1969 Porsche 908/02 Langheck “Flunder” Spyder

Chassis No. 908/02.005
Engine No. 42
Gearbox No. 916/016
Paul Goppert may not be a name celebrated in the annals of Porsche history, but he very well should be. As the Public Relations Director of Martini and Rossi International of Germany, Goppert was an early advocate of motorsport sponsorship. By the late 1960s he had begun sponsoring Porsche racing privateers and their teams including that of Hans-Dieter Dechent who, at the time, was racing a Porsche 910. Dechent's small single car operation, German B.G. (Blau und Gelb) Racing Team, grew quickly with Goppert's help, adding the aerodynamically slippery Porsche 907 in 1969.
Such was the technical progression within the Porsche Werks team that they had quickly moved on to the 907's successor, the Porsche 908 the prior season. The 908 in all three forms was a direct evolution of the 907. It received a significant power increase by employing an enlarged 3.0-liter flat-eight cylinder engine, which also proved more reliable than the 907's earlier 2.2 liter flat eight thanks to a more conventional chain driven camshaft arrangement. The 908 was also the first sports racing prototype to be offered by Porsche in a variety of configurations direct from the factory. The initial version was a closed coupe best utilized at high-speed circuits like Le Mans and Spa. Later that season, in response to the FIA's decision to change the rules for 1969 to no longer impose any minimum weight limits for prototypes up to three liters, Porsche developed the 908/02, an open cockpit spyder. The 908/02 offered better visibility and less weight for tighter tracks like Brands Hatch and the Targa Florio's Piccolo Madonie, a true road racing circuit if there ever was one. This rapid development within the racing department was spearheaded by Ferdinand Piëch who loomed large over Germany's automotive culture from his time at Porsche all the way through the unveiling of the Bugatti Veyron.
1969 - Porsche 908/02 Chassis Number 908/02-005
Chassis number 908/02-005, the car on offer, began life as a works 908/02 Spyder factory team car. It was raced sparingly in 1969, first piloted at the Sebring 12 Hours, during which it was reportedly assigned to “Quick Vic” Elford and Richard Attwood. Starting from the back, the seasoned duo would ultimately place 8th overall in a crowded field of 70. The car returned to Porsche and, approximately one month later, 005 was reportedly used as a training car for the Targa Florio, the racing calendar's most prestigious road race. Often known as a “T-Car,” Elford's exploratory laps no doubt assisted him in improving the pace of the Porsche team that once again emerged victorious that year, their 4th Targa victory in a row. Towards the end of the 1969 racing season, Dechent's team, now known as the Martini International Racing Team, would be the beneficiary of Porsche's seemingly endless development largesse, acquiring chassis number 908/02-005, likely on loan from the Porsche Werks team. The season finale 1000 Kms of Zeltweg at the fearsome Österreichring would be its first entry under private colors as start number 10. Unfortunately, the seasoned pairing of Dechant and Gerhard Koch with their new 908/02 would end with a DNF and close out its short 1969 racing season. Nineteen-seventy, however, would prove much brighter.
1970
Over the 1969/1970 winter, chassis number 005's body would be reconfigured by Porsche. Having felt that the agile 908/02 was lacking straight-line speed, a new, almost fully enveloped 908 Spyder body was designed without a windscreen, with a new single-seat style cutout for the driver, and a raised door profile for a straighter flow of air between the front and rear fenders. In its classic “body-in-white” from the Porsche System Engineering motorsport department, the slippery shape appeared fish-like and immediately earned its Flounder or Flunder nickname.
Koch returned to race the updated 005 Flunder along with the speedy Gérard Larousse at the Sebring 12 Hours. Richard Attwood would join them 30 laps in, his own 908/02 disqualified for having received a push-start. Their collective efforts were rewarded with a 5th in class and 7th overall. The BOAC 1000 Kms at Brands Hatch ended with a 6th overall with Larousse and Koch again behind the wheel; an impressive showing with three 917s and a Ferrari 512 S finishing ahead of the 908. Gérard Larousse and Rudi Lins, both Porsche factory drivers, would share the cockpit over the next three races at Monza, the Targa Florio, Spa grabbing a well-deserved class victory in Belgium. At the Nürburgring 1000 Kms, the two Martini International Racing 908/02 Spyders would finish a fine 5th and 6th overall and 3rd and 4th in class, behind the factory's new 908/3 Spyders and a gaggle of Ferrari 512 S's in the Eifel mountains. With all eyes turning to the 38th running of the Grand Prix of Endurance at Le Mans, the Martini International Racing Team had plans to make their already fast 908/02 even quicker.
