The Zuffenhausen Porsche 908/03 was a minimum motor car for the maximum tight-circuit performance. The ultimate 5- litre air-cooled flat 12 Porsche 917 were successful in cracking the Ferrari 512 nut, the minimal 3-litre flat 8 Porsche 908/03 was tailored to win the Targa Florio and the Nürburgring 1000 km.
The cars were campaigned by the Gulf- JMW and Porsche Salzburg (Martini)teams. Eventually in total 13 chassis were built. Porsche made 908/03 transaxle gearboxes, with the gearbox immediately ahead of the final drivetrain to avoid its mass being overhung behind the back axle line. All the mechanical mass was concentrated within the car’s wheelbase. This all forced the engine forward and hence the driving position far forward with the drivers’s far ahead of the front axle.
In 1970 Jo Siffert/Brian Redman and Pedro Rodiguez/Leo Kinnunen were triumphant in the Gulf cars in the Targa Florio, while Richad Attwood/Bjorn Waldegaard were fifth. At that year’s 1000 km Nürburgring it was Porsche Salzburg in front with Vic Elford/Kurt Ahrens and Hans Hermann/Richard Atwood doing a 1-2 finish.
In 1971, Porsche reappeared in Sicily. Both Gulf cars crashed followed by the Salzburg Porsche and Alfa Romeo got away with the win. Revenge at the Nürburgring with Porsche taking P1, P2 and P3.
In later years, the 908/03 were stripped down and parts returned to the store, retrieved, reassembled and rebuilt for privateers.
In 1975 the original 908 were re-equipped with turbocharged engines giving the little Porsches a second life. It is believed that chassis 009 is the only one that retained his original bodywork. It can be seen in the Porsche museum.
The turbocharged 908 was not a factory built car. The private teams had ran their 3-litre normal aspirated Porsche 908/03's successfully up until 1974. From the 1975 season the 2.1-litre 6-cylinder turbocharged engines were available from Porsche. They had built this engine for the 1974 911 Carrera RSR Turbo racing car and started selling the engines after the 1974 season.
As this was not an official Porsche car, teams used different names for the first race, the Mugello 1000 km on March 23, 1975. It would be most correct to call this car as 908/03 Turbo or 908/03 Spyder Turbo or 908/03 Turbo Spyder. Five cars in total were converted to turbos: chassis 006, 008, 011, 012 and 013. As the cars were built by the teams, they all looked different in details and the same car could be fitted with different bodywork for every season or even race.
Chassis 908/03-006
This 1970 constructed chassis was not used in any race. For 1975 season it was sold to Dr. H. Dannesberger racing team together with the 2.1 turbo engine. At the debut race, Mugello 1000 km, Herbert Müller/Gijs van Lennep finished 3rd. Dannesberger team ran the car under the colours of the Martini Racing Team in the 1975 interserie. Herbert Muller and Jurgen Neuhaus( 1 race only) raced it.
The car disappeared from international racing scene for 1976-1977. It found a new owner : Porsche Kremer Racing team.
Sold to Kremer Racing it was campaigned by Klaus Ludwig to the 1977 German Sports car championship and by Bob Wollek in 1978. Kremer later restored the car back to its 1971 configuration and sold it to collector Hans Deiter Latsheim of Köhln in 1980. Dale Miller purchased the car in 1995 and sold it to John Wean in 1996. Wean campaigned the car for two years in selected vintage events and traded it back to Miller, who sold it to a former Indy 500 winner and 3-time CART champion, Bobby Rahal. Rahal ran the car for one season and sold it on to it's current owner Greg Galdi in early 2003.
Porsche 908/03 – chassis 008
This car from 1970 was an official Porsche factory car in 1970 and 1971
After the 1971 season factory sold the 908/03s to private teams. This chassis was sold to Reinhold Joest. He raced the car in multiple world championship races and most interserie events from 1972 to 1974.
After the 1974 season the normally aspirated-era ended and the car was converted to 2.1 turbo. Its first turbocharged race was Dijon 800 km on April 6, 1975, where 2nd position was achieved. For the 1975 Interserie races, Joest entered the car for himself.
Porsche 908/03 chassis 011
The history of this car is far from clear. It is the #36 Targa Florio car nd the #21 Nurburgring car from 1970.
It was sold later and converted by Porsche into a 908/03 Turbo for the 1975 Martini Racing programme chassis '11' then finished 3rd at Mugello, Italy, co-driven by Gijs van Lennep/Herbert Müller, and once again raced in the Nürburgring 1,000kms (co-driven by Kinnunen/Müller), before winning the Mainz-Finthen Interserie race (H.Muller). It was later raced by Jürgen Neuhaus, Jürgen Barth, Axel Plankenhorn and Dr. Sigi Brun.
Brunn bought chassis 011 from Porsche and had the car rebuilt by equipping it with the 2142cc 6-cylinder turbocharged Porsche 911/78 engine. In 1982, Brun himself drove the car both in the German Sport Championship (DRM) and in some races of the Interserie. In November 1982 the car participated at the Kyalami 9 hours, driven by Alain De Cadenet, Jean-Michel Martin and Giorgio Pianta, finishing sixth overall. In 1983 the car participated in some races of the German Sports Championship and the English Thundersports series. In this very series, Derek Bell and Siegfried Brunn took victory in the Brands Hatch race on April 1983.
James Knight, Bonhams International Group Motoring Director, said: "This Porsche 908/03 turbo has outstanding provenance, having been entered in nearly 30 races in-period, including the Le Mans 24-Hours, the Targa Florio, and the Monza and Nürburgring 1,000Kms. It's now offered by Bonhams, in running order, with an estimate of £2,200,000-2,500,000." (Historics 2007 foto)
Porsche 908/03 – chassis 012
This lightweight 908/03 made his debut in 1971 in the Nürburgring 1000km driven by Jo Siffert and Derek Bell. It appeared that this car was raced by Joest Racing in some 1974 events ( but not certain!).
In the Mugello 1000 km 1975 it raced under the banner of Scuderia Nettuno with J.Barth-E.Kraus- M.Casoni. The car participated in the Endurance Championship with this team and with the Joest Team. In the first race of the interserie 1975 it was raced by E.Kraus and in the last two races by Jurgen Barth.
It's career went on in the same way in 1976 and 1977.
In 1979 it was owned and raced by Siggi brun.
Le Mans Classic 2012. In more recent years, it was fully restored to its original specification. From many years, it was part of the Jackie Setton collection and today it is one of the stars of the equally impressive ROFGO Collection.
Porsche 908/03 – chassis 013
It was the last, an second lightweight 908/03 produced. In 1972 it was sold to Juan Fernandez, who entered the car in the 24h Le Mans in a yellow and green Tergal livery. In 1973, it was the Toblerone livery car.
It was converted to Turbo and ran in a few races in 1975 and 1976. Later bought by Siegfried Brunn, who converted it to a 2.6-litre and installed the 936-style air scoop. At the 1981 Silverstone 6 hours Siegfried Brunn/Eddie Jordan finished 3rd. The car was later converted back to ’71 trim, although it didn’t have any notable finishes in the past (except maybe the 1973 Le Mans 5th position).
The 908/03's final competitive outing was at the 1981 Nürburgring 1000 km, where it was driven by Herbert Müller and crashed, resulting in his death.
The car was later rebuilt and restored to its original configuration and colors.
