1978 Porsche 924

Porsche 924 chassis No. 9248.105546 was used from new by AFN Ltd to compete in the 1978 Porsche 924 Championship. AFN were the driving force behind the 924 Championship in an attempt to demonstrate the 924's sporting qualities. Their car was registered as "AFN 18" and was driven by Nick Faure using race number 18. It finished 4th in the series.

AFN had one car at the start of the season, for Nick Faure, but later there were two when Win Percy also drove for them. Win Percy finished 5th in the Championship and Nick Faure was 8th. Thanks to the combined results of those two cars, at the end AFN was 4th in the Martini trophy for entrants.

Win Percy drove AFN 18 when Nick Faure was on holiday and clearly got on with it and more importantly the AFN folk. So they prepared a car for him to compete for the rest of the season, in car number 20.

The championship lasted only one year so the car was used in just a few races in 1979, in one of which Tony Dron drove it in the AFN Porsche Trophy race at Castle Combe in May 1979, finishing 3rd overall behind two 911s, and 1st in class. According to Motoring News and Autosport, he gave the second-placed 911 Carrera a really hard time (the 924 was well balanced and handled well, thus compensating for its modest power). It's probable that he drove AFN 18 in this race, and Hugh Leventon, a subsequent owner, believes that to be the case.

In June 1979 AFN 18 was used along with a 'Q' car from Gordon Lamb Porsche to attack the British speed and endurance records. The long circuit at Snetterton was used as this was the only venue at the time to allow night-time running. The car, driven by Tony Dron, Andy Rouse, and Win Percy, covered over 2,000 kilometres in 24 hours at an average speed of 77.31mph, in the process winning The Commander's Cup from Ford.

"From Chain Drive to Turbocharger - the AFN Story" by Denis Jenkinson features the car on page 190 where he shows a picture of the Commander's Cup, Andy Rouse, Win Percy and Tony Dron, the car and Commander Heseltine himself. That car was still registered AFN 18. It was then put to rest in AFN's workshop for the next 12 years, appearing only on a few occasions to take part in events such as the Beaujolais Run.

In 1992 it was bought by Alan Sawyer (and re-registered as BLF 96S) to compete in the new 924 Championship, being driven by Alan Sawyer and Richard Lloyd. It also raced in all rounds of the '93 and '94 Hankook 924 Championship, driven by Hugh Leventon who took second place in the Championship.

In late 1996, the car reappeared as a hill-climb car, running in the Porsche Club Autofarm Speed Championship in the hands of George Niblett and David Strange. It was later owned and run by David Strange alone, who came 3rd overall and 2nd in class in the 1998 Championship and 4th overall and 2nd in class in 1999.

In 1998, the car was restored to its original AFN livery in recognition of its continuous motorsport history. In addition to being featured in Dennis Jenkinson's history of AFN "From chain drive to turbocharger", it also appears in Michael Cotton's book "A Collector's Guide, Porsche 924 and 944", "Porsche, A History of Excellence" by Mike McCarthy, and in Jonathan Woods' book "Porsche the Legend".

It has been laid up (SORNed) since 2001, although it was briefly recommissioned in 2013 and again - with a new MOT - in October 2017. It still has the original engine today and the odometer reads 19,733 miles, which is believed to be correct. The vast majority of those miles have clearly been on track and today it is a unique part of Porsche history.