STUTTGART, Germany — On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the 1981 rally season, the Porsche Heritage and Museum department surprised the two-time world champion Walter Röhrl with the newly restored 924 Carrera GTS from back then.
With his co-driver Christian Geistdörfer, Röhrl achieved four overall victories in the gold-and-black 924 “Monnet” in the 1981 German Rally Championship.
It was the first and only rally season that Walter Röhrl competed for Porsche.
Vehicle faults caused problems for the Porsche team in the first of seven races, the Metz Rally in May 1981, but the performance was still good enough to finish in 2nd place in the overall standings. Röhrl and Geistdörfer were then victorious in the Hessen Rally, and three more wins followed in the Serengeti Safari Rally, Anterior Palatinate Rally and Baltic Rally.
In 1982, the “test car 924 GTS” was handed over to the Porsche museum. Recommissioning of the museum piece took place in the same location where the car was built 40 years ago: in the historic motor racing department in Weissach. The goal was to preserve the traces of time and the special stages on asphalt and gravel.
The 924 Carrera GTS Rally built on Dec. 12, 1980, was also one of the pre-series vehicles and was the fifth of nine prototypes built. The installed two-litre four-cylinder turbo engine was also a test unit: it was an engine without serial number that survived a complete rally season without damage in 1981, and still propels the black-and-gold 924 to outstanding performances in 2021.
Apart from wearing parts, a number of chassis components and the fuel supply system, the existing components were overhauled, rebuilt and installed again without exception during the recommissioning process – from the original 911 Turbo brake calipers through to the charge-air cooler with hand-welded housing.
An endoscopic examination of the engine and connected KKK 26 turbocharger did not produce any findings, while the gearbox was dismantled and checked for safety reasons, but showed hardly any signs of wear.
The car still bears the handwriting of those who built it. When carrying out the work, the Weissach specialists were able to call on the experience, know-how and complete vehicle documentation of a former colleague: Roland Kussmaul, test driver, engineer and a rally driver himself, had built the car within two months for the German Rally Championship in 1981, while Schmidt Motorsport from Nuremberg was responsible for service work during the races.
“The biggest problem in recommissioning the car,” says Kuno Werner, head of the museum workshop, “was not the technology, but keeping it secret.” The plan was that the 924 Carrera GTS should turn up at the front door of the two-time World Rally Champion on his 74th birthday. “But Walter Röhrl knows so many people here that it was difficult to keep the project secret.”
Together with Roland Kussmaul, the team from the Porsche Heritage and Museum department surprised Walter Röhrl with the roadworthy “Monnet” Porsche.
“It was a huge surprise for me. I stepped out of the car 40 years ago and haven’t sat in it again since. So I was astonished when Roland showed up all of a sudden in this car,” said Röhrl. “This car opened the door to Porsche for me. That is why I feel a particularly close bond to it. For me, it’s a journey back in time. I immediately feel 40 years younger.”