1973 MARTINI RACING PORSCHE CARRERA RSR 'R7' EXPECTED TO FETCH UP TO R135 MILLION!
The prices of rare and classic cars are becoming more and more ridiculous, It’s almost like those who have really, really, really large bank accounts want to pay more as if paying a million dollars over a car’s value gives them something to brag about. Of course, some purchases are worth it and have all the provenance to back up the value. Like this here Porsche, an iconic early 70s racecar that’s an original ex-works Martini Porsche RSR. This exact car had the best finish ever at Le Mans by a Porsche RSR. Known within the factory team as 'R7', the 1973 Carrera RSR was co-driven by works drivers Herbie Müller and Gijs van Lennep to fourth place overall in the 1973 Le Mans 24-Hour race. While that wasn’t exactly a podium, it was still a massive achievement because the three cars that did secure the podium were open-cockpit sports-prototype racecars powered by 3.0-litre 12-cylinder lumps, 1st and 3rd from Matra-Simca with a Ferrari in 2nd. After some years of competition, around 1977, the RSR ended up in the hands of a very private, Italian collector named Massimo Balliva and remained in his care for over thirty years. In 2009 the car appeared at Equipe Europe in France for some work to be carried out, including returning it to the 1973 Le Mans setup, and just like that the car was back on the map. Subsequently, another well-known figure in the world of Porsche took ownership, and it's now heading to auction for it to find a new owner.
The car was the subject of an 8-year court battle to prove it as the actual R7 racecar by the owner of what he believed to be the original car. Long story short, it wasn’t and the car you see heading to auction at Bonham’s Auctions is the original car, as verified by senior engineer and former works team manager, Norbert Singer. Mr Singer recalled: "When we were building the 911 prototype race cars...there were certain reinforcements which we had to add to certain components of the regular production Porsche 911 to enable them to withstand the extra stress of racing...in particular, the cross tube and the cross-member (ahead) of the engine. From my original inspection of those reinforcements, I am confident they are the original reinforcements from 1973. I noted that the welding...appeared not be done with the precision which one would typically see in a production Porsche 911. This is consistent with my recollection of the time pressure we were under to convert regular 911s into the R-series racing prototypes. Because of these time pressures, we had to quickly add the extra reinforcement to the cross tube and the cross member in the engine compartment...so we...did the welding ourselves rather than bringing in specialized welders...as was typically done with production cars. This poorly done (but effective) welding (is) present...around the cross tube and the cross member in the engine compartment. In my opinion, it is highly unlikely that this fact would be known except to those of us who were involved in the development of the Porsche RSR series...".
The car is pegged to sell for between £3,750,000 - £5,750,000, or around R135 000 000 at the deep end there. It will be auctioned at this year’s Goodwood Revival, and if there’s any crowd in the world that will have a prospective buyer, it's the Goodwood crowd for sure. For the full rundown of the RSR, click through to Bonham's.
Take a look at the YouTube video that gives a little walkaround of this iconic Porsche that has an extensive racing history in various famous races at the hands of a bunch of people. This video was taken eight years ago, and as you can see from the Bonham's auction images, the car is still the same. It's billed to fetch as much as R135 000 000, which is a large chunk of change - we'd love to find out who would pay that and what their existing collection already looks like: Porsche 3.0L RSR Prototype (1973) | alexsmolik
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