Cars with history: the first Porsche 911 in racing

It was 1966, and the Porsche 911 had been on the market for less than two years. At the time, an American racing driver named Jack Ryan bought a 1966 Porsche 911 for personal use, but he later realised how capable the most famous of the Porsche models was and thought it would be a great idea to enter it in a race.

And so, the first Porsche 911 entered in a motor race was born. In those years it was not so difficult to compete in events as important as the 24 Hours of Daytona, although it was the first time a 911 was going to start a race. But the Germans did not want the 911 to compete because it had never done so before, and because they did not know what would happen to the car in a 24-hour race or how the result would affect the image of their new sports car and the good name of Porsche.

Halfway through the race, Ryan and his team of three drivers were leading their class, and the faces of the works team’s Germans went from anger to astonishment. Around the midpoint of the race, Huschke von Hanstein, head of Porsche’s competition department, promised the car all the official support that could possibly be given.

The 911 started the race from position 39 on the grid and finished first in its class (GT 2.0), 130 laps behind the leader, a Porsche 906 from the works team. From that day onwards, thousands of 911s have been entered in races of every kind, and this model has left a profound mark on the history of the Stuttgart company.

Technical specifications of this car

CoupePorsche 91119 versions · from 157,835 €