The 962 in 1984

[H16]

I know one raced at Daytona in 1984 but if the Porsche factory had not pulled out of Le Mans, would they have raced the 962 there as well. One did race, without too much success, didn't it?

What caused Porsche to withdraw in 84 anyway? Didn't really matter that much, Porsche's still dominated the field.

[Marshal]

Wasn't the '84 962 the IMSA version of the 956, and the 962C became the Group C car when the rules changed to mandate that the drivers feet had to be behind the front axle line?

If a 962 did race at Le Mans in '84 (sorry, can't remember off the top of my head) it probably wouldn't have been particularly competetive, as it always seemed that the IMSA GTP cars were at a significant disadvantage when running at Le Mans against the Group C Cars (was that down to fuel tank size?) The Group 44 Jaguars seemed to suffer the same way.

[jimclark]

There were two, neither classified as a finisher. Entered by Preston Henn (USA) which qualified 27th, and John Fitzpatrick, 16th. Interestingly, each also had a 956 entered with which they finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Thanks for the excuse to take a look back, I always like to revisit the good times.

[fausto]

It's just interesting to remember that of the two Le Mans '84 962s only the Preston Henn car was original, this being a factory IMSA GTP customer car, complete with the single turbo-two valve engine and the ugly tail.
JFR made an hybrid mating the "front" of the 962 to a 956 "Group C" engine and long tail, thus anticipating the works....