Updated: 28th January 2009

Scale 1/24 Kit Manufacturer Tamiya Grade-up Parts Renaissance Scale Motorsport Year 1997 Driver Boutsen, Stuck & Wollek Event Le Mans 1997

1/24 Porsche 911 GT1

In 1995 Porsche debuted the 911 GT1, subsequently announcing that it would be competing in the 1996 Le Mans 24hr. In spite of its name, the car actually has very little in common with a traditional 911, in fact it's floorpan is derived from the 956/962 Group C car.
The GT1 is powered by a water colled and twin-turbocharged and inter-cooled four valve per cylinder flat-six, mid mounted and making about 600 hp (450 kW).

The new vehicle was an instant success at Le Mans, winning the GT1 class at its debut race, although it lost the overall victory to Joest Racing 's Porsche WSC-95 prototype.

The 911 GT1;s debut was at the BPR Global GT Series at Brands Hatch, where Hans-Joachim Stuck and Thierry Boutsen won comfortably. They followed up by winning at Spa and Ralph Kelleners and Emmanuel Collard triumphed for the factory team at Zhuhai. The '96 GT1 was clocked at a top speed of exactly 330 km/h (205 mph) on the legendary Mulsanne Straight in the practice sessions of the 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours Race (presumably on a low downforce setup).

The car was in effect Porsche's answer to the McLaren and it was to change the face of GT racing forever. Perhaps the factory hoped that road-going cars, modified to race, would really be the answer, but the McLaren was so far ahead of anything else for the road that desperate measures were called for.

These measures resulted in the 911 GT1. First raced at Le Mans, they came tantilisingly close to taking victory in the 24 hours and were so successful in subsequent BPR races that the FIA imposed draconian restrictions on turbocharged cars for 1997.

This build is going to be another full detail build and I have the Renaissance transkit plus the Scale Motorsport etch and C/F decals sets.

The complete build diary is over at Automotive Forums.

Progress & Completed pics