www.QV500.com - Porsche 964 Part 10: 964 Turbo S LM
 
To participate in some of the major invitational races that catered for GT cars in 1993, Porsche built this, the 964 Turbo S Le Mans. Based on the road-going Turbo S introduced at the Geneva Salon in March 1992, the LM made its debut at the Sebring 12 Hours exactly a year later and won its class first time out. Initially, only one car was manufactured, a works machine to race at Sebring and then the Le Mans 24 Hours, but a handful more were later completed for customer teams to use in 1994. The racing chassis was equipped with rose-jointed suspension featuring shorter and stiffer springs and dampers, ride-height being dropped substantially as a result.
   

Thicker anti-roll bars were adjustable from the cockpit, Bosch developing a race-tuned ABS system especially for this car. The 18-inch centre-locking BBS wheels were X-inches wide at the front and 12 at the rear, the relatively narrow back rims having been the maximum width permitted by the ACO for Le Mans. Air jacks were also installed along with an oil tank in the front luggage compartment and Unibal steering mounts. The engine was basically a thinly veiled unit from the 962 and ran in the 4.5-litre category. Using two turbochargers at 0.9 bar meant a displacement of 3160cc whilst each turbo was forced to incorporate a 34mm air restrictor. Output was 475bhp at 6000rpm, the five-speed gearbox coming with an oil pump, cooler and spray lubrication. Many super lightweight panels were used for the bodywork, these including carbon fibre bumpers, sills and spoilers, the massive twin plane fully adjustable rear wing now coming with an integral engine intercooler. Plexiglas was used for the side and back windows, additional driving lights being sunk into the front bumper.

The interior was comprehensively stripped of all soundproofing material and any superfluous trim, Porsche installing a solitary Recaro bucket seat with six-point harness, a roll cage, a 120-litre fuel tank where the back seats would originally have been and a complete fire protection system. Weight was stripped down to just 1050kg, around 100kg less than the 3.8 RSR. Top speed was 192mph whilst 0-60 took just 4.5 seconds. As mentioned earlier, the works Turbo S LM won its class first time out at the 1993 Sebring 12 Hours. Its next outing was at Le Mans where the opposition was considerably stiffer. The 24 Hour race was not a success, a throttle return spring breaking in the second hour and instigating lengthy repair work. Despite fighting back into contention by the evening, the LM crashed out whilst trying to avoid a slow Debora Alfa SP93 prototype. Afterwards, a handful of customer cars (some with 3.6-litre engines) were sold to highly rated customer teams. Of these, the crack Larbe teams performances were the most notable, their FAT Turbo-backed entry placing second at the 1994 Daytona 24 Hours and later taking wins in the BPR series at Paul Ricard and Jarama.