1975 Porsche 930 Turbo - Le Mans Class-winner
The Road Car That Conquered Le Mans - and the first Turbocharged Porsche ever to win its class at Le Mans.
In early 1975, a white Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 sat under the bright lights of the Geneva Motor Show 1975. It was one of the very first production Turbos ever built - chassis 9305700023 (in special "exhibition show car" spec with McLaughlan tartan seats) - and to most people, it was simply a glimpse into the future of fast road cars. No one could have imagined that within months, this very same car would be winning its class in the world's greatest endurance race.
After the show, the car was delivered to Switzerland to its first owner, Max Kläy, through the Haberthür garage, a well-known Porsche dealership with a racing background. At the time, the Haberthür team was preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1975, planning to enter two purpose-built 911 RSR race cars. But shortly before the event, one of those cars was unexpectedly sold. Suddenly, the team had a problem - one driver line-up, but no car.
The solution was as bold as it was unlikely. Kläy agreed to lend his brand new 930 Turbo. What followed was a frantic and inventive transformation from road car to Le Mans racer. Drivers Claude Haldi and Peter Zbinden, alongside mechanic Roger Lambelet, prepared the car with the very best Porsche racing knowledge they could gather. The Turbo was uprated to around 350 horsepower, believed to be using experimental components developed alongside Porsche’s emerging race program. A full roll cage was fitted, two race seats, the suspension tuned, and extra cooling and lighting added for endurance racing. Yet, at its core, it remained unmistakably a road car. It still had its four-speed gearbox, long ratios, and braking system that would soon be pushed to its absolute limits, and beyond. The interior remained otherwise almost untouched, and the original tartan front seats always remained with the car in the spares.
When the race began at Le Mans, the car revealed both its strengths and its weaknesses. On the long Mulsanne Straight, it was astonishingly fast, surging past competitors with its turbocharged power, however the brakes struggled under the relentless demands of a 24-hour race. As the hours passed, the team adapted, improvised, and endured. The brakes had to be changed three times in total. At one point, they even turned to a spectator’s 911 in the paddock, borrowing parts just to keep the car in the race. It was endurance racing in its purest form.
And still, the car kept going.
After 24 hours and nearly 4,000 kilometres, the result was extraordinary. The white and tartan Turbo crossed the finish line first in its class and fifteenth overall. Making it the first trubocharged Porsche to win its class at Le Mans.
After Le Mans, the car returned quietly to Switzerland, still carrying the marks of its remarkable achievement. In 1976, it was sold to Walter Pauli, a skilled driver who would go on to keep it for 41 years.
What makes this car so special is not just the fact that it is totally unique, but what it represents. Its a truly special jewel in the crown of Porsche’s turbocharged legacy in endurance racing. It is one of the earliest 911 Turbos ever built, and the only road-going example of its kind to win its class at Le Mans. Most of all, it is a reminder of a different era. A time when racing was less predictable, and pioneering characters could turn up to Le Mans with a near-standard road car, and under the right circumstances, be winners.
It remains totally matching numbers, and almost every single part on the car was present at Le Mans in 1975.
Author of the fantastic 930 Turbo book, Ryan Snodgrass, described the car as "the most important of any road legal first and second series Porsche Turbos", and dedicated 8 pages of the book to tell the amazing story.
The car has never been on the open market, until today.
