OF PORSCHE HISTORY
For Sale
THE STORY OF A 1967 911T
IN THE BEGINNING
In early 1968, Edgar Herrmann took delivery of the car in Kenya, after it had been pre-pared by the Porsche Factory Competition Department at Weissach, for the East African Safari that Easter. The car is a living memory of the last of the Short Wheel Base Porsche 911. LONDON TO SYDNEY MARATHON
At the completion of the 1968 East African Safari the car returned to Weissach and together with two other cars were totally re-built for the 12,000 mile London to Sydney Marathon. The 3 cars prepared by the Porsche Competition Department were:
PORSCHES ENTERED IN MARATHON
1968 By TONY STANDEN - St Louis Region London - Three 900 series Porsches, two prepared by the Stuttgart factory, were entered in the 10,000-mile London-Sydney Marathon. The event began on Nov. 24, and ended on Dec. 17 in Sydney (results are unknown as the finale was after this issue’s deadline). The 3 teams were : English rally driver Terry Hunter, and John Davenport; the Polish team of Sobieslav Zasada and Marek Wachowski; and the German team of Edgar Herrmann and Hans Schuller. I had a chance to see the cars in London, and they had some interesting features. The pictures with this article will key in with the following comments: The steel frame on the front of the car was attached to hinges to fold forward, and thus give access to the front compartment. The purpose of the screen was to deflect kangaroos and other animals. The deflection screen folds back over the roof race, and can be fastened so as not to interfere with forward vision if there are no animals about. Note also from the pictures that steel wheels were used rather than the lightweight mags. The roof rack is an integral part of the front assembly. The flexible hoses on each side of the roof were designed to attach to the unswept tail-pipes by clips so that, when another hose, carried inside the car, was attached to the “waterproofed” engine, deep streams could be crossed. The rack also carried 4 tyres and wheels. The 3 plastic 20-litre tanks are spare gas containers. One tank is also designed to be used as a spare oil tank. Special hoses were provided to make connections with the oil inlet on the engine. Another plastic tank was similarly set up to be used as a spare gas tank, should the regular 200 litre tank be damaged. Rally-bucket seats were used. In the centre of the back firewall was a fire extinguisher with the outlet directly into the clutch housing. On either side of the fire extinguisher was a 20 litre water tank. Another picture shows the upswept exhaust pipes and the sump guard.
Cars carried a hacksaw, hand axe, 2-man wood saw, plus standard tools. A winch pulley was aboard, with wire rope, to be attached to a rear wheel by the wheel studs, so the car could be “bootstrapped” out of difficulties. Duplicate coil, fuel pump, battery, and switch boxes were carried, fastened next to their working counterparts. Because of poor fuel in Asia, compression ratio was reduced to 8.6:1. Engine was rated 162 bhp @ 6,400rpm. Total weight of the car, drivers, fuel and supplies was 3,200lb. The speedometer was disconnected to lessen the strain on the Halda cable. The co-driver had a foot-operated horn, otherwise the dash was stock 911S. The Bio-Strath car, entered by Porsche Great Britain, broke a pipe union on one of the rear wheels. Later, the same thing happened to the other rear wheel. Finally, there were internal difficulties in the engine - a valve or piston failing - and the car burned 16 gallons of oil in 800 miles, and had no power. I have been unable to determine the fate of the other Porsches by the press deadline. One hundred cars were in the rally and prizes worth $55,200 waited at the end of the road in Australia. Organisers of the Marathon were the London Daily Express and the Sydney Daily Telegraph.
