<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Two cars were ready in time for the season opening races at Mugello and Vallelunga and with back to back wins the 935 looked set to become an instant success. It all changed dramatically when the sport's governing body asked whether the original 930 engine cover would still fit as required by the rules. The big intercooler prevented this and until a solution was found, the 935 was not allowed to race. A quick fix was the installation of the intercoolers fitted on the 934, but it took several races before that setup was made reliable. In the mean time BMW had been reeling in victories, but fortunately for Porsche, the revised 935s were ready in time to claim enough points to clinch the World Championship.
While assembling the first customer 935s late in 1976, Porsche was already busy developing the Works car for 1977 to defend the title. There were many detail changes to the running gear, suspension and aerodynamics, but what really set the 935/77 apart from its predecessor was the engine. Replacing the single large Turbocharger were two smaller KKK units. These were used with the aim of reducing Turbo lag and also saw performance increase to 630 bhp and 680 bhp at the end of the season. With the bugs fully ironed out there was very little the competition could do and the two-car Works team reigned supreme. One 935 was fielded at Le Mans, but was forced to retire fairly early on with a blown engine.
Following the previous year's pattern, Porsche produced customer racing cars following the proven specification, while working on a new development for the Works team. There were some minor changes to the 1978 customer cars compared to the World Championship winning 935/77 Works car though. To help reliability the engine size was increased slightly to just under three litres, which also meant that the minimum weight of the cars had to be hiked to 1025 kg. The twin-Turbocharged engine was good for 675 bhp, which was quite an increase over the 600 bhp achieved by single Turbo customer cars of 1977. A total of fifteen 1978 spec cars were built for customers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Ironically the only real opposition the 935/78 privateers faced in Group 5 was the latest Works version of the 935, commonly referred to as the 'Moby Dick'. Porsche recognized the situation and only fielded the amazing 750 - 850 bhp machine on very few occasions. The remaining races were disputed between the likes of Joest, Kremer, Konrad and Georg Loos. In particular the Loos car driven by Toine Hezemans proved to be highly successful that season. In 1978, the 935 won all eight rounds of the World Championship and 12 out of the 14 races in the American Imsa series. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Two cars were ready in time for the season opening races at Mugello and Vallelunga and with back to back wins the 935 looked set to become an instant success. It all changed dramatically when the sport's governing body asked whether the original 930 engine cover would still fit as required by the rules. The big intercooler prevented this and until a solution was found, the 935 was not allowed to race. A quick fix was the installation of the intercoolers fitted on the 934, but it took several races before that setup was made reliable. In the mean time BMW had been reeling in victories, but fortunately for Porsche, the revised 935s were ready in time to claim enough points to clinch the World Championship.