The Racing Pedigree Of The 914
From Leman’s to Rally, the Porsche 914 has had an illustrious racing pedigree stretching from the race track to the desert and everything in between it seems like. In this blog we are going to take a quick dive into some of the Porsche 914’s complete dominance in some of the highest forms of racing around the world!
To the typical Porsche enthusiast, the 914 wasn’t seen as a real Porsche let alone a competitive race car given its Volkswagen/Porsche background. And while the base models lacked power, they made up for it in superb handling ability.
So when Porsche inevitably built a small number of a competition version of the 914/6 known as the group 4 914/6GT in 1970. This version was tuned to have 220hp over the 110hp they came with from the factory. And if that’s not enough, they also added plexiglass window and fiberglass body panels to help cut weight even more to give it a little more straight line power.
The car made its official debut on May 31st at the 1,000km Nurburgring in 1970 where four cars were entered by private teams operating with Porsche where they finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th behind a 911s. I’m sure that was an honest finish and not Porsche making sure the 914 didn’t beat the 911…
The next mission for the 914 was the 24 hours of Lemans, where they wouldn’t hold back and would go heads up against big block powered Chevy Corvettes and Porsche 911’s to name a few. And in a david and goliath cage fight, the 914 won it’s respective class and finished 6th overall. A huge accomplishment for a car that wasn’t even supposed to be considered to be competitive.
Another one of the more unique decisions Porsche made was to take the 914 onto dirt and try and compete with Alpine and others in Rally racing. Porsche entered three 914/6’s into the Monte Carlo Rally event where they managed a 4th place finish racing in the snow.
In 1971 and 9172 the 914/6 was a frequent flyer of the International Sportscar Championship (IMSA) and was able to maintain a top 10 finish in many events across the US, from the 24 hours of Daytona to the 12 hours of Sebring before it was crowned the IMSA GTU (Minus 2.5L) champion.
The Porsche 914 also made an appearance in F1 in 1973, though not in the way you may think. The 1973 season saw several major accidents, including one where Roger Williamson lost his life at the Dutch Grand Prix. These accidents prompted the creation of the Safety Car, a job that a yellow Porsche 914 was first implemented on lap 32 at the Canadian Grand Prix to allow ambulances and track crews to enter safely. Marking a tradition of sports cars leading the pack under caution for decades to come.
Since the 70’s, the Porsche 914 has been in the racing and enthusiast world in various forms for decades and has become a true staple for enthusiasts of all kinds. From the weekend cruiser to nostalgia racing and purpose built time attack and road race cars. The 914 holds a special place in a lot of people’s hearts.
If your looking to get your Porsche 914 back on the road or to the next level, contact us today, and we can help you get a little taste of that racing heritage from behind the wheel.
Visit Our Porsche 914 Shop — Just Over an Hour from Salem
Martin Mid Engine
📍 25858 S Elwood Rd, Colton, OR 97017
📞 (insert phone number)
🕘 Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm
Just northeast of Salem via OR-214 through Silverton. If you're serious about fixing building the perfect 914, we are the shop for you!