The Porsche 935/78 'Moby Dick' made a victorious debut at the World Championship round at Silverstone despite various problems during testing. Le Mans started well with a third place starting position but problems with the engine dropped the car back to 8th. The car was only given two more outings after that with no notable results. With just four races under its belt 'Moby Dick' was retired to the Porsche Museum as the manufacturer decided to temporarily withdraw from racing at the end of the year. Singer did see his point proved a year later when a Kremer prepared 935 won Le Mans outright
Despite ultimately failing to live up to the expectations, 'Moby Dick' has achieved a legendary status and remains as one of the most extreme and powerful production based racing cars ever constructed. Earlier this year we caught up with the only 935/78 that ever raced. With the help of the fine people at the Porsche Museum, we can now present a detailed gallery to illustrate our article, which reveals many of the tricks Singer used to create this ferocious machine."
"During the second half of the 1970s, Porsche built racing cars for two classes; the 935 (Group 5 for production based GT cars) and the 936 (Group 6 for prototypes up to 3 litre). The various incarnations of the 935 dominated its class while the 936 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright in 1976 and again in 1977. Over the winter of the 1977/1978 Porsche's brilliant engineer Norbert Singer had another good look at the latest draft of the Group 5 regulations and figured that he could turn the 911 Turbo based 935 into a contender for the outright victory at Le Mans. The rules stipulated that only the cockpit section of the original car had to be used, so Singer chopped off the front and rear third of the car and replaced the standard chassis structures with purpose built spaceframes. The new 935 also benefited from the latest engine developments, which included water-cooled, four valve per cylinder heads. Displacing just over 3.2 litre, the twin-turbocharged engine was very cons ervatively rated at 750 bhp by Porsche; 850 bhp was closer to the truth. To improve the top speed on the long Le Mans straights, Singer fitted the car with ultra-wide bodywork, which earned the car the nick-name 'Moby Dick'.
The Porsche 935/78 'Moby Dick' made a victorious debut at the World Championship round at Silverstone despite various problems during testing. Le Mans started well with a third place starting position but problems with the engine dropped the car back to 8th. The car was only given two more outings after that with no notable results. With just four races under its belt 'Moby Dick' was retired to the Porsche Museum as the manufacturer decided to temporarily withdraw from racing at the end of the year. Singer did see his point proved a year later when a Kremer prepared 935 won Le Mans outright
Despite ultimately failing to live up to the expectations, 'Moby Dick' has achieved a legendary status and remains as one of the most extreme and powerful production based racing cars ever constructed. Earlier this year we caught up with the only 935/78 that ever raced. With the help of the fine people at the Porsche Museum, we can now present a detailed gallery to illustrate our article, which reveals many of the tricks Singer used to create this ferocious machine."
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