Porsche 968

The 968 is a sports car sold by Porsche AG from 1992 to 1995. It took over the entry-level position in Porsche's lineup from the 944, with which it shared about 20% of its parts. The 968 became the final model in an evolving line, starting almost 20 years earlier with the introduction of the Porsche 924 and ending with the Turbo S, Turbo RS, and Turbo RS Lemans, which are three separate versions of the 968.

Information

Porsche's 944 model debuted for the 1982 model year, was updated as "944S" in 1987 and as "944S2" in 1989. Shortly after the start of production of the S2 variant, Porsche engineers began working on another set of significant upgrades for the model, as executives were planning a final "S3" variant of the 944. During the development phase, 80% of the 944's mechanical components were either significantly modified or completely replaced by the engineers, leaving so little of the outgoing S2 behind that Porsche management chose to introduce the variant as a new model, entitling it 968. In addition to the numerous mechanical upgrades, the new model also received significantly evolved styling both inside and out, with a more modern, streamlined look and more standard luxury than on the 944. Production was moved from the Audi plant in Neckarsulm (where the 924 and 944 had been manufactured under contract to Porsche), to Porsche's own factory in Zuffenhausen.

The 968 was powered by an updated version of the 944's straight-4 engine, now displacing 3.0 L with 104mm bore, 88mm stroke and producing 240 PS (236 hp/177 kW). Changes to the 968's powertrain also included the addition of Porsche's then-new VarioCam variable valve timing system, newly-optimized induction and exhaust systems, a dual-mass flywheel, and updated engine management electronics among other more minor revisions. The 968's engine was the second-largest 4-cylinder ever offered in a production car up to that time. A new 6-speed manual transmission replaced the 944's old 5-speed, and Porsche's dual-mode Tiptronic automatic became an available option. Both the VarioCam timing system and Tiptronic transmission were very recent developments for Porsche. The Tiptronic transmission had debuted for the first time ever only 3 years prior to the debut of the 968, on the 1989 Type 964 911. The VarioCam timing system was first introduced on the 968 and would later become a feature of the Type 993 air cooled six cylinder engine.
The 968's styling was an evolution on that of the outgoing 944, itself styled evolutionarily from the earlier 924, but elements were borrowed from the more expensive 928 model in an attempt to create a "family resemblance" between models, and the swooping headlamp design, inspired by those of the 959, previewed similar units found later on the Type 993 911. Along with the new styling, the 968 featured numerous small equipment and detail upgrades, including a Fuba roof-mounted antenna, updated single lens tail lamps, "Cup" style 16" alloy wheels, a wider selection of interior and exterior colors, and a slightly updated "B" pillar and rear quarter window to accommodate adhesive installation to replace the older rubber gasket installation. Because some parts are interchangeable between the 968, 944 and 924, some enthusiasts purchase those parts from Porsche parts warehouses as "upgrades" for their older models.
Like the 944, the 968 was sold as both a coupe and a convertible. Much of the 968's chassis was carried over from the 944S2, which in itself shared many components with the 944 Turbo (internally numbered 951). Borrowed components include the Brembo-sourced 4-piston brake calipers on all four wheels, aluminum semi-trailing arms and aluminum front A-arms, used in a Macpherson strut arrangement. The steel unibody structure was also very similar to that of the previous models. Porsche maintained that 80% of the car was new.

