The Very Best from the Rennsport Reunion

The Porsche Rennsport Reunion V 2015 was held September 24-27 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California. The second West Coast appearance of Rennsport Reunion saw more than 300 Porsche race cars battle on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course on the Monterey Peninsula.

Hosted by Porsche Cars North America, the world’s largest gathering of Porsche race cars featured a wide variety of historic racing models, from the nimble 550 Spyder of the mid-1950s through the mighty 917 and 956/962 of the Seventies and Eighties to the successful RS Spyder of the last decade. A record crowd of 57,531 enthusiasts witnessed the unprecedented display of Porsche motor racing history and heritage.

Porsche celebrated all things “Porsche at Le Mans” at Rennsport Reunion V 2015, making Jacky Ickx and Hurley Haywood an easy choice for Co-Grand Marshals. The two most successful racers for Porsche at the 24 Hour race in France, one from each side of the Atlantic Ocean. The Belgian won the world’s most famous long distance race six times, with the American notching up three victories. Moreover, Haywood won the Daytona 24 hour race five times.

The Porsche Factory LMP1 team was a special ingredient of this year’s Porsche Rennsport Reunion V. Direct from its overall victory at the Lone Star Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, the 919 Hybrid, the first overall winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans since the 911 GT1-98 did it in 1998, was on display and making demonstration laps. Over 10 current factory drivers were also on hand, including Patrick Long, Jorg Bergmeister, Mark Webber and the 24 Hours of Le Mans winning pair – Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy.

The guest list for Porsche Rennsport Reunion V revealed names well entrenched in Porsche Motorsport history. Derek Bell, five time winner for Porsche at Le Mans; George Follmer, Can-Am Champion in the mighty 917/10; Vic Elford, Monte Carlo and 24 Hours of Daytona winner, on back-to-back weekends; Hans Hermann and Richard Attwood, first overall winners at Le Mans for Porsche in 1970; Hans Stuck, Danny Sullivan, and many others. Overall, there were eleven Le Mans winners among the 50-plus legendary drivers on hand, signing autographs and making appearances over the three days.

As it should be, a great selection of Porsche race cars took center stage at the 2015 Rennsport Reunion, including several brought in from the museum in Stuttgart:

1962 Porsche 718 W-RS – Porsche’s first two-liter, eight-cylinder vehicle nicknamed “Grandmother” because it competed from 1961-1964; class victories in the 1962 Targa Florio and 1,000-kilometer race at the Nurburgring; dominated the 1963 and 1964 European Hill Climb Championship with driver Edgar Barth
1971 Porsche 917 LH – Built specifically for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the long-tail version of the Porsche 917 is one of the fastest cars ever seen at the 24-hour classic; hit over 240 mph in race trim on the 3.7-mile Mulsanne Straight in 1971
1987 Porsche 962 – Porsche introduced a new three-liter engine at the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans that both maintained reliability and increased horsepower; the result was a sixth consecutive Le Mans victory
1995 Porsche WSC95 Spyder – Overall winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both 1995 and 1996, the third time in Le Mans history, and the second time for Porsche, that the exact same car had consecutive victories at Le Mans
1998 Porsche 911 GT1-98 – Achieved the record 16th victory in 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998

On track there were 320 Porsche racing cars in seven race classes. The groupings ranged from a special class for the Porsche Club of America to run groups ranging from 356 and 550 Spyders, to the 917 and modern 911 RSRs. In addition, IMSA’s 911 GT3 Cup Challenge series held their last two rounds of their one-make race series, crowning the series champion at Rennsport Reunion V.

In addition, there were 1,400 Porsche cars on display in the Porsche Club of America corrals, over 75 Le Mans significant race cars on display in the Porsche Heritage tent, and cars from prominent Porsche collectors such as the Revs Institute, Brumos Racing, Gunnar Racing, the Ingram Collection and Canepa Design.

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Similar to the 2011 race, Sports Car Digest also documented the 2015 Porsche Rennsport Reunion V, with Senior Photographer Dennis Gray producing the following outstanding images from this year’s Porsche-focused event. We split up Dennis’ pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery and race results can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs. To see more from Dennis, visit HistoricMotorPrints.com/.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion V 2015 – Featured Photo Gallery

Chris MacAllister – 1969 Porsche 917K Coupe.

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Porsche Rennsport Reunion V 2015 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Two