1983 Porsche 956

This was one of the cars displayed by the Porsche Club Great Britain at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It's a 1983 Porsche 956, and appears to be one of the cars entered by the Rothmans Porsche Team in the 1983 Le Mans 24 Hour race. The three cars entered by the team had the flat 6-cylinder 2,649cc Turbocharged 935 engine, and were numbered 1,2 and 3 in the race. Car number 2 driven by Jochen Mass and Stefan Bellof retired after 21 hour of the race, Vern Schuppan, Hurley Haywood and Al Holbert in car number 3 won the race, and car number 1 driven by Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell finished in second place.

1983 Porsche 956

This car was in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's a 1983 Porsche 956, but it didn't take part in the Group C/GTP Sports Cars race that was included in the programme of events that day. The Porsche 956 has a 2,649cc turbocharged Flat-6 engine, and this car is chassis #008, the one that Jochen Mass and Stefan Bellof drove in the 1983 Le Mans 24 Hour race, leading in the early stages but retiring after 22 hours of the race.

Porsche 956

This car was in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.

It's the 1982 Porsche 956 with a 2.65 litre turbocharged flat-6 engine that won the 1982 World Sportscar Championship. Jackie Ickx won four of the eight rounds of the championship, partnered by Derek Bell in two of the races and Jochen Mass in the other two. One of the races in which Derek Bell partnered Jackie Ickx was the Le Mans 24 Hour race where the three Rothmans Porsches finished in the first three positions.

Porsche 956

This is one of the cars that took part in the 2 hour long British Empire Trophy race for Group C Endurance Cars at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It's the Brunn Racing 1983 Porsche 956 that was driven in the race by Philipp and Siggi Brunn from Germany and has a 24-valve twin turbo 2,650cc flat-6 engine. The programme of the event says:

'At least five of the 956/962 cars will be racing this weekend, and three of them have a significant Le Mans history. Away from the 24-hour race, the 956 of Philipp Brunn is a short-tail car that was rebuilt after a major accident in Japan in 1984. Prior to that, it had won the 1993 All-Japan Sportscar title with a driver line-up headed by Vern Schuppan.'

The reference to the car being rebuilt after a 1984 accident in Japan points to it being chassis #956-108, which was written off at Fuji in 1984 and rebuilt using chassis #956B-118.

Porsche 956

I photographed this car in the paddock at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's a 1983 Porsche 956, but although there are several Porsche 962s listed in the programme of the event there is no 956, and car number 2 is a Jaguar XJR 16. I can't recall if it competed in the Group C/GTP Sports Cars race, so don't know whose car it was. The names of Derek Bell and Stefan Bellof are painted on the door of the car, so logically it ought to be chassis 007, 008 or 009, as they shared drives in those cars in period.

On 19 October 2016 I showed a photograph of another Porsche 956 at Silverstone in 1993.

Porsche 956

This was one of the large variety of cars displayed on the infield at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.

It's the Swiss Brun Motorsport Porsche 956 that finished in seventh place in the 1984 Le Mans 24 Hour Race in the hands of Massimo Sigala, Oscar Larrauri and Joël Gouhier.