“You don’t lock the doors when you’re driving, you don’t even really close them all the way,” is not something I’ve ever heard in a review before, but such is life in a Koenig C62. Not much about this car is like anything you’ve seen on a normal road car before. Unlike Groups 5 and 6 which were replaced quite rapidly by Group C in the early 1980s, Group C died a slow and complicated death. In an effort to keep the surprisingly numerous 962 customer cars viable Koenig, Schuppan, and Dauer converted some into street cars. The three companies ran the gamut from 962-with plates, in the case of Koenig, to rather elaborate new builds in the case of Schuppan. Dauer, who weren’t done racing the 962, opted instead to comply with the letter rather than the spirit of new GT1 regulations.
Koenig’s conversions featured a second seat, some interior leather, and larger diameter wheels than the original Group C cars, but not much else. The Dauer cars were also fitted with a flat undertray, luggage compartment, and narrower GT1-compliant wheels and tires than the old Group C racers in order to comply with the letter of GT1 regulations. For Dauer the result was both a road-legal homologation car and a 962-based GT1 racecar that won Le Mans outright in 1994. Koenig buyers got a 962 with number plates that was ready to conquer the autobahn and any racetrack, but which doesn’t tolerate stop-and-go gladly.
What Is It Like to Live With?
Matt Farah’s time in the first of about a half-dozen C62s on the streets of Los Angeles highlight the pitfalls of using a purpose-built racecar in the real world. Visibility forward is excellent. Visibility everywhere else, not so much. The chattery, grabby competition clutch needs lots of revs to get underway. First gear is not synchronized, and the gearing on the 5-speed dogleg box is extremely long. This granted the 800-horsepower car a top speed of more than 250 mph, although the highway manners best described as uncooperative at certain speeds.
There are positives as well. Matt notes that the engine feels more-or-less like a “juiced-up” 911 in terms of throttle response, and he also indicates that the ride is good, and that it has air conditioning. The engine is also still available from Porsche for the low, low price of $300k should some fault crop up in the existing one.
Is it a great road car? No. Does it have the provenance of the existing racecars, like this, this, or this? Probably not. Is it every-day usable for even an absolute madman like the GT2 RS? No. If you have seven figures to part with for something this patently insane however, there is nothing quite like a road-legal 962.