935/78 Moby Dick

STORY

The Porsche 935 was a racing car developed for the FIA Group 5 'Special Production' category, derived from the 911 Turbo (930) and introduced for the 1976 World Championship of Makes, which it won on debut. Successive factory evolutions grew ever more radical, with Porsche exploiting the rules' freedom on bodywork to develop the flat-nose 'slantnose' front and, in the 3.2-litre 935/78 'Moby Dick', water-cooled four-valve cylinder heads and a stretched long-tail body good for over 360 km/h. The 935 became a dominant force in endurance racing on both sides of the Atlantic, winning countless IMSA and World Championship rounds through the late 1970s and into the 1980s in factory and customer hands. Its crowning achievement came in 1979 when the Kremer Racing 935 K3 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright, an exceptionally rare overall victory for a production-based silhouette car. Widely regarded as one of the most successful racing Porsches ever built, the 935's whale-tailed, riveted-fender silhouette remains an icon of the turbo era. In 2018 Porsche revived the name with a limited 991-based track special paying homage to Moby Dick.