This colorful beauty is called 906 Carrera 6 and is one of Porsche's best racing machines ever created. It could be overshadowed by the 917 series and of course the 911, but the 906 sports cars have a special place in the history of the brand. It was created as a follow-up to the already brilliant 904 Carrera GTS and surprisingly is both street legally and a homologated FIA racing car in group 4 and group 6. This means that it can enter a variety of competitions what it did, and also very successful! This special example is draped in the colors of the racing team Holland and is auctioned with RM Sotheby's.
A double sports life
The history of the 906 is one of two sides, since Porsche not only developed the car with several engines, which means that it has driven in different classes, but also built several factory prototypes and customer cars. And a number of them when the German manufacturer built 65 cars, 52 being sold to private racing teams and customers. It had a very simple reason because the FIA found that at least 50 cars had to be built so that they should be homologically homologically for its intended classes. For the 906 Carrera 6, this would come to the prototype class of group 6 and the sports car class of group 4.
The car was introduced before the racing season of 1966. It was built on a tube-steel play-room chassis with a remarkably slim design, a very low nose, a cut “comb back” rear section and a low cockpit with a circumferential windshield to increase the visibility to the outside. The body is made of fiber to reduce the weight as far as possible, and it is delivered with doors in the Gullwing style. Porsche also developed a number of titanium and magnesium components, which led to a car that only types the scale on an impressive 580 kilos. In order to meet Fias regulations as road and sports sports cars, a passenger seat was installed, and there was space for a spare tire and a luggage that was integrated into the design from the start, similar to the 917 when there was his debut a few years later.
It was developed by Ferdinand Porsche and Hans Mezger, and Group 4 customers were equipped with a 1.991 cmF flat-6 901/20 engine, while the prototypes were equipped with larger 6 or 8 cylinder engines to compete under the regulations of group 6. The 910/20 6-cylinder engine produced about 210 hp and made the 906 Carrera 6 for 2-liter courses in short and long races on closed circuits as well as HillClimb events and of course street races such as Targa Florio. Porsche even went so far to develop a special 906 mountain spyder (Mountain Spider) for Hillclimb races, although it was not as radical as the ultra-light 909 Bergspyder, which was built in 1968.
One of the many awards of the 906 is a class victory at the Daytona 24 hours from 1966, an overall victory at Targa Florio from 1966, the World Sportscar Championship in the same year and a 4th-5th. 6. Total and 1st-2nd-3. 24 hours in the 1966 LE Mans. During his racing career, it regularly defeated much more powerful and faster cars such as the Ford GT40 and Ferrari 4-liter P series cars, which stipulates its heir as one of Porsche's sizes.
Racing team in Holland 906
The Dutch racing outfit, which is known as Racing team Holland, decreased from the Porsche factory from Chassis 906-146 from the 65 chassis built. The team was headed by Ben Pon by the Pon Automotive Dynasty, the long-lasting (and still) importer for brands such as Volkswagen and Porsche in the Netherlands. The support for the racing team Holland also had a royal touch because several members of the Dutch royal family, including Prince Bernhard, had a deep love for cars and motorsport.
Just a few days after his delivery, Carrera 6 celebrated the racing debut in Zandvoort in Zandvoort, which was piloted for a first -class result by Wim Loos. What followed were a number of relatively successful races with Ben Pon, David van Lennep and Gijs van Lennep (two Le Mans winners) at the wheel of the lightweight sports car. These results included a victory at the trophy of the dunes from 1966 in Zandvoort, a podium finish in the Paris Grand Prix in Montlhéry and overall or class winner in Silverstone and Settertton.
Until 1968 the car was sold to Antoine Hiszemans, another very famous Dutch racing name, and to his StR team. In white with a red and blue strip as an allusion to the Dutch national colors (which is not orange that comes from the name of our royal family). The 906-146 won three more races with the Hisemanes at the wheel before they were sold again. The last race it entered was the 1971 Welschap race, in which it took second place with Arie Ruska behind the steering wheel. The possession changed several times after it had withdrawn from the race before the car was restored in 2005. It received a new 2.4-liter 911 engine with Weber Carburettors, but the original 1,991 CCM 901/20 Flat-6 engine is still a replacement by car. It is also delivered with complete papers, is registered in the Porsche Factory Archive and is confirmed as fully authentic.
This rather famous Porsche 906 Carrera 6, which ended again in the Holland Orange racing team, is auctioned at RM Sotheby's. The estimate is set to 1,800,000 EUR To EUR 2,200,000. Now imagine what one of the three 906 Carrera 6 cars, which took the 4th, 5th and 6th overall and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in class in the 24 hours of Le Mans from 1966! Probably a lot more, I imagine!
For more information, see RMSothebys.com.
Editorial note: The information and images used in this article come from and are taken with the approval of RM Sotheby's unless otherwise stated.
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