Porsche has restored and reunited the 962 C racing car with its original driver Hans-Joachim Stuck – decades after the two last met.
It is 35 years since the now 70-year-old won Germany’s prestigious and fiercely contested ADAC Würth Supercup.
Over the last year-and-a-half, car from the Porsche Heritage and Museum department has been carefully restored to its original 1987 condition by Armin Burger and Traugott Brecht from Historic Motorsport, who were jointly responsible for the rebuild.
Burger said: “We kept passing this car in the warehouse. Then, about a year-and-a-half ago, we decided to get it out of there, transfer it to Weissach (where the vehicle was first built) and start working on it.”
At the beginning of the reconstruction work, Burger invited Norbert Singer, race engineer at the time, and designer Rob Powell, the man responsible for the car’s black, yellow and red livery, into the historic motorsport workshop to see the work, with Powell bringing along the original stencils and design sketches.
During the inaugural series for Group C sports car prototypes, Stuck tested the then-new Porsche dual clutch transmission (PDK) at racing speed. The vehicle’s appearance changed before the second race, the Norisring 200 miles, when Shell came on board as a sponsor. Porsche also competed in yellow and red the following year and Stuck worked hard to successfully defend his Supercup title.
This 962 C then began its second life as a test car in the aerodynamics department at Weissach, later serving as a reference vehicle for the sports car manufacturer’s corporate collection.
Stuck, who donned his original racing suit for the reunion, says he has nothing but fond memories of the victorious car with the racing number 17.
“”It feels like coming home,” he says. “For me, the time with Porsche was the most successful of my entire career. The 962 C was one of the few cars I was allowed to drive on my own, without team-mates and with exactly the setup I wanted. You never forget a car like that.”
Achim Stejskal, head of Porsche Heritage and Museum, said: “By arranging this reunion after more than three decades, we have not only surprised Hans-Joachim Stuck, we have also taken a little journey through time. The history of the motorsport story surrounding the 962 C is unique.”
The 962 C made its first public appearance recently at the Porsche Museum’s digital Sound Night, and will make more appearances over the coming year, with driving and presentation events planned for the upcoming 40 years of Group C anniversary.
