somewhere in the vast pile of 914-6 documents i've amassed over the last 40 yrs, i dimly recall reading that the first racing sixes suffered significant chassis damage

- something to the effect that they "were nearly breaking off at the front half by the end of the race" (... at Nurburgring if dim memory serves)

this is prompted by a post by GMS about 0012 & when it got flares, etc - and having just read The Racing 914s book & noting the gripes by various rallye teams from several sources about the cars' flexy-ness:

one of the things the book does not get into was the cars that privateers were racing and rallying early on - many, likely "stock" 914-6s prepped only to the requirements of 1970's ADAC competition, which were minimal by comparison

it would save hours of searching my files if anyone can narrow down that reference! (i'm working on a story for our local PCA Drifter)

if the early chassis' were problematic, presumably Porsche noted that and then went about the GT reinforcing project ??

- or did they build 'em from the beginning with reinforcements based on the results of their own testing before any race cars were fielded (GT or other) ??

relative to this question - the first production GT was 9140430475 which Porsche displayed at RR-V 2015 (not driveable - see pic)

perhaps one of y'all know the production date -0475 ?

- (possibly there is a difference between "1st production" and "very 1st" of these 11 factory race cars??)

here are a couple pics of that factory #1 car - interesting for the things it does not exhibit, that we all take as "gospel" - fodder for the cognoscenti

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.TIA

this 914-6 shown is very special, a light weight version equip with a factory 2.2 injected 6 cylinder engine,used a factory track car in Europe road races. car was shown as a display was not completed at the time but was show because its a very special light weight factory race car with history, some metal stamping are half normal thickness

Ya know, I remember reading something in Pano many years ago about the Daytona winning Sunoco 914/6 GT being sold at the end of the 1971 season because the chassis was "shot". And I kind of remember something about Jacques Duvall switching back to a 911 for 1972 because it had a stronger chassis. I found one article about that car but there was no reference to chassis flex in it.

Interesting. Back in the mid to late 70s, the consensus was that a 2.4S was about the biggest engine that you wanted in a stock 914-6 chassis without reinforcing the chassis. Bigger than that, they would crack over the top of the half shafts. That engine made similar power to the GT race engine. What came first?

Charlie

the windshield cracked, if I remember correct

following up Larry.Lee's clues - i think i read that same story - am looking for it

- the Works cars construction began Oct 1969; and the first works cars ran at Nurburgring 31 May 1970 so they knew about the reinforcing issues by then, front & rear; (or were still learning...)

Long's description of "6 steel plates" is arguably different than what we have all come to understand as the "factory" 10-pc M471reinforcing kit

http://www.autoatlanta.com/Porsche-10-Piec...PN-BCS1006.html

here is relevant info from Brian Long's book:

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Well, that's a question for fduval, a member here, as he is Jacques Duval's son.

Francois, are you reading this?

additional factoids

The Porsche "Competition Parts List" has no reference to any chassis reinforcement plates
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5m5z4bls9z3l3m3/...nglish.pdf?dl=0

and best I can discern, neither does the FIA Homologation document (as best I can make out, not being a native German reader) (I am open to being enlightened)
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5m5z4bls9z3l3m3/...gation.pdf?dl=0

"cracking over the halfshafts" accounts for the 10-pc kit we know of

according to Long's book - Porsche did these 1972 chassis with bigger engines - no info about reinforcements

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Yep, here was the Factory Fix!

This is in the #2 Nurburgring car

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The Gemini blue metallic 1972 914-6 was at a NNJR-PCA event (picnic) in the mid 1980s. I remember looking it over, 2.7 RS engined with MFI, GT body, ignition in the steering column but a 914-6 serial number. Obviously quite a bit different than my #311 914-6. I had driven 2.7 RS engined 911's and could only imagine that power in a car 300 pounds lighter!

Charlie