ICONIC SOUTH AFRICAN RACECAR, THE MARCH 84G.03 KREEPY KRAULY PORSCHE, POPS UP FOR SALE IN FLORIDA, USA.
While South Africa is a teeny place on the world map, we’ve had an amazing motorsport history with more than a few legendary drivers that have impressed on the world stage. In the early 80s, there was some amazing on-track action along with fast and powerful cars. These cars have long since retired and are in the hands of motorsport collectors around the world. Some of the cars have been kept in race condition and are used by the current owners in the various race series the cars are still eligible to compete in. While plenty of these cars that were piloted by South African greats are still in our borders, there are too many owned by collectors in other countries, so we need our billionaires to buy them back. One of these cars is the 1984 March 84G.03 "Kreepy Krauly" Porsche that was driven by Sarel van der Merwe and British teammates Ian Scheckter and Tony Martin and it's currently based in Florida, USA, not Florida, West Rand. It’s also just popped up for sale at racecarsdirect.com with an auction reserve price tag of $450 000, or roughly R8 200 000 give or take a grand or two. That’s a whole lot of money in our currency and likely puts the future of the car back on SA soil in jeopardy because someone with that kind of F-You money would rather spend it on a modern McLaren or a Camps Bay penthouse. The car is still race-ready and had R1 600 000 spent on race-prep in 2019, so it should still be fresh for some classic race series antics for the new buyer.
The March 84G.03 was delivered to South Africa's Kreepy Krauly team on December 16, 1983, back then it was equipped with a single-turbo Porsche flat-six and was scheduled to make its debut in early April, but it caught fire during its fourth lap of practice and was returned to the factory for a rebuild. The rebuilt car, Chassis no. 84G.01 designed by Adrian Newey, was mistakenly assigned a new number plate, leading to confusion but the new chassis designation stuck. The Kreepy Krauly team had a season full of ups and downs, finishing the season in fifth place, behind two March 83Gs and two Porsche 935/962 efforts. The collaboration between Kreepy Krauly and Sarel van der Merwe ended early in 1985, and the car's last race under Kreepy Krauly's ownership was Le Mans. It was then sold to privateer Costas Los and run by Great Britain's Cosmic Racing. The car was retired from professional racing at the end of 1986 and underwent a mechanical race preparation rebuild by the 901 Shop in Southeast Florida in 2019. 84G.03’s current setup is a 2,650cc twin-turbocharged "Wet" Porsche SOHC flat-6 with electronic fuel injection and pushes out an impressive 480 kW (650 hp) at 8 000 RPM and its mated to a 5-speed Porsche Type 956 transaxle with a limited slip differential and features 4-wheel independent suspension. The Kreepy Krauly March 84G.03 Porsche is considered to be one of the most balanced cars of its time, and its chassis could accommodate a variety of powertrains.
Take a look at the YouTube video from the old school masters at race and car coverage, Duke Video, that shows this iconic South African slice of automotive history piloted by the legendary Sarel van der Merwe in the 1984 Daytona 24-hour race in a battle with an equally legendary driver, Mario Andretti - the South African team took the overall win: 1984 Daytona 24 Hours | Mario Andretti vs Sarel van de Merwe | Duke Video
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