1% Efficiency Gain - Porsche 935 K3 #00017

The dominating sports car of the mid 70's to early 1980's was the Porsche 935, built for a set of regulations known as Group 5. The 935 was based around the Porsche 911, the works factory team developed three distinct versions in '76, '77 and '78 when the Moby Dick version marked the high tide of factory 935 development. Porsche also built a customer version of the 935 the 935/77A.

Meanwhile the Kremer Brothers set about developing their own 935, the K1, based on the Porsche 934 model, that was available for the technically less demanding Group 4 regulations in 1976. In 1977 the Kremer brothers acquired a customer 935 and in 1978 followed their own development path based on the 935/77A to develop the K2.



For 1979 their K3 model featured over 100 detail changes from the standard customer 935 '77 which included a lighter air to air intercooler in place of the hitherto ubiquitous air to water sytem, composite carbon fibre panels which saved 30 kgs / 62 lbs. The DM 400,000 K3 was thought to have been 1% more efficient than the standard customer 935 '77 which over an endurance distance of 6, 12 or 24 hours would accrue to a handy advantage.

The K3 scored the 935 models only win at Le Mans in the hands of the Klaus Ludwig and the Whittington Brothers Don and Bill and a string of customers were soon knocking on the Kremer Brothers door in Cologne asking for copies.



It is believed the Kremer Brothers built 13 K3's and supplied kits to update older 935 models. I have not managed to ascertain if this 935 K3 is one of the Kremer brothers built models or one built up from a kit around a donor car, it carries the paint work of a vehicle belonging to Ted Field that was raced by Ted, Danny Ongias and Milt Minter in the Daytona 24 hours that came in 3rd from 5th on the grid.

Canepa Design are known to have recently restored such a car and if as seems highly probable this is the same vehicle the chassis number of this vehicle is # 00017.

My thanks to URY914 at The Nostalgia Forum for confirming that this car may have been converted to Trans Am spec and entered by John Klug Racing in 1983 and to Geoffey Horton who kindly sent me these photos from Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance.

Thank you for joining me on this Interscope edition of Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', wishing you all a happy bank holiday Monday, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to to come back now !