Porsche 962c Prowls The Streets

Ever hear the saying “only in Japan?” Well if that doesn’t apply to this particular car, well I really don’t know what does! I’m just going to go ahead and assume that everyone reading this has seen the film that MotorHead magazine produced of this crazy street-registered Porsche 962C and move swiftly along to that unforgettable day when I tagged along with the team and proceeded to be amazed.

I have had the opportunity to shoot some pretty incredible cars this year, and the Liberty Walk Ferrari F40 was one that stood in top spot for quite a few months…until that moment when I leaned out the back window of a moving car to snap images of something that had no right making sense. But then again, this is Japan, and anything can happen.

I sometimes think that this country is located in a parallel universe. When it comes to cars, amazing things happen on a daily basis here, so much so that you stop attributing an element of surprise to certain occurrences. But at times you just can’t help but stop in your tracks and stand there, blown away but what you have just seen. And as with most rarities, there is always an interesting story behind them so let me tell you the one behind this particular car.

First off this is not an actual Rothmans Group C 962,

…but rather one of only six (or is it five, hard finding concrete info on this) Vern Schuppan 962s  The second prototype to be precise. Unlike the 956s and 962s that Porsche built for racing, the six $1.5 million cars that Australian racing legend Vern Schuppan built had a carbon fiber monocoque chassis. Furthermore this car is even more unique as all of the racing parts from the 956 and 962 were swapped over including the 956’s mid-mounted, 2.65L, twin-turbocharged, flat-six engine. This being the second ever created, it sports the same carbon-Kevlar body as the race cars, something that as production of the other four cars picked up was replaced with a very different, curvier shell featuring two round headlights. Those cars were actually referred to as the 962CRs.

We will get to the oily bits further down, as we take a little more detailed look at what makes this particular car a one of a kind piece.

The owner has cut no corners in guaranteeing that his Group C street racer is as authentic as possible, down to the spare set of center lock BBS wheels which we had to tighten with the biggest torque wrench I have ever seen before the car was taken for its drive.

With the majority of the day organized around a very tight filming schedule I did the best I could at setting up impromptu shoots where ever I had the chance to keep the car in one spot for more than ten minutes.

It was during these quick bursts of shots that I was able to take in the car in all its detail, including the interior, which has been left in its “road going guise.” For being one of the most expensive new cars ever sold, equipment levels are somewhat lacking, but then again what on earth do you expect on a car like this. You get 2 very tight seats, a sill mounted shifter with visible linkage…

…a carbon fiber dash on which the “Team Schuppan” Stack tacho and speedo are mounted, and would you believe it air conditioning which according to the owner has never really worked!

Seeing the car is often driven on tracks like Fuji Speedway a Lap Shot P-Lap III lap time as been added as well as an auxiliary boost gauge, just to keep an eye on what those remotely mounted KKK blowers are up to at full rpm.

Being confronted with such a legendary car…

…sporting equally legendary livery is nothing short of mind boggling, but of course not as much as what we were all about to do next!

The idea was to drive the car onto the highway and let Luke Huxham, who put the film together, film the car in its own element. However, while Group C engines are good at cranking out well over 600 HP at the race track, what they aren’t built to do is cruse around painfully slow Japanese roads…in first gear…right in the middle of one of the hottest summers Japan has been through. So after a few short minutes of driving…

…the coolant in the radiators had boiled and to avoid overheating the rare engine, the owner pulled over.

The utter craziness of what we were doing that day really became evident once we saw the car parked up on the side of your regular, Japanese country road.

The engineers that look after the car, as well as a the rest of the owner’s vast car collection, were on hand with a modern transporter and in no time the 962C was pushed onto the truck’s platform…

…and safely strapped down inside. The idea was to let the car cool and unload it at the first highway stop we would come across, so that when the engine was turned back into life…

…it could be driven at speed within a matter of minutes so that the radiators would be able to do their thing.

Seeing the highway rest stop we chose had a gas station, the owner decided to fill up with some hi-oku

…better safe than sorry as they say. The gas station attendants couldn’t really believe what their were seeing, and were probably too shy to ask what on earth we were all doing!

With everything set it was off onto the highway where Luke and I got our much needed rolling shots. We just managed to get what we needed before the heavens opened up with a mean summer thunderstorm, but the owner didn’t see too bothered by it all. I though we would have to pull over and load the car into the transporter just in case the rain created problems…

…but we just kept going, the 962C blasting over standing water that at times would splash onto the piping-hot external wastegates and side exit exhausts, creating puffs of vapor.

