Porsche 959 in Porsche world (2010).pdf
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March 2010
www.911porscheworld.com
CLUB SPORT
968 TAKES THE 911 RACE
CHALLENGE AND WINS
PLUS
GT3 UK FIRST DRIVE
ROAD AND TRACK TEST OF THE
BEST GT3 YET
2.7 RS BUYERS’ GUIDE
HOW TO BUY THE ULTIMATE 911 -
IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT THAT IS
968 DAMPER REFURB
BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO YOUR
SHOCKS: WE SHOW YOU HOW
PORSCHE 959
BACK TO THE
FUTURE WITH
PORSCHE’S ’80S
HIGH TECH SUPERCAR
£4.50
US$8.99 CANADA $12.95
No.192
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9 770959 878081
964 Vs 993 Vs 968
Illegal alien
The 959 was never approved for sale in the USA, but that hasn’t
stopped the cars from making their way across the pond against
all the odds. We went to California to find out more
Words: John Glynn Photography: James Lipman
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911 & PORSCHE WORLD
LEGALISING THE 959
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
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911 & PORSCHE WORLD
The 959 was Porsche’s ’80s
technical
tour de force,
and
stretched the familiar 911
shape almost beyond
recognition. It makes a
change to see one in
red, too!
world leader in automotive technology, the
959 utilised every ounce of brilliance within
Porsche R&D at the time. This realisation
of ultimate vehicle technology went on to
influence the evolution of the 911 bloodline for over
20 years, ensuring Porsche’s premier road car remained
capable of beating back whatever the competition
threw at it.
The car that would become the 959 was unveiled at
the 1983 Frankfurt Motor Show. The prototype, known
as the Group B Study, was a porthole into Porsche’s
thinking, featuring driver tools that later 911 drivers
now take for granted: four-wheel drive, a six-speed
transmission, double-wishbone suspension (with
variable ride height), run-flat tyres with on-board
pressure monitoring and a sequentially turbocharged
flat-six with water cooling.
In some ways, the 959 went against the Porsche
grain, as explained by Ferry Porsche in his
autobiography. ‘It is my personal opinion that an
engineer should always try to solve a problem in the
simplest way,’ said Herr Doctor, ‘but…technology is
capable of extraordinary achievements if it is allowed
the necessary freedom of manoeuvre. The Type 959 is
a good example of this.
‘The commercial side lays down certain limits
which have to be respected if one wishes to be
commercially successful,’ he continued. ‘Occasionally,
however, the engineer is permitted to realise his
dreams, at least to a certain extent. Only a limited
number (of 959s) were built, because of the price, but
the fact that this car was built and sold at all made it
possible for the engineers to introduce innovations
that may subsequently find their way into larger
production series.’
Two years after Frankfurt, Porsche announced the
introduction of the 959, a 200-unit homologation run
to legitimise the chassis for competition. An
introductory price of DM420,000 (£140,000) was no
deterrent, and the model soon sold out.
With a development cost estimated at over twice
the price per unit, retailing these cars was never going
to return a profit and, as Doctor Porsche said, it was
never intended to. R&D is a business cost, intended
to make future products more successful and more
profitable. But the absence of profit on the 959
made Porsche frugal when it came to the development
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911 & PORSCHE WORLD
B
uilt to showcase Porsche’s stature as a
LEGALISING THE 959
budget: every penny spent had to make sense.
Though deposits had been accepted from expectant
US Porsche enthusiasts, when the US Department of
Transportation requested four cars to crash test,
Stuttgart cast a parental eye over its technological
tour de force
and said ‘No’. Without National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) approval, the car
could not be sold or used in the USA.
Bill Gates was one of the first Americans to put
his hand up for a 959. News that the car would not
be allowed in the USA did not go down well in the
Microsoft camp. Nevertheless, Bill and his associate,
Paul Allen, shipped their cars to the west coast, where
their contraband was impounded, and reportedly
confined to a California warehouse for over ten years.
With no way to lawfully enjoy their 959s at home,
wealthy US owners set about changing the law for
their own benefit, and for others who wanted to run
rare, non NHTSA-certified cars in the USA.
Unsurprisingly, where media-shy billionaires are
concerned, how they did it is surrounded in subterfuge.
In 1990, a Seattle-based organisation called Vehicle
Technologies Incorporated launched an attempt to
import 959s and have them approved for the USA, an
effort which came to naught. Several years later, a
group calling itself the Special Vehicle Coalition, and
communicating via a political lobbyist, engaged in
discussion regarding proposed new legislation,
which would allow cars of note that were never sold
new in the USA to be imported as individually-owned
show exhibits.
The lengthy and no doubt expensive campaign
eventually paid off in 1998, with the arrival of the
‘Show and Display’ (S&D) law: restrictive legislation
allowing motoring landmarks like the 959 to be used on
US roads for up to 2500 miles a year.
S&D was a win, but it was not an exemption from
emissions testing. The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) requires all vehicles less than 21 years
old used on US roads to meet emissions and
evaporative standards for the year of manufacture.
Before it could be declared legal for road use, the 959
had to meet EPA standards.
Cars that were never approved for new sale in the
USA – but have since been brought into the country –
are known as ‘gray market’. Rather aptly, as the
conduct of many importers and converters has
proved to be more than a little shady. Until recently,
959s could only be imported via NHTSA-approved
importers, who were bound to have the EPA work done
before releasing the cars. A number of US workshops
have been credited with 959 federalisation – JK
Technologies in Baltimore and Wallace Laboratories
in Houston to name two of them – but the busiest
workshops are in California.
When it comes to emissions, California has always
been the toughest state in the Union, and converting
the 959 to conform to California dictat was far from
straightforward. For a start, the 959 was never sold
with catalytic converters, a requirement in the State
of California, nor was its Motronic brain programmed
to recognise an oxygen sensor. Strange, as the car
was built with the wiring harness and exhaust bung
for a sensor, and the ECU was constructed with the
circuit in mind.
If you’re thinking that this suggests that Stuttgart
left the option to fit the missing bits themselves, you
could be right. Factory kits were developed to fit the
errant sensors and cats, and convert the sequential
turbos to twin turbo. Rumour has it that these
modifications are in place on a number of US-based
cars. But, say the 959 cognoscenti, try ordering the
parts: it’s not as simple as you might think.
G&K in Santa Ana, California, was one of the first to
gain NHTSA and EPA approval for a 959 under the S&D
legislation. In September 2001, G&K, in partnership
with vehicle software developers, GIAC, converted
the first of many 959s to meet EPA and CA emissions
standards.
After modifying the code in the factory ECU to
activate and control the oxygen sensor circuit, GIAC
remapped the engine management, leaning out the
stock mixture before programming a timer into the
oxygen sensor circuit. G&K then added the oxygen
Above: The 959 wasn’t a
stripped-out homologation
special like its ’80s rival,
the Ferrari F40. Interior is
surprisingly luxurious. Roll
cage is a Canepa addition
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
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