968 Clubsport

From 1993 through 1995, Porsche offered a lighter-weight "Club Sport" version of the 968 designed for enthusiasts seeking increased track performance. Much of the 968's luxury-oriented equipment was removed or taken off the options list; less sound deadening material was used, electrical windows were replaced with crank-driven units, upgraded stereo systems, A/C and sunroof were still optional as on the standard Coupe and Convertible models. In addition, Porsche installed manually adjustable lightweight Recaro racing seats rather than the standard power-operated leather buckets (also manufactured by Recaro), a revised suspension system optimized and lowered by 20mm for possible track use, 17" wheels (also slightly wider to accommodate wider tyres) rather than the 16" as found on the Coupe and wider tires, 225 front and 255 rears rather than 205 and 245 respectively. The 4 spoke airbag steering wheel was replaced with a thicker rimmed 3 spoke steering wheel with no airbag, heated washer jets were replaced with non heated, vanity covers in the engine bay were deleted, as was the rear wiper. The Club Sport has no rear seats unlike the 2+2 Coupe. Club Sports were only available in white, black, Speed yellow, Guards red, Riviera blue or Maritime blue. Seat backs were colour coded to the body. Club Sport decals were standard in either black, red or white but there was a 'delete' option. All Club Sports had black interiors with the 944 S2 door cards. Due to the reduction in the number of electrical items the wiring loom was reduced in complexity which saved weight and also the battery was replaced with a smaller one, again reducing weight. With the no frills approach meaning less weight, as well as the optimising of the suspension, Porsche could focus media attention on the Club Sport variants fast road and track abilities. This helped to slightly bolster the flagging sales figures in the mid 1990s. The Club Sport variant achieved a 'Performance Car Of The Year' award in 1993 from Performance Car magazine in the UK. Club Sport models were only officially available in the UK, Europe, Japan & Australia, although "grey market" cars found their way elsewhere.
A UK-only version called "968 Sport", was offered in 1994 and 1995, and was essentially a Club Sport model (and was produced on the same production line with similar chassis numbers) with electric windows, electric release boot, central locking, cloth comfort seats (different to both the standard and the Club Sport). With the added electrics the larger wiring loom was used. The Sport Variant also got back the 2 rear seats, again in the cloth material specific to the Sport. At £29,975, the 968 Sport was priced £5,500 lower than the standard 968, but had most of the latter's desirable "luxuries" and consequently outsold it by a large margin (306 of the 968 Sport models compared to 40 standard 968 coupés).^[1]

968 Turbo S

Porsche briefly produced a turbocharged 968 sold as "Turbo S", a fairly odd naming choice for Porsche which usually reserves the added "S" moniker for models that have been tuned for more power over a "lesser" counterpart, such as with the 911 Turbo which has infrequently been available in both "Turbo" and higher-performance "Turbo S" guise. Only 16 were produced in total and only for sale in mainland Europe. Tests conducted in 1993 produced a 0 to 60 miles-per-hour time of 4.7 seconds and a top speed of approximately 180 miles-per-hour, performance comparable to the much newer Type 996 911.

968 Turbo RS

A further stripped out version of the Turbo S which was built for Porsche's customer race teams between 1992 and 1994, this variant was available in two states of tune; a 337 bhp version which was built to the German ADAC GT specification and used the K27 turbocharger from the Turbo S, and an international spec version which used a KKK L41 turbocharger producing 350 bhp and was reduced to 1212 kg in weight (the ADAC GT version had to have ballast added to bring the car up to the 1350 kg minimum weight limit allowed by ADAC regulations). Only 4 were produced.

Historical significance

The 968 was Porsche's last new front-engined vehicle (of any type) before the introduction of the Cayenne SUV. Its discontinuation in 1995 coincided with that of the 928, Porsche's only other front-engined car at the time.
As of 2009, Porsche has not yet built another front-engined sports car, although a 4-door sports-touring sedan, called Panamera began production in 2009, and a successor to the 928, based on that sedan's architecture, is predicted to follow.
The 968 was also the last Porsche sold with a four-cylinder engine.

Collectability

While lacking the wider ranging appeal of the 911, the 968 has nonetheless carved out its own niche in the hearts of enthusiasts.^[2] This is likely due to the 968's unique combination of speed and practicality.^[3] Noteworthy drawbacks to purchasing a 968 as a collector's car include its visual resemblance to the earlier 944 model, its status as a late model car, and the fact that the 968 is still depreciating.^[4]

Production^[5]

Model year	Production			Notes
	Total	Non US/Canada	US/Canada
1992	5353	3913	1440
1993	3783	2701	1082
1994	2484	965	1519
1995	1156	532	624
Total	12776	8111	4665	Of these, 4389 were cabriolets, of which 2248 to US

