LE MANS miniatures Porsche Carrera RSR Le Mans 1973

Choose a version :

• N°46 : Gijs van Lennep & Herbert Mueller
  4th place
• N°47 : Reinhold Joest & Claude Haldi
  Abandon the seventh hour (out of gas)

Specifications :

• Body made of polyurethan resin
• Two-colored paint metal grey and fluorescent orange or yellow
• Injected chassis, engine support and tires
• Side wider engine
• Weight : 99 g

1973 is the edition of the fiftieth anniversary of 24 Heures du Mans. Matra, winner titular faces Ferrari, the World Champion. Porsche is not of member of favorites but well wishes to get out while the going is good.

After the 917’s elimination of the World Championship of the marks, Porsche who wishes to maintain his presence in the European competitions decides to develop more extensively the 911 to let it compete for the European GT Championship. To reach this purpose it is necessary to lose some 100 Kg, to add additional horsepower, to put wider tires to compete the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 and the De Tomaso Pantera. It is these specifications which gave birth in Carrera RS 2.7 launched on the market by the end of 1972, fitted for the first time with wider rear tires than front and with the rear spoiler that looked like a tail of duck to reduce the unballasting.

This Carrera RS was the basis of the race version « RSR ». The factory committed in a group 4 in numerous test events to glean teachings for the future. We shall speak about this car as about a rolling laboratory. In front the body is equipped with a lower front bumper than on cars series. To gain weight, doors and lids are in polyester and the rest of the body is in steel. The tail of duck rear spoiler is replaced by the Marie Stuart’s skirt, more captivating to balance the effects of the front bumper.

The factories Porsche Carrera RSR are aligned under the colors of Martini Racing. They arrived in Le Mans after the Targa Florio victory. Relieved in 880 kg, with special bodies and propelled by a 3l engine developing more than 300 horsepower, the two Carrera RSR car numbers 46 and 47 entered by the factory are in the same “Sport” category as Matra 670B and Ferrari 312PB.

The brand is the most important delegation since on the 55 starters, 15 are Porsche brand. The official team comes in Le Mans with the only 2 existing Carrera RSR, 9 other Carrera are RS version entered by private teams.

The instruction of the Porsche Director for the official drivers is clear and contrary to the wishes of the team manager, Norbert Singer: “go flat-out” to reduce the gap increased because a lower top speed to improve the comfort to drive.

18th on the starting grid, the fastest RSR car number 46 plays its role marvelously; its drivers show a surprising speed and a regularity. At mid-race the car is in 5th position and ends at the foot of the podium in the immediate trail of the real “Sport” Matra MS670B car number 11 which takes the victory after a relentless battle with Ferraris 312PB which end 2nd and 3rd positions.

Concerning its twin-sister car number 47, its fate is less enviable because Reinhold Joest has to give up during the 7th hour racing on lack of gas. The light on the dashboard indicating the level of fuel would not be on… or he did not see it? To avoid this kind of bad surprise Porsche developed a spare system of gasoline.