CAR: 1971 PORSCHE 914-4
Motor: Harold Broughton and John Caldwell, Ginther racing 1.7 liter type IV motor
FUEL: Race Gas
Transmission: 901 with ZF limited slip
In 1972, Jo Hoppen, the director of Motorsports for VW and Porsche | Audi, approached Richie Ginther (Former Formula One driver and mechanic, sports car racer, and Carrera Pan America winner) to prepare a 914 for the 1972 American Road Race Championship, and to develop a kit and an article to help club racers build a competitive car. Ginther, and his ace mechanic Harold Broughton, built one car taking their knowledge from their C production 914-6’s raced by Elliott Forbes Robinson and Alan Johnson.
The car was finished just in time to make enough national events to qualify for the 1972 E production run-offs.
Races entered prior to the American Road Race Championship.
Riverside International Raceway National 5-27-1972
Race Finish - 4th
Laguna Seca Raceway, Olympia Sprints, National 6-23-1972
Qualifying - 1st EP
Race Finish - 1st EP Riverside International Raceway Regional 7-15-1972
Qualifying - 1st EP
Race Finish - 1st EP
Riverside International Raceway Regional 8-19-1972
Qualifying - 1st EP
Race Finish - DNF (lead race overall)
Willow Springs International Raceway National 9-16-1972
Riverside International Raceway Regional 9-23-1972
Phoenix International Raceway National 9-29-1972
National Points 1972 South Pacific Division
The car received a lot of notice when it made a visit to Northern California at Garretson’s, the car attracted a lot of interest from local racers, and sparked the creation of several copycats the following season.
Panorama
Porsche had an article published in the 1972 Panorama discussing how to build such a car. Ginther sold parts to several teams to create copy cat cars. Later Bill Yates took over Ginther's stock and sold the wind screens and suspension item for some years.
Images of the car from Porsche Panorama 1972 (how to guide)
The 1972 ARRC
The car arrived at Atlanta the week before the American Road Race Championships. The team had three cars, and EFR, the driver, was competing in three classes—CP, EP, and SuperVee. In practice, the car and driver immediately proved they were in the hunt but the real proof came in qualifying. In qualifying the car broke the track record and was seconds faster than the field.
In the race EFR simply pulled away in the rain-soaked race. The rain was unexpected—so unexpected that the team hastily placed the rain tires on right before the race without any measurements. This would become an issue after the race. EFR ended up winning by a huge margin. After the race, and after Richie, and Elliott received the trophy and accolades, the car was disqualified because the rear track was a quarter inch too wide. Kas Kastner strikes again.
SCCA Official Race Results
Here are images of the car at Road Atlanta 1972
Images of the car during the race
Note the tiny rain tires.
SCCA Sportscar Magazine February 1973
Here is the article that ran on the ARRC in February 1973 with a view slanted in Ginther's favor.
Races entered after the American Road Race Championship.
The car then transfered ownership to Pete Sones who negotiated to buy the car at the ARRC. Pete had a “Holman Moody” roll cage installed and was unable to match EFR’s speed, which led to EFR coming out to drive the car. EFR drove the car and sure enough, it was slower. EFR felt that the car was too heavy due to the roll-cage.
Petes Sones 1972-1975
Palm Beach International Raceway National 3-17-1973
Virginia International Raceway National 4-7-1973
Road Atlanta Raceway Regional 5-17-1973
Savannah Raceway National 5-26-1973
Sun State GP 7-23-1973
Blackhawk National 8-17-1973
Palm Beach International Raceway National 9-1-1973
Savannah Raceway National 9-14-1973
Summit Point Raceway National 9-21-1973
Savannah Raceway Regional 3-30-1974
Palm Beach International Raceway Regional 4-6-1973
Palm Beach International Raceway Regional 5-4-1973
Savannah Raceway National 5-25-1974
Road Atlanta National 6-7-1974
Road Atlanta National 7-5-1974
Road Atlanta National 8-11-1974
Cajun Grand Prix 8-31-1974
Palm Beach International Raceway National 2-2-1975
Gainesville National 5-4-1975
Savannah Raceway National 5-25-1975
Road Atlanta National 7-19-1975
The Car at Road Atlanta in 1973 with the New "Holman-Moody" Roll Cage
Kendall 1976-87
The car was then sold to Mr Kendall in Florida, who raced it in SCCA and we believe changed the color to blue. Kendall then sold it to Pete Denton in Florida.
Pete Denton. 87-88
Pete Denton used the car for PCA time trials. We bought the car from Pete.
Frank Racing
The Frank Family club raced the car from 1989-1990 in SCCA regionals.
1999 PCRRC
An image of the car at the 1999 Pacific Coast Road Racing Championships, with Trevor driving. Still with original, crankshaft, connecting rods, cam, shocks, 911R wheels and transmission from 1972
In 1991 we started restoring the car. And now vintage race the car in Northern California