Porsche 959

The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by Porsche from 1986 to 1989, first as a Group B rally car and later as a legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring that a minimum number of 200 street legal units be built.^[2]
In 1986, it held the title as the world's fastest street-legal production car^[3]. During its production run, it was hailed as the most technologically advanced road-going sports car ever built and the forerunner of all future super cars. It was one of the first high-performance vehicles to use an all-wheel drive system, providing the basis for Porsche's first all-wheel drive Carrera 4 model. In fact, it convinced Porsche executives of the system's viability so well that they chose to make all-wheel drive standard on all versions of the 911 Turbo starting with the 993 variant. In 2004, Sports Car International named the 959 number one on its list of Top Sports Cars of the 1980s.Development of the 959 (originally called the Gruppe B) started in 1981, shortly after the company's then-new Managing Director, Peter Schutz, took his office. Porsche's head engineer at the time, Helmuth Bott, approached Schutz with some ideas about the Porsche 911, or more aptly, a new one. Bott knew that the company needed a sports car that they could continue to rely on for years to come and that could be developed as time went on. Curious as to how much they could do with the rear-engined 911, Bott convinced Schutz that development tests should take place, and even proposed researching a new all wheel drive system. Schutz agreed, and gave the project the green light. Bott also knew through experience that a racing program usually helped to accelerate the development of new models. Seeing Group B rally racing as the perfect arena to test the new mule and its all wheel drive system, Bott again went to Schutz and got the go ahead to develop a car, based on his development mule, for competition in Group B.
Porsche developed an already existing engine instead of creating a new one from scratch. The powerplant, a twin-turbocharged six-cylinder boxer engine with an air-cooled block and water-cooled heads, displaced 2.85 liters, about half a liter less than a contemporary 911 engine. It was coupled to a unique manual gearbox offering 5 forward speeds plus a "G" off-road gear, as well as reverse. The motor had originally been developed for the "Moby Dick" race car and then been redeveloped slightly for the short-lived Porsche Indy Car and several other projects before being "tweaked" a last time for use in the 961, the 959's racing counterpart. The water-cooled cylinder heads combined with the air-cooled block, 4-valve heads and sequential turbochargers allowed Porsche to extract 331 kW (444 hp) from the compact, efficient and rugged power unit.^[4] The use of sequential twin turbochargers rather than the more usual identical turbochargers for each of the two cylinder banks allowed for smooth seamless delivery of power across the engine RPM band, in contrast to the abrupt on-off power characteristic that distinguished Porsche's other turbocharged engines of the period. The engine was used, virtually unchanged, in the 959 road car as well.

In an attempt to create a rugged, lightweight shell, Porsche adopted an aluminium and Aramid (Kevlar) composite for body use along with a Nomex floor, instead of the steel normally used on their production cars.^[5] The vehicle's weight of 3,190 pounds (1,450 kg) helped to achieve its high performance level.Porsche also developed the car's aerodynamics, which were designed to increase stability, as was the automatic ride-height adjustment that became available on the street car (961 race cars had fixed suspensions). Its "zero lift" aerodynamics were a big part of keeping it drivable^{[citation needed]}. The 959 also featured Porsche-Steuer Kupplung (PSK) which was at the time the most advanced all-wheel-drive system in a production car^{[citation needed]}. Capable of dynamically changing the torque distribution between the rear and front wheels in both normal and slip conditions, the PSK system gave the 959 the adaptability it needed both as a race car and as a "super" street car. Under hard acceleration, PSK could send as much as 80% of available power to the rear wheels, helping make the most of the rear-traction bias that occurs at such times.^[6] It could also vary the power bias depending on road surface and grip changes, helping maintain traction at all times. The dashboard featured gauges displaying the amount of rear differential slip as well as transmitted power to the front axle. The magnesium alloy wheels were unique, being hollow inside to form a sealed chamber contiguous with the tire and equipped with a built-in tire pressure monitoring system.
The 1983 Frankfurt Motor Show was chosen for the unveiling of the Porsche Group B prototype. Even in the closing hours of October 9, finishing touches were being applied to the car to go on display the next morning. After the first two prototypes, the bodywork was modified to include air vents in the front and rear wheel housings, as well as intake holes behind the doors. The first prototype modified like this was code named "F3", and was destroyed in the first crash test.^{[citation needed]}