One of the main scenes of the film was the 962C pulling into a Family Mart, where the owner would get out, go inside the conbini and purchase a can of RedBull. We were there for quite a while and it was hard to resist…

…taking tons of shots! You can’t get a more bizarre image than this. The funniest thing was that regular people that obviously didn’t have the slightest interest in cars just pulled up, parked, and went in and out of the shop without even giving a second glance to the Group C race car that was parked right in front of them! Of course the majority of people were amazed, and stopped to ask question and grab quick pictures with their cell phones.

But before the day was over it was back to the warehouse…

…where the rest of the owner’s collection is safely tucked away in.

This is where I got a bit of time to drool over the oily bits…

…as the rear cowl was carefully removed…

…exposing the complex rear layout of the 962. With the car having been designed and developed in the early 1980’s things are quite simple if we are to compare it to modern day race cars like the ones we recently way in Fuji at the WEC event. But we can’t forget that this was quite an important car in its day, one of the first prototype cars to really take full advantage of ground effects. With the rear off you can also see how far back the undercover “tunnels” extend, making full use of all the air passing underneath.

At the heart of this unique Vern Shuppan 962C is the 935/82 2.65L flat-six from a 956 race car, the first generation of the mid-mounted motors. By pure chance I saw this engine in the final stages of a complete rebuilt back in 2010 when I visited the supercar exhaust maker Kreissieg in Yokohama. Little did I know back then, that I would have the chance to one day shoot the completed car!

From the side you can see where the engine sits.

For a motor close to 30 years old, I was very impressed by the quality of the aluminum intake manifolds, as I have seen some terrible creations from race cars of the same era.

The flat-six has dry-sump lubrication and the large oil tank is within easy reach right behind the engine.

The two K26 KKK turbochargers are located on the extremities of the car so that the air-to-air intercoolers could make full use of the airflow coming in through the large side intakes.

A Porsche external wastegate is used for boost control and once they have done their job the spent exhaust gasses are dumped out from the side of the car, one pipe from the turbo, one from the wastegate.

Along with the engine a lot of the suspension components have been swapped over from the 956 race car. Here is a closer look at the short-stroke dampers…

…and the adjustable anti-roll bar.

It is truly a fabulous and unique car in every way and the fact that it has ended up in the hands of this particular owner, who thoroughly enjoys it both on and off the track, is the perfect end to an already amazing little story.

As they say, only in Japan.

-Dino Dalle Carbonare

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1

Awesome!

2

I wonder what he does for a living.
 
Honestly, one of my favorite articles this year. Well done :)

3

I'll need a bit of time before I can properly respond, Dino. First I have to pick up all the pieces of my brain off the floor. And I was just in Japan back in September, so you would think I'd be prepared for such a thing. That does it, I'm going back first chance I get!

4

This is a race car on the road, literally! Amazing shots, Dino!

5

It would be hard to not do a full pull on the highway! Justin Kresty Cuyahoga County

6

why was part of the porsche logo on the nose taped over? it's like that in the article on kreissieg too

7

I have no words on how awesome and just amazing this article is.

8

Awesome, but more pictures of the rear of the car next time please.

10

......
 
I think my brain just melted.

11
NicoAndresFariasRojas

One of the main scenes of the film was the 962C pulling into a Family Mart!!

12

@ComJive If you look closely in the pic where its in the garage there is recces on those parts maybe its for aero or maybe it covers some sort of hole.

13
speedhunters_dino

@thriller Thanks!

14
speedhunters_dino

@Censport LOL

15
speedhunters_dino

@vector52787  @ComJive Good question I will have to find out

16
speedhunters_dino

@KRaZyAmmo Thank you sir

17
speedhunters_dino

@NicoAndresFariasRojas Yes and half the internet complained because he pulled into a disabled spot. We asked permission first as it was the best place to do the filming from...haha

18

Have seen the video, now more indepth about this. Epic. 
Thanks Dino!

19
speedhunters_dino

@MangoZerox Thanks!

20

This is awesome. Also I have found this on pistenheads uk. This is road legal as well but has a different engine. http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/lucky-dip/rare-and-exotic/porsche-962-road-registered/274872

21

Wow, good article Dino! Oh, and his garage has a collection a lot.

