PORSCHE 959
The PORSCHE 959
With twin turbos and water-cooled, twin-cam, four-valve heads (but only modest tune), it produced 400bhp. It used a six-speed gearbox, complex, electronically controlled four-wheel drive (with viscous centre coupling and driver- controllable torque split), race bred brakes and all-wishbone suspension. When development was complete Porsche planned to build the necessary 200 cars (mostly, of course, as road cars) and go racing and rallying in 1985. Part one came to pass, part two didn't.
In 1984 the Gruppe B became type 959 and gained additional cooling vents, bigger wheels and tyres with a deflation -sensing system, and even more exotic engine, transmission and suspension specs - the latter including adjustable ride height and damping. Some testing was done in competition, with three 3-litre 9111959 hybrids in the 1984 Paris-Dakar. Although de-tuned and using simplified four-wheel drive (all for reliability) Rene Metge's example won the event. It was one high spot amid many problems.
Development was slowed by the complexity of the four-wheel drive and variable suspension systems, and by strikes in the German industry. Production plans slipped, initially from 1984 to April 1985 at planned prices of DM420,000 for the road cars or DM650,000 for the competition version (officially type 961). Of the three four-wheel-drive, 959-bodied, Carrera engined cars entered in the 1985 Paris-Dakar, two crashed and one succumbed to oil-pump failure. The schedule continued to slip and Group B itself was scrapped after a spate of fatal accidents during 1985 and 1986. The 959 still wasn't production-ready but Porsche had invested so much time and money that it saw the project through, and the run finally started in 1987. The production 959 had a 2849cc flat-six with four cams, titanium conrods and four sodium-filled valves per cylinder in water-cooled heads. There were two water-cooled turbos, two intercoolers and electronic boost control which had the two turbos blowing in sequence above 4500rpm. Power and torque peaks were 450bhp and 3691b It, and with driver-selectable transmission modes (for conditions from tarmac to ice), continuously variable automatic torque splits, self-levelling suspension with stiffness and ride-height selectabiity, and massive ABS-equipped brakes, all the performance was usable most of the time. In the Comfort version you could have air-con, leather trim and superb equipment levels; the Sport had a little less luxury and a bit less weight but both versions had maxima within a couple of mph either side of 200 ,0-60 and 0-100 times of around 3.7 and 8.3 seconds, and impeccable manners. As we said after diving the 959, through any kind of corner, on any surface, the car is simply better than the driver. Yet it is so blisteringly fast from corner to corner, through and away, that you will never want for excitement. It remains one of the all-time greats.
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