The street version of the 959 debuted at the 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show as a 1986 model, but numerous issues delayed production by more than a year. The car was manufactured in two levels of trim, "Sport" and "Komfort", corresponding to the race version and the street version. First customer deliveries of the 959 street variant began in 1987, and the car debuted at a cost of $225,000 USD per unit, still less than half what it cost Porsche to build each one. Production ended in 1988. In total, 337 cars were built, including 37 prototypes and preproduction models.^[1] At least one 959 and one 961 remain in the Porsche historic hall in Stuttgart, Germany.
In 1992/1993, Porsche built eight 959s assembled from spare parts from the inventory at the manufacturing site in Zuffenhausen.^[1] All eight were "Komfort"-versions: four in red and four in silver. These cars were much more expensive (DM 747,500) than the earlier ones (DM 420,000). The later cars also featured a newly developed speed-sensitive damper system. The cars were sold to selected collectors after being driven by works personnel for some time^[1] and are today by far the most sought-after 959s.
The 959 was not street legal in the United States prior to 1999 when the "Show and Display" law was passed, although an unknown number were imported via the "grey market" during the late 1980s as show pieces. During the model's development Porsche refused to provide the United States Department of Transportation with the four 959s they required for crash testing, and the car was never certified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for street use in the U.S. With the passage of "Show and Display" the crash test requirements were removed and importation of the 959 was allowed, assuming the car could meet the emissions standards applicable in 1987. The 959 can be fitted with a catalytic converter and a rechipped computer which allows it to meet those emissions requirements.

Most owners refuse to modify their 959s, however, and the cars remain collection pieces. Most 959s are in the hands of collectors, but a few do occasionally come to market, with prices in the region of 180,000–250,000 EUR (cars produced in 1987/1988). It is impossible to estimate the price of cars from the highly limited batch of 1992/1993.

The lessons learned from the 959 project about engine management, aerodynamics, suspension tuning, and 4-wheel drive were what enabled the production life of the 911 to be extended to the present day.

Performance

The performance of the 959 Sport is as follows:^[8]

• 0–100 km/h: 3.7 s (62 mph)


• 0–160 km/h: 8.3 s (99.5 mph)


• 0–200 km/h: 13.0 s (124 mph)


• 0–1000 meters: 21.6 s (standing)


• 0-1/4 mile: 11.9 s (standing)

  Replicas and conversion kits

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Due to the scarcity and price of existing genuine 959s, several companies have offered body kits over the years for Porsche owners to apply to their own cars, mainly the 911 model.

Update: New Porsche 911(991) gen-New pictures and info !

This is now officially the new generation of the legendary Porsche 911.This generation of codename 991 will start at a price of 141.110 U.S. dollars or 97.560 Euros in Europe.Its world premiere will take place at the Frankfurt 2011 autoshow that will take place next month.

     The design remains traditional as is the custom at Porsche.This car has 48 year old history behind.For start only 2 versions are available for the new 911 the Carrera and the Carrera S.The first is equipped with a straight six boxer 3.4 liter engine with direct injection making 350 HP.The version of Carrera equipped with the PDK sequential transmission gets to 60 in 4.6 seconds and if you choose the Sport Chrono package it manages 4.4 secs.The top speed of the 911 Carrera is 178 Mph.

     For those that want more there is the Carrera S which is equipped with a 3.8 liter straight six making 400 HP.If the car is equipped with the PDK transmission the 0 to 60 time improves to 4.3 seconds and with the Sport Chrono pack gets to 60 in 4.1 seconds.Carrera S's top speed is over 186 Mph.This new generation Porsche claims is lighter with about 90 lbs.In most countries the new 911 will be available for order by the end of November.