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You are here: Home / Featured / 1973 Daytona 24 Hour – An auspicious debut for the Porsche Carrera RSR

1973 Daytona 24 Hour – An auspicious debut for the Porsche Carrera RSR

2nd October 2020 by: Martin Raffauf | 10 Comments

The start 1973 Daytona 24 hours led by John Watson in the Mirage
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The start 1973 Daytona 24 hours led by John Watson in the Mirage on pole

1973 saw a return to normality for the Daytona 24-hour race. The distance was set back at 24 hours, after running only a 6-hour length in 1972. Ferrari in 1972 had petitioned the FIA to keep races at 6-hours, as the reliability of the 3.0-litre prototype cars (312PB) was suspect over a 24-hour distance. For 1973, Bill France petitioned to have the Daytona race returned to 24-hours distance in the World Championship and the FIA (international rules body) concurred. The car rules remained unchanged. The prototype cars running for the world championship were 3.0-litre cars, but the bulk of the field was GT cars of various types and sizes.

Reine Wisell sits in the Lola T282 Ford
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: Reine Wisell sits in the Lola T282 Ford during practice. This car was entered by Scuderia Filipinetti would succumb to ignition problems
The Matra 670B takes on fuel
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The lone Matra 670B takes on fuel at the pumps during practice

Not many of the European prototype teams bothered to make the trip. Ferrari and Alfa Romeo stayed home, not trusting their cars to run for the 24-hour distance. Apparently, at first they agreed to come but demanded large starting money from Bill France, which he refused to pay. John Wyer entered two Gulf Mirage Ford powered prototype cars. Driven by Derek Bell, Howden Ganley, Mike Hailwood and John Watson, they were quick but not expected to last the distance. These were powered by the 3.0-litre Cosworth F1 engine that was de-tuned as much as possible. One lone Matra 670B was entered for Francois Cevert, Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo. Matra was using this race as a test for Le Mans, and this car seemed to be the favourite. There was a lone Lola T282-Ford, also with 3.0-litre Cosworth, entered by Georges Filipinetti for Reine Wisell, Hugues de Fierlant and Jean-Louis Lafosse. Reinhold Joest entered his Porsche 908-3, while slower than the newer prototypes, this car was thought to be more reliable and in with a chance should the others falter. There was also an older 908-2 for the Canadians Rudi Bartling and Harry Byzek, as well as an even older 910. The rest of the large field was made up of various GT cars.

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Porsche 908/2 of Canadians Rudi Bartling, Klaus Bytzek and Bert Kuehne
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The Porsche 908/2 of Canadians Rudi Bartling, Klaus Bytzek and Bert Kuehne would finish 12th overall
The #57 Porsche 908/3 of Reinhold Joest, Mario Casoni and Paul Blancpain
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The #57 Porsche 908/3 of Reinhold Joest, Mario Casoni and Paul Blancpain enters Turn 1 at Daytona. The car would retire after around six hours with transmission problems

Up until this time, the Porsche 911 in racing had basically been a modified street-car and the 2.5-litre 911S used in GT racing in 1972 was just that. Porsche realised in 1972 that they had fallen from the ranks of outright sports car race winning capability. The all-conquering 917 had been dropped after 1971 by the FIA rule change to limit prototype sports cars to 3.0-litre engines. The somewhat dated 908-3 was non-competitive with newer offerings from Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and Cosworth based cars such as Lola and Mirage. The 2.5-litre 911S was even starting to struggle against GT cars with larger engines such as the Ferrari Daytona and De Tomaso Pantera. Due to homologation rules, Porsche realised they would have to build a whole new model, which they called the Carrera RS. This car was completed in late summer of 1972 and included the duck tail rear spoiler, wider wheels and tyres and increased engine capacity to 2687cc, hence the name 2.7 RS. For racing, the cylinder bore was increased slightly to 92mm (from 90mm) resulting in 2808cc, which then was the 2.8 RSR.

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911 Carrera RS 2.7 (left) and the 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 (right)
This Porsche promotional photo from 1973 shows the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 (left) next to its big brother, the 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 (right)

The Porsche factory brought two of these cars (2.8 RSR) to Daytona for the 1973 24-hour race. Although these were ostensibly GT cars, they had not yet completed the FIA homologation process (as the required 500 units had not yet been built), so had to be entered as prototype cars. The factory did not run these cars themselves, instead they loaned one each to Roger Penske and Peter Gregg to enter and run. While these were quicker than most of the other GT cars, they were not competitive on lap times with the real prototype cars. This was the first actual race for the Carrera RSR, a car which would prove to have an amazing record over the coming years.

