Very first Porsche 935 Martini looks for new owner

This is the very first 935 Porsche built, in 1976. And chassis #001, raced as a factory entry in famous Martini colours, is now looking for a new owner. Gooding & Company offers this incredible piece of Porsche history for sale.

With the 935, Porsche opened a new chapter in the world championship of makes in 1976. Porsche engineer Norbert Singer made the most of the liberal Group 5 ruleset to create a 911 turbo race car that would utterly crush the competition.

Flatnose

Most famous of all was Singer’s plan to relocate the headlights, altering the iconic face of the 911 in the search for less wind resistance. It was a controversial move that took some time before the sanctioning body officially allowed it. And it was seen on this car first. However, #935-001 was not born this way. When it first appeared, the first 935 looked more like an evolved version of the 934. The extended wheel arches at the rear were not yet present, for instance, and the rear wing was of a different type.

Testing

All through December 1975, this chassis was used to finetune Porsche’s new super weapon, capable of producing 590 hp without stressing the engine too much. Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx took care of most of the testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, with additional stints by Manfred Schurti and Hurley Haywood. Already during testing, Singer tried-out new body types and new wings. At the end of testing, #935-001 amassed close to 3000 km (1860 miles). During one of the tests, Tyrrell was also on the track with Jody Scheckter in the six-wheeled P34. On the straight, with a bit of extra boost, Jochen Mass was able to pull away from the Formula 1.

Watkins Glen

Porsche prepared chassis #935-002 for the start of the 1976 racing season, and would blow the competition away. Chassis #935-001 was raced for the first time at the Watkins Glen Six Hours with Schurti and Rolf Stommelen. The pair set fastest lap and took the race win. This chassis had one more race outing, at the Dijon Six Hours, where Stommelen and Schurti drove it to third. Porsche took the world championship.

For 1977, Porsche moved to the 935/77 evolution and sold chassis #935-001 to Vasek Polak in the US. He kept the car for twenty years. The chassis went through different US caretakers afterwards. Under its current owner, the Drendel Family Collection, the 935 was the subject of a full restoration. It now stands in the livery it used for the Watkins Glen race, and won best race car restoration at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours of Elegance. Porsche only ever built eight works Martini 935s, in different shapes and forms (Baby, Moby Dick,…).

More on #935-001 here.