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Interserie- cars
Erwin and Manfred Kremer needed a new car; the new Porsche 956 at the time was not available to buy. So the first attempt to get into the game quickly saw the brothers deciding to create a modern version of the 936 – a car developed by Porsche in 1976.
Kremer, as it had done with the 917, decided to build its own 936 car from drawings and details supplied direct from Porsche Weissach. The result was the 936/82, a 2.1-litre, Porsche-powered, competitor for national and international races in and around Germany.
Meanwhile, Reinhold Joest had gone another route, and created a closed-cockpit 936C, the JR-005. This gave the Kremer brothers an idea: to create an aluminium tubular space-frame car, along the lines of a combination of a 908-3 that Kremer had also built themselves, and the 936, but enclosed like the K81 917 and similar to the Joest car. Ekkehard Zimmermann, DP Motorsport, was once more asked to create the body. The plan was to create a car to run in the new Gr C Prototype class in 1982/3. They called it CK5.
The Kremer CK5 used 16in BBS wheels, with the brake system of the 935 K3 and 935 K4. The CK5’s four-speed transmission came from the 917/10, a Porsche type 920. A 2.8-litre air-cooled turbocharged engine was installed that gave, according to boost, from 630 to 720hp – more than the factory 956 at that time. The arrangement of engine and gearbox in the 936 also allowed the use of some ground-effect aerodynamics: by designing the central fin on the engine cover they achieved improved lateral stability.
The Kremer CK5-01 first ran competitively in 1982 at the Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Bill Whittington/Ted Field/Danny Ongais. It was a smart-looking car, but testing had been limited. They qualified 8th on the grid, but in the race it failed on lap 25, when the engine let go. EThe Kremer CK5-01 achieved one victory in 1982 at the Hockenheim ADAC Hessen Cup in the hands of Rolf Stommelen. Stommelen also scored two 5th places and had a DNF at the Spa 1000km: starter failure at a pit stop. At the Bilstein Supersprint in september at the Nürburgring, he finished third.
The Kremer team decided at this point that it was time for the CK5- 01 to move on. British privateer Richard Cleare from Burnham and his team would be its next owner.
The car was stripped back to the bare chassis frame, and all the mechanical parts were checked, along with the body and panels being resprayed to suit the sponsorship. The car was presented to Gulf (GB) Ltd and displayed outside its offices in Cheltenham, followed by a Silverstone track test.
An agreement through Porsche saw American driver Margie Smith-Haas join Richard and Tony Dron for the opening race at Monza on 10 April 1983, race No 19. The Kremer brothers and two of their mechanics joined the team at Monza to help the car through scrutineering, and also an engine change! This came about because the original 2.8-litre Kremer engine failed in practice. The race ended with a spin.
A month later at Silverstone on 8 May, Tony and Richard started from 13th on the grid, in the car now numbered 42, and drove well to finish 6th, behind five of the then-dominant Porsche 956 works and private entries. The car was now being prepared for Le Mans. For Le Mans on 18-19 June, Richard and Tony were joined by Richard Jones. It was a disappointing weekend, The car was qualified 24th on the grid and retired in the first hour of the race. This was followed with a DNF at Brands Hatch.
For the 1984 season they got a real car make-over. Only the centre chassis section and the suspension set-up were retained. They did just one race (Brands Hatch in July); overpressured fuel tank, retirement.
For 1985 the aero package was modified to include an adjustable wing section set into the front nose panel, and the adoption of 19in rear wheels to replace the original 16in design.” The car ran at Brands Hatch in 1985 with Richard Cleare and David Leslie qualifying 18th, retiring on lap 59 with exhaust manifold fracture. It was at this point that Richard Cleare decided to look for a replacement race car
When Richard Cleare acquired the CK5-01, the Kremer brothers had already decided to build a second 936-based car, and this became the CK5-02. The debut was set for the 24h Le Mans race in 1983. With sponsorship from Grand Prix Magazine, the car looked spectacular. Derek Warwick/Frank Jelinski/ Patrick Gaillard were the drivers. However after just 76 laps, when exhaust failure, they retired. They entered the car for the Norisring race in July with a P13 in race 1 and P05 in race2. At Brands Hatch, Franz Konrad and Kees Kroesemeijer finished 12th. And the year ended with a wasted trip to Kyalami. Disqualification for the CK5-02 due to a disqualification following a push-start. Revenge in Australia: Kees Kroesemeijer/Jesús Pareja-Mayo/Peter Janson finished P17. During 1984, the CK5-02 car would enjoy one victory, and another podium in the European Interserie Championships, mostly in the hands of regular Kremer driver of the time Kees Kroesemeijer.
CK5-02 would later be restored for a private owner in the colours of Walter Wolf; drivers listed on the door are Bellof/Stommelen.
A third CK5-03 was made in 1984 and labelled “1984 Kremer CK5 chassis #003”. The documentation of this car isn’t all that great. What’s clear is that the car is a 936-based, modified close-cockpit design and is labelled a Kremer car though they apparently don’t know why. Everything appears to be period correct, right down to the 935-spec twin turbo power plant, badges and BBS wheel fans. If someone is trying to fake this car, they went through an awfully large amount of detail work to do so. Chassis #001 and #002 are built from round Aluminium tubing, as was the 936, but chassis #003 is built from square steel tubing. The first two cars were originally built with a 917 gearbox but #003 was built with a Hewland gearbox, probably both for cost and reliability reasons.
This car ran infrequently in 1984 and 1985 with Norbert Przybilla.
In 1988 a CK5, thought to be the CK5-1, also showed up at the Tampa World Challenge on 27 November; it was to finish 9th, driven by Norbert Przybilla and Kurt Hild.
Kremer then decided to take the route of everyone else, acquiring a 956 factory car and later a 962 chassis 110.