22

wow...your so lucky to have shot this AND a F40 and soo many other awesome cars! i envy your job dino!

23

Im confused. It is a replica isn't it?

24
ThomasMottPrinciottaI

The purchase price of this vehicle..... quite possibly $0. Supposedly payment was never rendered on two Schuppan 962s that were imported to Japan causing Vern Schuppan to declare bankruptcy.....fairly likely that this is one of those cars. 
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuppan_962CR
 
Not sure if the current owner is the original owner, but if he is I would love to hear his recollection of events in procuring the vehicle. Cool car that has one hell of a story to go along with it!

25

@ThomasMottPrinciottaI No sympathy from me. Vern is an asshole of a businessman. Im sure if he wasn't in the position of being screwed over he would of been trying to screw them over.

26

Yep, it's a replica - a Vern Schuppan 962C so I am not sure why Speedhunters refers to it as a 'Porsche'. Sure, VS may have used some original Porsche race-car parts as well a 956 motor, but this is clearly not a Porsche chassis.

27
speedhunters_dino

@ThomasMottPrinciottaI This is the second (prototype) car ever made, the other Schuppans had the different body and it's the last 2 of that batch that weren't paid for.  The current owner of this car picked it up about 5 years ago I believe

28
speedhunters_dino

@Kalim Iqbal The project got the OK from Porsche as far as I know. So what you are saying is that race cars built by race teams aren't "real" because they haven't been built by manufacturers?

29
speedhunters_dino

@Nikhil_P Yeah it's been a good year for rare awesome stuff hehe

30
speedhunters_dino

@Romadoni Post to come on that...

31
speedhunters_dino

@Curlytop Yeah that's a Dell car, crazy stuff!

32
speedhunters_dino

@PatrickD lol

33

@speedhunters_dino  @Kalim Iqbal I don't consider a race car or production car remanufactured by someone other than the original manufacture the real deal. I'd call it a porsche 962 replica.
 
I think part of the big up roar over replica parts a while ago was people trying to pass replica parts off as the real deal.

34

@speedhunters_dino  Hi Dino. Yes, unless Porsche explicitly authorized Schuppan to manufacture a Porsche under license, this car will remain a Vern Schuppan 962C rather than a Porsche 962C.
 
There are plenty of examples of factories allowing teams to build their race-cars and giving them factory chassis numbers but in this case I am not sure that Porsche sanctioned this. What does the owner say about it?

35

@speedhunters_dino @sam  Sam, I'm not sure your stance is fair.
 
Sometimes factories authorize racing teams to build 'factory' race cars for them that are considered authentic or 'the real deal'. A good example would be Prodrive, who built GT1 cars for both Ferrari and Aston Martin. Ferrari never gave them explicit support so the 550/575 Maranello GT1 cars are not seen as factory race-cars despite their successes. Sure, they're definitely Ferrari chassis, as they were based on the road-cars, but they weren't Ferrari GT1 cars, rather Prodrive GT1 cars.When, a few years later, Prodrive took on the Aston Martin DB9 road-car chassis/engine to create the DBR9, it was officially sanctioned by AM and the cars got new factory chassis codes if I recall correctly.

36

can we get the one of it in front of the family mart as a desktop?

37
speedhunters_dino

Hi ISO, really grainy!

38
speedhunters_dino

@Kalim Iqbal  @sam We could get into this debate deeper and deeper, saying that because Karmann built cars for VW and Porsche doesn't make them real Porsches.  If there is an agreement surely that stands for something?

39

@speedhunters_dino  But Karmann was building those cars and bodies-in-white under contract, which means for sure the Karmann-built cars are still VWs, Porsches etc.
 
I believe the Schuppan 962s are replicas, and therefore not real Porsches unless VS actually got Porsche permission to build them. Are you sure that Porsche agreed to let him build these cars with their badge on it?

40

@speedhunters_dino :(

41
ThomasMottPrinciottaI

@speedhunters_dino Thanks for clearing that up Dino.

42

BEST SPEEDHUNTERS FEATURE EVER

43
speedhunters_dino

Haha thanks "w"

44
speedhunters_dino

Come on, gotta maintain standards here LOL ;)

45

@Kalim Iqbal  @speedhunters_dino OMG shut up and enjoy this wonderful car, why do there always have to be people that nit pick at EVERYTHING?

46

I've been tracking the 962's for a bit and saw this over on a different site a while back (probably when the video was released).
 
