Photo: Canepa

Jacksonville, FL — A fleet of a dozen of Porsche’s legendary 935 racers will join the May 23 Amelia Island Concours. The event’s full slate of activities, including a gala dinner for honoree Lyn St. James, gets underway Thursday and continues through Sunday.

The 935’s race resume include 12 victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. In 1979 the 935 entered the ranks of the immortals winning the most important endurance race of all, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That car, the Whittington/Ludwig LeMans-winning #41, will make its first trip to Amelia to serve as the historical centerpiece of the concours’ 935 class.

Descended from the Porsche Turbo Carrera, the 935 is the racing version of the 911, a sort of road racing Funny Car that over its long and productive life has driven through a catalog of rule loopholes in several different languages.

“The 935 is a glorious mutant and it may well be the ultimate Porsche because it has the silhouette of a 911 and the speed of a 917,” said Bill Warner, founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours. (Don’t miss a special interview with Warner in one of this newsletter’s featured videos, part of the Brumos Collections’ Inside the 59 Series.)

The 1979 Le Mans winner – from the collection of Californian Bruce Meyer — will share the Amelia’s field with other heavily credentialed Porsche 935 legends. Peter Gregg’s 1979 IMSA Winston GT-winning #59 set records in winning eight straight pole positions en route to victory in eight races to clinch the 1979 IMSA Winston GT title — his 6th IMSA crown. It will appear at Amelia in original unrestored condition, just as it raced in 1979 — with Gregg’s signature Black Watch tartan seat and custom machined aluminum billet shift knob — courtesy of the Brumos Collection in Jacksonville.