Some Porsches are special because of their limited production number or their special history. Take the Porsche 911 R from 1968 with rare and modified specs. That is one of the 19 lightweight units that was ever built, has a fully documented, unique combination of engine and body. The Porsche 911 R what matters is the car with chassis number 11899016R and number 16 from this rare series.
The Porsche 911 R was delivered on April 9 1968 to dealer Son auto in Paris, who delivered the car on 24 April to the company 'Les Danseurs' of the French entrepreneur and driver Claude Ballot-Léna. The documentation of the car mentions some details. A handwritten note indicates, for example, that the car would have an 170 hp strong engine. That should be 210 ... Other original Porsche documents show that the original engine (number 5080016) was replaced after 40 km by the engine with number 961770. The entry in the Porsche archive states dryly: "car converted from Type R to Type S."
Porsche 911 R. An idea from Ferdinand Piëch
The Porsche 911 R sprouted from, among others, the brain of Ferdinand Piëch. The weight saving was achieved through the use of thin sheet steel, aluminum, fiber-supplied plastics, Plexiglas and extra-thin normal glass. In addition, a heating system, interior trim and door handles are missing. An 911 liter carburation engine was installed in the Porsche 2.0 R, which generated 210 PK. And to prove its reliability, the Porsche 911 R drove in a row at 1967 20.000 kilometers on the Monza circuit.
Lightweight with the comfort of an 911 S
The Porsche 911 R was the car owner Ballot-Léna wanted, but with the comfort of an 911 S because he would use the car mainly on the street instead of on the circuit. The specifications of this special Porsche 911 R are also reflected in the official documentation: cover of the doors, floor mats and a normal passenger seat. This approach was remarkable, especially when you consider that a Porsche 911 R cost 45.000 German Marks at the time, almost twice as much as a standard 911 S, and excluding 10.000 DM conversion costs.
Second conversion
Ballot-Léna therefore opted for a car that was 70 kg heavier than the original and moreover had a less powerful engine. Already in June 1968, Ballot-Léna sold the car to driver Xavier Camprubi. He rebuilt the car into a Porsche 911 R and thus into the model as he was intended by Porsche: for the circuit. Camprubi had an 911 R engine fitted (number AT 961770) and all comfort items were removed again.
Fair doubts?
The current owner of the extremely rare Porsche 911 R is Kobus Cantraine. Two major modifications to the Porsche 911 R further raises doubts. Kobus found no evidence that this was not the number 16. This was supported, among other things, by official Porsche documents and by the purity of the stamped chassis number. Yet there remained doubt.
Doubt invalidated
Historical photos suggest that the car has undergone an undocumented body change in its racing career. And that would be plausible, because during the Rally de l'Hérault, driver Bernard Gnuva suffered a serious accident. All post-race photos show a clearly wider rear of the car. It is very likely that only the side panels of the car were replaced. The proof for this is provided by the open weld seam under the door, at the point where the sills and the side panels meet. And this typical R detail remained visible even after the accident.
Iconic status
After the accident, the car got its wider wheel arches and new metal doors. From 1973, the Porsche 911 R with No. 16 on the road was used by Jean Goncalves, Raymond Touroul and then by Pierre Bodin. The car was subsequently restored by a collector. Number 16 rode one race: the Tour of Cévenole in June 1969. The icon Gerard Larousse also used this car in preparation for the races he won. In 1969 he won the Tour de France Automobiles and the Tour de Corse with the Porsche 911 R (not with number 16 by the way). Larousse, who was reunited in 2016 with the Porsche 911 R number 16, gave this lightweight Porsche an iconic status.