LE MANS miniatures Porsche 935 n°40 3rd Le Mans 1977

JMS Racing Team
N°40 : Claude Ballot-Lena & Peter Gregg
3rd place

Specifications :

• Body  : Polyurethan resin
• Injected chassis plate
• Sidewinder motor mount
• Polyurethan painting
• “Slot-it” side winder spur gear
• Aluminum turned rims
• Injected tires
• Weight : 98 g

Porsche, 1976 Le Mans winner finds itself in 1977 back in front of Renault which comes in Le Mans to win.

Norbert Singer is the engineer responsible for the 935 project. Many modifications can be decided for the 77 version according to the new regulations. The most visible difference is on the rear hood completely transformed by an entirely new glass fiber tail covering the standard body including the aerofoil, which extended to the maximum overhang allowed by the rules.

For Le Mans in ’77, the factory again concentrates its efforts on the pair of Martini 936s. While the 936 car number 3 retires during the fourth hour, the 936 car number 4 of Barth/Haywood was joined by Jacky Ickx makes an exceptional rise which ends by a final suspense less than half an hour before the end.

The factory enters 935/77 fitted with a twin turbochargers engaged for Stommelen and Schurti suffers an oil leak when hunting Jabouille’s Renault A442 and must stop to repair. It goes down at the bottom of the ranking. After three hours racing the team comes back to the 18th position but another blow head gasket is broken and the car is out in the 4th hour.

JMS Racing bought one of the 13 replicas of the 76 Porsche 935 built by the factory for independent racing teams for the Group 5 FIA season. It enters as well as one Porsche 934, car number 56. Five Porsche 935 take the start in Le Mans including one entered by the German Factory.

Both decoration of 934 and 935 entered by JMS Racing are the same. We can notice the inspiration about the transparency. In fact we can see the outline of a sitting driver on both sides of cars as if we could see through the body such as technical parts of the car and its frame. In the same spirit Porsche car number 58 entered by Kremer Racing has the same kind of decoration with a sitting driver in suit to remind one of its ready-to-wear sponsorship “Burton”.

Besides the grid of the rear wing, we can notice new rounded lights on the front bumper and additional headlamps, the safety locks have been modified such as the lights for car number on the doors. The sliding side driver window is in two parts.

Despite they have troubled run ; they have to change the turbo, breaks problems, the teammates Ballot-Lena and Gregg still manage to cover 2 676.57 miles averaging 111.52 m.p.h finishing  3rd overall, and 1st in Group 5.

The 934 car number 56 is also among the 21 arrivals on the 55 engaged cars finishing 19th overall and 3rd of Group 4. As well as two straights that damage the car and give a lot of work to mechanics, they must change the turbo too.