1966 Porsche 911 SWB competition

When Porsche introduced their 911 model in 1963 the sports car market throughout the world was taken aback by its great looks, light weight, advanced engineering and outstanding performance and handling. The early cars featured a short wheelbase chassis and a smooth 'flat 6 Boxer' engine, of 2.0-litre capacity, that gave the car excellent performance. This was enhanced at the end of '65/early '66 by the introduction of the 'S' variant which gave 158BHP, as well as larger brakes, Fuchs alloy wheels and a close ratio 5-speed gearbox.

This particular car is a 1965/1966 short wheelbase version of the 911 2.0 litre, that has great provenance having been previously owned by noted driver, Alain Schlesinger. He had the car originally prepared for competition by Jacques Bourgoin and subsequently run and maintained by Courage Motorsport in France. Subsequently, it has been driven by some outstanding French drivers in historic racing, including Jacques Laffite, Gerard Larousse, Bernard Darniche and Jean-Claude Andruet.

More recently its highly experienced UK vendor has raced it on Tour Britannia and in several UK historic races with professional maintenance throughout. The engine is a low mileage 2.0 litre Courage prepared unit running on Weber carburettors coupled to a smooth '901' type dog-leg 5-speed gearbox and lsd. The car has a recent multipoint cage and a 100 litre ATL bag tank, both fitted in 2012, and both FFSA and FIA HTP papers which are currently being updated. The car weighs just 1002 Kgs and is competitive in its class.

The Porsche Certificate of Authenticity confirms that the car was actually built in May '66, although it runs to '65 spec for FIA purposes. These rare early short wheelbase 911s are very desirable for use in competition now, including at Goodwood, and this is an excellent and well-prepared example.