Spirit Announces New Addition to LeMans Classic Range

Spirit Hobby Models of Spain have announced the addition of the Porsche 936/81 Group 6 Prototype to their range of LeMans Classique sports racers.

The mechanical specifications of the slot car are expected to be the same as Spirit’s currently available Porsche 936/76 which features “calibrated components".

The first livery will be the 1981 LeMans 24 Hours winning 936-003 of Jacky Ickx and Derek “Dinger” Bell. This car and driver combination was able to dominate the race, finishing 14 laps ahead of second place.

After the victory celebration was over, 936-003 was lovingly restored to pristine condition and retired to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, where it is on display.

Interestingly- the /81 specification was originally intended to allow the Porsche engineers a “real world” test bed for their new twin-turbo engine… no one was more surprised than Porsche themselves when this chassis which traces its roots to the 908 series ultimately won the race!

The sister factory car, 936-001, literally was removed from the Porsche Museum “1977 LeMans Winning Car” display, updated to the /81 specification and finished a creditable 12th. In addition to regular Porsche factory drivers, Jochen Mass, Vern Schuppan and Hurley Haywood, ovalmeister Rick Mears was listed as a reserve driver for 936-001 (race number 12) but the eventual 4-time Indy “500″ winner never was called on to drive in the event.

The main difference between the 1978-1980 Porsche 936/78 and the 936/81 was the engine change to what would become the 956’s 2650 cc twin-turbo flat-six. This was the start of an incredible 7 years in a row where Porsche sports cars, powered by this family of engines originally penned for the stillborn Porsche Indy car, dominated the 24 Hours of LeMans and continued winning endurance races into the 1990’s.

The 936 carried on the tradition of Porsche being the car to beat in endurance racing; and it is entirely correct to say that the 936 was the true link between the success of the Porsche 917 and the Porsche 962. Something that blows my mind is that the record shows a Porsche 917 qualified for and competed in the 1981 LeMans 24 Hours- which is an awesome testament to the longevity of that line of racing prototype cars!

Only four 936 Chassis were constructed by Porsche; the 4th chassis being a “Customer” car for a very special customer indeed: Reinhold Joest was able to attain a podium position in the first outing with 936-004 (which for official purposes was listed as a 908) in 1978, teamed with the Dynamic Duo of Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood. Joest nearly won LeMans outright with 936-004 in 1980; instead he and Ickx finished second- only 2 laps down from the winner due to a tactical error. This was Joest’s last appearance at LeMans as a driver- devoting his talent to unparalleled team management and tactics.

Team Joest continued to run 936-004 at LeMans with success until 1982 when it was no longer eligible for LeMans due to the implementation of the “Group C” regulations by the ACO.

936-004 continued to compete in the Internationale Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) piloted in the 1982 season by “Brilliant Bob” Wollek and in 1983 by Leopold von Bayern. 936-004 appeared in the DRM in both the colorful Warsteiner Beer and Vegla Cigarette liveries.

The Kremer brothers campaigned a self-sponsored white with red striped 936/81 “copy” (based on technical drawings and data provided by Porsche) dubbed 936-005 in some rounds of the 1982 DRM driven by Rolf Stommelen and Stefan Bellof. This car was unique in that Kremer had relocated the side coolers of the 936/81 to above the turbo intercooler- thus making the large NACA ducts on the side of the /81 redundant. The slab-sided look of the Kremer 936-005 strongly hinted to the final design of the Porsche 956 Group C car which would end up finishing 1-2-3 in the 1982 LeMans 24 Hour Race.

Mechanical differences aside, the SERA-design bodywork is fundamentally identical between the /78 and /81; this happy coincidence allows Spirit many liveries that can be applied to their 1/32 molds- including the 1978 LeMans “Martini", the 1979 LeMans “Essex” and the “Lui” and “Kremer” versions as seen in the DRM.

Let’s hope that this slot car sells well enough for Spirit to justify creating the somewhat different appearing 936-001 /77 specification which was able to win the 1977 LeMans 24 Hours at the hands of Jürgen Barth, Hurley Haywood, and Jacky Ickx.

Expect the 1981 LeMans Winning “Jules” version to be on your dealer shelves in mid-November as stock number 801601, price dependent on the exchange value of the US Dollar.

Written by Vincent Vega