Greg Syfert, Woody Woodward and Mark Donohue work on the RSR engine
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: Greg Syfert, Woody Woodward and Mark Donohue work on the RSR engine change during practice on the Penske RSR
Mark Donohue leaves the pits during practice in the Penske RSR
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: Mark Donohue leaves the pits during practice in the Penske RSR

Peter Gregg’s car was prepared by his Brumos race team in Jacksonville Florida. He and Hurley Haywood, his co-driver, had won the 1972 IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) championship driving a 2.5-litre 911S, so were very familiar with the 911 based cars.

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Derek Bell in his Gulf Mirage
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: Derek Bell in his Gulf Mirage. While fast, the car would drop out early with clutch issues

Roger Penske of course was well connected with Porsche. He had run the factory 917-10 in the Can-Am championship of 1972 and won it for Porsche, breaking the many year McLaren strangle hold on this series. George Follmer had won the championship with support from lead Penske driver Mark Donohue who had missed several races due to a broken foot from a crash in the 917 during testing at Atlanta. These two, Donohue and Follmer, would drive the Penske entered car painted in dark blue Sunoco Oil colours, a long time Penske sponsor.

Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood, overall winners in the #59 Carrera RSR 2.8
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood, overall winners in the #59 Carrera RSR 2.8
The #6 Penske RSR of Mark Donohue and George Follmer
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The #6 Penske RSR of Mark Donohue and George Follmer enters the west Horseshoe in the Daytona in-field during practice

Derek Bell took the pole in his Mirage M6, followed by the Matra, the second Mirage and the Lola. John Watson took the lead at the start and led for the first five hours or so from the Matra. The Bell/Ganley Mirage had early alternator and clutch issues and was retired. The Joest 908-3 started at the back after missing qualifying due to a fire, but after five hours was up to third. At the five-hour mark the leading Mirage had a long pit stop to replace the clutch, the same malady as its sister car. By late evening the Joest 908 dropped out with a broken transmission. This left the Matra with a huge lead over the two RSRs of Penske and Gregg. However, this changed shortly thereafter as at 12h30 Sunday morning, the Matra engine failed.

Matra 670B of Francois Cevert, Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The Matra 670B of Francois Cevert, Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise would lead by a large margin, but the engine failed just after midnight
The Matra enters Daytona Turn 1
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The Matra enters Daytona Turn 1

It was later determined that some defective bearings had caused the failure. For sure the locals who lived near the speedway were rejoicing, as they would not have to listen to the screaming V12 engine all night! The two RSRs had been battling the whole race up to this point, with both teams eager to show Porsche they could get the job done. The Penske car had eked out a slim lead of one lap or so over the Gregg car but by 04h30 however, the Penske car pitted and was out with engine failure. This left Gregg and Haywood with a large lead over the nearest pursuers.

The engine fails on the Penske RSR around 04h00 on Sunday morning
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The engine fails on the Penske RSR around 04h00 on Sunday morning

As the chief mechanic at Brumos, Jack Atkinson explained, they had received a new engine from Porsche for the IMSA finale race in November of 1972 and had the flywheel come off due to the flywheel bolts being loose. Hence, when he got the new RSR he had stripped the car given to him by Porsche and had gone through it all, checking both the practice and race engine for Daytona. He again found the flywheel bolts to be loose! He had told Penske about it, but the Penske guys, thinking Peter Gregg was playing psychological games (which he was known to do), ignored the warning. The Penske engine had the flywheel bolts come loose during practice. The engine was replaced with the race engine, but it had failed after some 14 hours with a suspected valve issue.

Brake pad change on the Brumos RSR
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: Brake pad change on the Brumos RSR on Sunday morning

Later Sunday morning there was a scare for the leader as one of the many seagulls flying around Daytona Speedway impacted the front nose of the RSR near the oil cooler, causing some damage. Other debris cracked the windshield of the Brumos RSR and SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) officials (this race was sanctioned by the SCCA in 1973) directed that for safety reasons it must be changed. There were no spares, so one was removed from a Brumos customer’s 911 sitting in the infield parking lot and installed at the next pit stop. As Atkinson explained, Porsche, in the effort to save weight, had installed light weight windshields that were not sufficiently strong, resulting in the failure. From then on, he always carried spare windshields with him. The poor customer had to drive back to Jacksonville sans windshield, but I am sure all was made good later at the Brumos dealership. And he could live with the story that he had saved the day for the first win of the Carrera RSR!

The #59 Brumos RSR of Gregg and Haywood enters Daytona Turn 1
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The #59 Brumos RSR of Gregg and Haywood enters Daytona Turn 1

All that remained was to run off the remaining laps. Towards the end, since the Brumos car had such a large lead, Classic Car Wax came to the team and offered $10,000 if at a late pitstop they would be allowed to wax the car. Although this was a large sum of money in 1973, Gregg and the team refused it. After discussions with Porsche it was decided that “it didn’t feel right” to do this, and in any case why take the risk so close to winning. So, the Peter Gregg/Hurley Haywood RSR won by 22 laps over the NART (North American Racing Team) Ferrari 365/GTB4 of Francois Migault and Milt Minter, which won the GT category, being a fully homologated GT car.

Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The winning car
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The winning car
The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 entered by NART (North American Racing Team) was driven by Milt Minter and Francois Migault
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 entered by NART (North American Racing Team) was driven by Milt Minter and Francois Migault and finished second overall, winning the GT category as the RSR was not yet homologated as a GT

Lost in the shuffle of results featured several who would make their marks in later races at Daytona and in the IMSA championships to come. Sixth overall was the Porsche 911S of Erwin Kremer, John Fitzpatrick and Paul Keller. Kremer would return several times to Daytona, eventually winning over all in 1995 with a Kremer CK8 (Porsche 962 derivative). John Fitzpatrick would win the race in 1976 driving a BMW CSL with Brian Redman and Peter Gregg. Finishing eighth overall in a Porsche 911S were Michael Keyser, Tony Adamowicz and Bob Beasley. They would go on to some continued success in IMSA events. And finishing 33rd overall was a 911S entered by Al Holbert for himself, Dieter Oest and Mike Tillson. Al would go on to win the IMSA championship five times and win the Daytona 24 hours twice in the 1980s in his own 962 Porsche.

The #16 Porsche 911 S was driven by Peter Kirill, Russ Norburn and Bill Bean but failed to finish
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The #16 Porsche 911 S was one of a two-car entry by Michael Keyser’s Toad Hall Motor Racing team. This car was driven by Peter Kirill, Russ Norburn and Bill Bean but failed to finish, while Keyser’s own car (#15) which he shared with Tony Adamowicz and Bob Beasley finished a fine eighth overall

The Porsche Carrera RSR had proven its worth in its first race and would dominate GT racing for several years and become one of the most successful GT cars ever. The 2.8-litre engine would quickly be replaced by a more powerful 3.0-litre unit. The RSR would win Daytona again outright in 1975 and 1977 as well as Sebring in 1973, 1976 and 1977. With the advent of the 934 and 935 in 1976, it would no longer run with the top cars (except at the aforementioned Sebring and Daytona races in 1977), but it did continue to dominate the lower classes for some years to come.

The Penske RSR of 1973 at the Monterey Historics in 2019
The Penske RSR of 1973 at the Monterey Historics in 2019. This car was supposedly sold in 1973 subsequently crashed and totally rebuilt

The Daytona 24 hours had reached a milestone, as this was the last race sanctioned by the SCCA. The 1974 race would be cancelled due to the OPEC fuel crisis caused by Arab-Israeli war of late 1973. In 1975, IMSA would take over the sanctioning of the Daytona 24, and it still remains so in 2020.

Written by: Martin Raffauf
Images by: Martin Raffauf, William Tuttle, Corporate Archive Porsche AG, ISC&Daytona Archives

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Categories: Featured, Motorsport, Yesteryear Tags: 24 Hours of Daytona, 911 Carrera RSR, Brumos Porsche, George Follmer, Hurley Haywood, Mark Donohue, Penske Racing, Peter Gregg, Porsche, Toad Hall Racing

Comments

  1. wvdveprg says

    3rd October 2020 at 2:34 pm

    Nice piece of history, well written and valuable collection of photographs

    Reply
    • Martin Raffauf says

      4th October 2020 at 5:43 pm

      Glad you liked it. Yes finding old photos always a challenge.

      Reply
  2. Sylvio Deutsch says

    3rd October 2020 at 5:07 pm

    Amazing article!

    Reply
    • Martin Raffauf says

      4th October 2020 at 5:42 pm

      Glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  3. John Starkey says

    5th October 2020 at 1:21 pm

    Martin, excellent article, well written. Congratulations. Regarding the engine failure of the Penske RSR: Jack Atkinson told me years ago that when he inspected the piston to head clearance of the Brumos RSR, he judged that the valve pockets in the pistons were too shallow and he machined them a little deeper. It would appear that a piston crown let go on the Penske RSR, putting it out…

    Reply
    • Martin Raffauf says

      7th October 2020 at 1:41 am

      John, thanks. Yes Jack told me it was a “valve issue” on the Penske car, so that sort of jives. Jack was one of the “masters” for sure!

      Reply
  4. Ronald Collins says

    5th October 2020 at 5:57 pm

    Great article ! I attended the race and your article brought back some wonderful memories. Thank you !!

    Reply
    • Martin Raffauf says

      7th October 2020 at 1:42 am

      Ronald, glad you enjoyed it. Those were the good old days for sure!

      Reply
  5. Fred Zacharias says

    19th October 2020 at 9:03 pm

    Marty, as always another great article. Always enjoy reading your insights about the good ole days. You need to turn all these into a book…

    Reply
    • Martin Raffauf says

      20th October 2020 at 8:07 pm

      Fred, thanks for the kind words. I will have to work on the boom one of these days!

      Reply

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