1972 Porsche 911 ST Homage

By the end of 1971 the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 battles were over and the 5.0 litre (‘big bangers’) had been replaced by a 3.0 litre formula for sports racing cars. Porsche now realised that the development of the 911 for GT racing had become excitingly urgent.

So in 1972, the Porsche racing department developed the 911 S into a lightweight 2.5 litre Group 4 FIA GT racing car – the 911 S-R 2.5, or more commonly known today as the 911 2.5 ST.

Over an eight month period, the Porsche factory built just twenty-six of these special racing cars, which were offered to private teams to compete in Group 4 FIA events. The M491 option was a lightweight / full competition-prepared designation, similar in spec to the RS-R which came the following year.

The 2.5 S-R was in fact the 1st FULL race-specified and fully homologated Group 4 car, which could be bought directly from the Porsche factory racing department.

Built on the perfect balance of dreams and great handcraft skills, not even the sky was the limit when two good friends Clyde Boyer and Werk1’s David Belford came together to create a special project that would go down in the Australian sports car history books. With the 911 ST unobtainable, the duo set out to create something quite unique and as faithfully as possible to the real deal.

Sourced and used as the platform is an original LHD 1972 911 T delivered in the factory colour of Viper Green new by Joe Heishman’s in Silver Spring, Maryland USA. The reason of choice were for a number of key reasons, the year of car, only the ST came out in LHD and Viper Green was Clyde’ number 1 preference of colour.

The build took a careful 11 years to complete with the being body was totally stripped down and treated to perfection. Hand-formed aluminium wide-body guards are fitted along with the engine lid and door skins. Front fibreglass fenders and bonnet are also fitted making the car extremely light at less than 900kg plus everything else under the skin like the suspension, brakes, oil lines and coolers all have been attended to ensuring a tight crisp package.

The motor is a work of art. Based of the 911 S, with the correct upgrades to match the specifications of the 26 original cars. The original 911 ST came with mechanical fuel injection out of the factory however it was near impossible to find the correct pump so Clyde and David went for 46mm IDA Webers which are exactly what most of the 911 ST race cars had fitted during the glory days of racing due to tuning and performance capabilities. Completed, the power plant produces an incredible 265 hp, which is delivered in such a strong yet smooth roar that it is like a perfectly tuned musical instrument.

Opening the history, the original leather wallet is found holding papers and delivery cards showing the 911 T’s early life from new. A USB holding a large number of photos of the entire restoration also give for great viewing pleasure on those rainy days spent inside.

Walking towards the car from a distance, the wide body stance just erupts all excitement within and as you open the door and find original 72’ Recaro seats bolted in and that classic 4-spoke steering wheel, you know this machine means business. Turn the key, place it in first and then I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.