Fourteen nations had entries and 22 makes were represented. From London the route took the contestants to Calais, France, and on to Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and West Pakistan to Bombay. The top 75 cars at that stage then went via boat to Fremantle, Australia, for the 3-day dash across the continent to Sydney. Reprint Porsche Panorama page 318 PORSCHE 4TH AND 15TH IN LONDON-SYDNEY MARATHON 1968
Two Porsche 911s, prepared by the factory in Stuttgart, achieved 4th and 15th positions overall in the 10,000 mile London-Sydney Marathon while competing against an army of escort personnel and hundreds of engineer-types supporting dozens of factory drivers and their cars. Huschke von Hanstein and 3 mechanics supported the teams of Zasada/Wachowski and Herrmann/Schuller in Australia. The special prize L2000 for the fastest team on the Australian continent (similar prize was awarded for London-Bombay) was won by Zasada/Wachowski with their 911S. Herrmann/Schuller, with an early model 911, won the highly contested battle for best private entry. Their car has had a full life of competition having previously been driven in the East Africa Safari, the 84-hour Marathon de la Route on the Nurburgring, and the Spa 24-Hour Race. The finish positions appeared to be predictable when the cars were just hours and a few hundred kilometres from Sydney. Clark/Andersson in their Ford were just a few minutes off the pace of the Belgium/French entry of Bianchi/Ogier in their Citroen, with the German Ford entry of Stapelaere/Lampinent a close third. Suddenly each of the top 3 were in trouble. While driving along a short straight the Citroen met head on with an unattentive Mini. It took half an hour of working with the cutting torch in order to free Bianchi from the passenger seat. He was taken to hospital with a broken leg and facial injuries. The Clark/Andersson Ford entry, having overcome engine problems, was bothered with rear axle difficulties and fell to tenth place. The German Ford 20 M RS entry had a chance for the overall win, but he attack of bad luck for the top runners was not yet completed. In one of the last curves Stapleaere reached for something and the Ford landed on its roof. The car was no longer driveable. The unexpected last minute overall winner was the British Hillman Hunter driven by 31 year old Cowan and 2 co-pilots Coyle/Malkin. A BMC 1800 MkII driven by Hopkirk, also with two co-pilots Nash/Poole, came in second in front of the Australian entry of Vaughan/Forsythe/Ellis with a fac-tory 5-litre Ford Falcon. Just 1 minute behind arrived the Porsche team Zasada/Wachowski and thus placed fourth. Zasada had permanent bad luck. After damage to the brake pipes and a flat tyre in one of the special stages in Turkey, he had been waiting at one of the time controls for his ideal time, not aware that the local time had been changed again for half an hour. Australia has 4 different local times. Thus he got 2 penalty minutes and lost his third place. The same bad luck hit Herrmann/Schuller. Hodgson/Rutherford behind the wheel of a Ford Falcon placed fifth, and in sixth place Aaltonen/LiddonEaster in the BMC 1800 Mk II. In seventh position arrived the first German team Kleint/Klapproth in a Ford 20 M RS, and in ninth place the last remaining Citroen with Neyret/Terramorsi and in tenth place at last the unlucky team Clark/Andersson, Ford Lotus Cortina. Second of the privately entered cars and seventh overall placed were three captains of the English army, Barker/Dollar/Lewis, behind the wheel of a Mercedes 280S.
[Reprint from “Porsche Panorama” pge 317] NEW LIFE IN AUSTRALIA At the completion of the London to Sydney Marathon, Edgar sold the car to Alan Hamilton.The car was con verted to right-hand drive by Alan Hamilton at the end of 1968 and re-registered KGY-260. Several National and State Rallies were entered in 1969 under the banner of “Porsche Distributors” and crewed by Victorians, Tony Roberts and Mike Osborne. In November of that year and still sporting part of the original kangaroo guard, the car continued to display the sheer strength of the chassis (which had been totally seam-welded in bronze) by running in the inaugural Rallycross Meeting at Calder Park in the State of Victoria. In 1970 the “Ampol Around Australia” Rally was conducted and Alan Hamilton and co-driver Bill Flatman again put the car through its paces. The car was re-sprayed an interesting shade of green for this event, sponsored by Edgel, and nicknamed “Sweet Pea”. Also in 1970 the car again changed hands to an employee of Porsche Distributors, Clem Watts, and was partly restored to standard interior specifications. In 1971 the car again changed owners and was purchased by Michael Stillwell (son of the famous Australian Racing Car Champion Bib Stillwell). Michael did very little to the car and used it as a “means of transport”. At the end of 1972 Sean Walsh, a past Rally Driver and Navigator, purchased the car and further restored the interior to standard specifications, installing a heater, carpets and standard dash.
In 1986 the car was discovered by the current owner, Philip Bernadou, in a corner of a body shop where it had been laid to rest after being involved in an accident some 6 years earlier. The car was stripped back to bare metal and re-sprayed in the original “Monte Carlo” red (paint No. 018). Mechanically, the car was completely stripped and re-built. In excess of Aus$40,000 was spent on the restoration including:
* new Koni shock absorbers to Rally specifications
Since 1987 the car has competed in all aspects of motor sport. While competing in all rounds of the newly developed Porsche Cup racing Series from 1987 to 1991, the car also took part in Porsche Club of Victoria activities including motorkhanas, Hill climbs, and autocross events winning numerous trophies for class and outright placings. The vehicle stills competes on a regular basis in Historic Rallies and Hill Climbs. The original 2 litre motor is currently being rebuilt to the original 2 Litre S specifications.
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SPECIFICATIONS Body
1967 911T A series Coupe Engine
Engine No: 908058 Gear Box
Close ratio 901 S Type
EVENT HISTORY
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Philip Bernadou
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