Didn't actually fully take in that it was one of the 962CR's rather than a normal 962 that Vern was supposed to also have produced (alongside the likes of the Dauer and DP 962's with original bodies).
 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/porsche.schuppan.962cr/There's the Facebook group with lots of info on them. Guess this means one of the unknown cars is now accounted for.
 
The chassis list I have looks like this so far.
#01/50 - the black prototype, was for sale at auction a few weeks back.
#02/50 - presumerably this one then? (used to be silver and was sold direct to a customer of Art Sports
#03/50 - have absolutely nothing.
#04/50 - was for sale back in 2005 in Japan and was silver, now it's supposed to be matte black
#05/50 - black and was for sale a while back at the MPH show in the UK, around 2005 IIRC.
#06-50 - is in the USA, was spotted a few years back in Florida. Has the CR body but the original 962 front and front-side panels.

47

I've been tracking the 962's for a bit and saw this over on a different site a while back (probably when the video was released).
 
Didn't actually fully take in that it was one of the 962CR's rather than a normal 962 that Vern was supposed to also have produced (alongside the likes of the Dauer and DP 962's with original bodies).
 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/porsche.schuppan.962cr/There's the Facebook group with lots of info on them. Guess this means one of the unknown cars is now accounted for.
 
The chassis list I have looks like this so far.
#01/50 - the black prototype, was for sale at auction a few weeks back.
#02/50 - presumerably this one then? (used to be silver and was sold direct to a customer of Art Sports
#03/50 - have absolutely nothing.
#04/50 - was for sale back in 2005 in Japan and was silver, now it's supposed to be matte black
#05/50 - black and was for sale a while back at the MPH show in the UK, around 2005 IIRC.
#06-50 - is in the USA, was spotted a few years back in Florida. Has the CR body but the original 962 front and front-side panels.

48

I've been tracking the 962's for a bit and saw this over on a different site a while back (probably when the video was released).
 
Didn't actually fully take in that it was one of the 962CR's rather than a normal 962 that Vern was supposed to also have produced (alongside the likes of the Dauer and DP 962's with original bodies).
 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/porsche.schuppan.962cr/There's the Facebook group with lots of info on them. Guess this means one of the unknown cars is now accounted for.
 
The chassis list I have looks like this so far.
#01/50 - the black prototype, was for sale at auction a few weeks back.
#02/50 - presumerably this one then? (used to be silver and was sold direct to a customer of Art Sports
#03/50 - have absolutely nothing.
#04/50 - was for sale back in 2005 in Japan and was silver, now it's supposed to be matte black
#05/50 - black and was for sale a while back at the MPH show in the UK, around 2005 IIRC.
#06-50 - is in the USA, was spotted a few years back in Florida. Has the CR body but the original 962 front and front-side panels.

49

I've been tracking the 962's for a bit and saw this over on a different site a while back (probably when the video was released).
 
Didn't actually fully take in that it was one of the 962CR's rather than a normal 962 that Vern was supposed to also have produced (alongside the likes of the Dauer and DP 962's with original bodies).
 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/porsche.schuppan.962cr/There's the Facebook group with lots of info on them. Guess this means one of the unknown cars is now accounted for.
 
The chassis list I have looks like this so far.
#01/50 - the black prototype, was for sale at auction a few weeks back.
#02/50 - presumerably this one then? (used to be silver and was sold direct to a customer of Art Sports
#03/50 - have absolutely nothing.
#04/50 - was for sale back in 2005 in Japan and was silver, now it's supposed to be matte black
#05/50 - black and was for sale a while back at the MPH show in the UK, around 2005 IIRC.
#06-50 - is in the USA, was spotted a few years back in Florida. Has the CR body but the original 962 front and front-side panels.

50

Some beautiful pictures in this article, Particularly the ones in the setting sun.. Also a good game of "guess what else he has under the covers" to be played here !

51

Some beautiful pictures in this article, Particularly the ones in the setting sun.. Also a good game of "guess what else he has under the covers" to be played here !

52

@speedhunters_dino Come on, use Dfine or Neat Image!

53

Have you tried this site? http://www.wrenchwarehouse.com

54

@RobBullough Another Article that has links to 800x500 wallpapers instead of 1920x1200 I am guessing that you guy's are going through all theses and updating the old articles?

55

speedhunters,

you guys are the best! makes me feel I need to give you guys a donation for this awesome article!

regards,
marlon

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