Differences between a Porsche 951 and Porsche 944 Turbo Cup
There are many differences between the 951 and the Porsche Turbo Cup, some say as many as 100. There are factory deletes such as no sun roof, no insulation, no rust protection and no electric motors. Other differences include performance improvements such as larger brakes, larger clutch and modified transmission. While even more was done to lighten the car by as much as 400 lbs (such as a fiberglass engine hood, magnesium intake manifold and special carpets) the Porsche Turbo cup was intentionally designed to look like a 944/951 that you could buy from the dealer on Monday morning, but built as a true race car with factory installed roll cage, race seat, power kill switches, improved turbo unit, stiffened chassis, special magnesium wheels, as well as special Bilstein or Koni shock absorbers. Little modification was done to the engine, except for the turbo unit. The concept was a lighter car with improved handling and braking. If you’re viewing this post via email you may want to click on 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup for Sale for a better viewing experience of the 18 pictures in our gallery.
Interestingly, the Porsche Turbo Cup represents the first “cup” series for Porsche with identical cars racing identical cars.
How Rare is a Porsche 944 Turbo Cup?
In the United States, about seven Porsche 944 Turbo Cups were imported by Al Holbert, Porsche Motorsport North America. They were raced in the Escort series as well as other venues. This example, WPOAA2956HN165111, was then purchased by Wrightwood Racing in California and raced in several enduro events. A decision by that race team was made somewhere around 1991 to race different cars, so this Porsche was put into storage. It was bought by the present owner with less than 4000 miles on the odometer. It has since been used for Porsche Club Driver Education events as well as one Porsche Club race in the current “G” class. It has just over 7000 original mile, has never had major body damage, is 100% correct and just might be the best example of this car in the world.
Pricing for this particular Porsche 944 Turbo Cup might seem high to some, but we think it’s not too far off. These cars rarely come up on the market and at first glance this particular Porsche 944 Turbo Cup seems to be in even better condition then the one that sold recently at the Drendel Family Collection Auction for $79,200.
For more information or details contact Brett or Richard Sloan directly.
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View Comments (8)
Interestingly enough, there is a 944 Turbo cup for sale on the PCA Mart, only $50K plus another factory racing 944, an Escort Series S2 for $30K. I know the history of the Escort series car and that's a decent car at a good price.
One question------does anyone really purchase cars from Sloan at the prices he charges?!
@Bruce,
I've seen the Turbo cup you mention on PCA Mart. It's a nice Porsche, but not in the same league as the one above. The car in this post is a time capsule type item. Definitely for a collector vs. enthusiast.
Richard does get very good prices for his Porsches. My understanding is some go overseas (even with a stronger dollar they are still good buys) while quite a few are put into private collections. Sloan seems to command such high prices as a result of the quality of the cars in his collection. Did you see the 900 mile '78 930 he had for sale? http://sloancars.com/2883/1978-930-green-metallicgreen-orig-982-miles/ Examples like that and the one above are getting harder and harder to find. As a result, those that collect them are willing to pay a price much higher than the average enthusiast. I know if I wanted to sell one of my air cooled Porsches I would give it to either Richard or Willhoit to do so. Those two seem to get the best pricing (at least from a seller's perspective).
This car is a model year 87, not an 88. The tenth digit of the VIN is the date code. H = 1987. J = 1988, K = 1989.
There were 11 Turbo Cup spec cars imported into North America in 1987, not 7. Nine went to PMNA (Al Holbert) for use in the SCCA Escort series (although only 2 were actually campaigned in the Series), and 2 went to Volkswagen Canada (as test cars for the upcoming 1988 Rothmans Canadian Turbo Cup series).
This particular car is the 11th car, shown by the unique VIN number series used for these specific Cup cars. The last digits are 65101 thru 65111 for these eleven "Escort" cars.
A friend of mine owned one of the ones that came to Canada. He registered and drove it on the streets of Toronto. He modified it to French spec's. It was very quick. I almost bought the car from him in 98/99 time frame. I even went so far as to get the letter of authenticity from Porsche. Then he decided to keep the car.
I actually have one the the nineteen cars that came to South-Africa for the series here
Not all Porsche 944 Turbo cup series had the same equipment or rules as claimed by the article above. Larger brakes, larger clutch and modified transmission, improved turbo unit, stiffened chassis, as well as special Koni shock absorbers, and many other cup car changes were included on the 944 Turbo S street cars. To claim the race cars were made to look like the street cars is ridiculous. No more than a 911 GT3RS is made to look like the street version. The street cars were equally capable of running in races and many still do to this day. As for these being factory built this is not true. The cars were pulled off the assembly line, and sent to an independent race car builder under contract with Porsche to be fitted with the cage, and other minor improvements.
I knew something didn't look right about this car. It has a rear seat, carpet, the rear roll cage strut is not welded into the cage, but clamped, it has Simpson harnesses, not Sabelt, plus the factory inertia reel seat belts which would have been deleted, early European magnesium wheels, but not a magnesium intake, no tow hooks front or back, full driving light/fog light combo, not brake duct conversion, no ASB disconnect, and it lacks the race exhaust. Strange!
I am the proud owner of a 944 Turbo Cup in pristine condition and considering selling due to space issues. Anybody interested can mail me at craig@cmautosport.co.za