1970 24 Hours of Le Mans
Prior to Le Mans, Dechant's multi-car operation, with factory drivers, high placed finishes, and reliable sponsorship was already becoming a quasi-factory team. To prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hours, the longest race on the calendar with the outright fastest average top speed, Porsche System Engineering assisted Martini International Racing Team in clothing chassis number 005 in new Longtail or Langheck Flunder rear bodywork. The elongated bodywork also allowed for the addition of a special transmission oil cooler mounted for reliability, a factory modification thought to be unique to the 908/02 series of cars.
The 38th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans may be one of the most storied and chronicled of any the 91 races held, not only due to Porsche's dominance but, perhaps in the memory of many, it was the year Hollywood came to the Circuit de la Sarthe. The 1970 race provided the backdrop for Steve McQueen's movie Le Mans, with actual racing footage, some of which features 908/02-005, immortalizing the first laps of the race.
The growing Martini Team had not only entered both of their 908/02s in the 24-hour race but the world-famous “Hippie” 917 longtail for Kauhsen and Larousse as well. Such was Martini's newfound standing that all three entries received factory support. 908/02 Longtail Spyder chassis number 005, piloted by Rudi Lins and Helmut Marko would carry start number 27. The Martini team's sister car, number 28, remained in Shorttail configuration. In an unfortunate stroke of luck, the Shorttail number 28 would suffer a massive qualifying accident leaving the Longtail 908/02 the Martini team's only 3.0-liter class entry, qualifying in 22nd position.
Rain threatened the traditional 4pm start, yet it remained dry when all 51 entries blasted out on to the track and down the Mulsanne straight – all captured by the Le Mans movie camera car piloted by Herbert Linge. Within a number of laps, mechanical attrition began to take its toll. Weather, as it almost always does, featured during the race, with intermittent rain and storms throughout causing several retirements. Yet, the speedy and consistent driving from the Austrian duo of Lins and Marko, ideal for a 24 hour race, would begin to come to the fore. By midnight, 005 was in 6th place, leading the 3.0-liter sports prototype class, and assumed the lead in the coveted Index of Performance and did not relinquish it. Incredibly, 005 moved into 2nd place overall by 10 am the next morning! During a tire change shortly after taking 2nd place, a stuck wheel nut caused the 908 to lose three minutes in the pits. Another downpour with four hours to go preceded the inevitable rush to the pits for wet-weather tires and, once again, the right rear nut remained seized — another nine minutes were lost. With the finish in sight and the psychedelic 917 ahead in second place also belonging to Martini International, 908/02-005 crossed the finish line with a third place overall podium. It additionally secured the 3.0-liter prototype class victory, captured the index of performance outright, and took third in the Index of Thermal Efficiency.
It was a monumental result for the now semi-privateer team. The achievement of 908/02-005 was celebrated within the annals of Porsche and recorded by Hollywood's cameras as part of Steve McQueen's motor racing epic. Perhaps most importantly, it launched Martini International into the upper echelons of international motorsport less than a year after its formation, a veritable seismic shock within the motorsport community. Chassis number 005's season ended on a high note after a victorious Le Mans – now returned to short tail configuration – with a class victory at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours and third overall in a return to Zeltweg for the 1000 Kms of Austria, once again the season finale.
Post-competition History
By 1972 many Porsche 908s were suddenly pushed back into action due to the new 3.0-liter Group 6 Sports Prototype rules, with six of them entering Le Mans. Yet, it seems that 908/02-005 largely avoided the cut-and-thrust of further sports car battles and was acquired c. 1971 by Formula One and Porsche works driver, and well known Swiss car collector and trader Jo Siffert. This would begin a period of notable ownerships as part of several private European collections that would look after 908/02-005 for the next several decades. Following Siffert's passing, 908/02-005 would enter the collection of Hans Grell, a Swiss collector who would house it in his personal museum alongside some 120 other cars. From Grell, it traded to Peter Monteverdi, well-known for not only his eponymous Swiss automotive manufacture but his Formula One team as well. Next, gentleman driver Ernst Schuster acquired chassis number 005 and it joined his impressive collection of Le Mans-raced Porsches that included a 907 K, 908/3, 962, and a Carrera RSR 3.0 among others; 908/02-005 would see action at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2001...