Porsche 935

The Porsche 935 was introduced in 1976, as the racing version of the Porsche 930 (911 Turbo), prepared for FIA-Group 5 rules (similar to the Porsche 934 which was built for the more standard Group 4).

The 935 raced in various championships including the World Sportscar Championship, the IMSA championship and the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM). Usually, no other make could challenge the Porsche 935, as each races at the time typically featured at least five of the same models due to the availability of customer models, racing became entertaining for the crowd at the expense of the drivers' frustrations, due to the unpredictable behaviour of the large turbocharger controlled by the mechanical fuel injection, causing a turbo lag and at a sudden a fireball spitting from the exhaust and giving out a large power output of typically 800bhp.

935/76
The car debuted in the 1976 season by the Martini sponsored works team in the FIA World Championship for Makes with Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass partnering in one car and Rolf Stommelen and Manfred Schurti in the other. As in Group 5 rules, also known as Silhouette rules, several significant modifications were allowed (including bodywork modifications, larger wings, wider axles and water cooling), the 935 changed its looks often. First, the whale tail rear wing appeared, then the rear fenders were extended in a similar fashion.

Initially, Porsche were to run the 935 with its original nose in two different guises (the sprint version with a wider version of its wheelarches and a high speed with a modified aerodynamic version. But however, after carefully studying the rulebooks, Porsche discovered a loophole which gave them the liberty to move the headlights into the front spoiler to reduce drag and create more downforce for high speed circuits. This flat nose became the distinguishing feature of the 935 and was later offered as the Flachbau, or "flatnose", part of Porsche's Sonderwunsch, or "special wish" program. The sprint setup became seldomly used.

The engine was a 2.85 L 560hp version of the regular 3.0 L flat-6, which ran in the 4.0 L class as a turbocharged car with a penalty factor of 1.4. Weight was 970 kg (2136 lb).

Based on the 1976 version, the Porsche 935 was sold to privateer teams like Cologne-based rivals Georg Loos and Kremer Racing for the 1977 season.

935/77
The factory continued to develop and race a factory 935 though. For 1977, the single turbo was replaced by two KKK units, and the body was changed. Customers were not happy that the factory would race them with a newer car, but as the 935/77 was often unreliable, it could be beaten.

A "Baby" version with the 935/77 body, but with only 750kg and 370hp from only 1425 cc to race in the 2.0 L class of the DRM, was developed to prove that Porsche could win in this class against BMW and Ford, too. It won in the second entry at Hockenheimring and was retired to the Porsche Museum.

935/78 "Moby Dick"
For 1978, yet another version was developed, the 935/78. It took full advantage of loop holes in the Group 5 rules and was lowered by 10cm. Because of its shape, with a long front and rear optimised for low drag, the 935/78 was often nicknamed Moby Dick. The engine was enlarged to 3.2 L and equipped with water-cooled four valve cylinder heads, pushing the output to 845 hp (about 620 kW). This version won the 6h of Silverstone and was the fastest car on the straight in Le Mans at over 360 km/h, easily passing the prototypes of Renault and their team-mate Porsche 936, too, as the Group 6 cars had smaller engines.

Private non-factory built "Moby Dick" style replica cars were entered into the DRM and IMSA series in following years by Joest Racing and Moretti racing.

935 "K3"
Porsche hesitated to sell these Evolution models, so some teams developed their own ideas, especially Kremer Racing from Cologne, Germany. Their 935 K3, driven by Klaus Ludwig, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979 in heavy rain, beating all prototypes. Coming second was a factory spec model, driven by Rolf Stommelen, supported by team owner Dick Barbour and actor Paul Newman.

Success
Until 1984, the 935 won over 150 races worldwide, including over 20 class wins. It scored outright wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. It was also undefeated in the German DRM between 1977 and 1979, victories in the IMSA GTX class, and won many races on the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, including the 1000km Nürburgring.

After Group 5 was discontinued by FIA after 1981, the 935 continued to race in IMSA's GTP category alongside FIA Group C cars, usually entered by smaller privateer names, who was not permitted by IMSA regulations to race the new Porsche 956. By 1985 the days for the 935 were mostly done. Only a handfull of 935's remained, but would no longer be competitive with the new GTP cars. The 935 was seen for 2 races in the 1986 season before it's days were gone.

In Popular Media
The 935 appears as the Autobot Jazz in The Transformers with its trademark front nose and a sprint rear arches.

A 935 can be seen in the Cannonball Run movie.

The 935 Moby Dick was one of the cars in the PC racing game "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed".

A black road driven 935 (chassis #930 000 00027, which was in fact modified for road use by its owner Angelo Pallavicini in Switzerland) appeared in the Disney film Condorman as the lead villain's car, in a sequence which he leads a gang of black 911s.