‘Luckily, it hadn’t been touched and
was pretty much exactly as it left
the track in 1991, grime and all,’
says Paul Higgins, the owner of
Classic Revival. "Often old racecars
get modified, updated, repaired or
changed by intervening owners,
but that wasn’t the case with this
racecar, so we have been able to
document exactly the way it was
built by Brun. Because the car was
in such good condition we had to
replace very little. The tub is still very
straight and it has never been in any
major incidents."
The plan was always to restore it
sympathetically, keeping as many
original parts as possible, while
also making sure it was as safe
and reliable as possible. "A lot of
classic racecars have been rebuilt
or renovated and very little care has
gone into maintaining their originality
or authenticity," Higgins says. "We
wanted to make a car that could
compete in the present day, but one
which retained its original look and
feel. Whenever we replaced a classic
component with something more
modern we made sure that we could
reverse the process to preserve the
ultimate originality of this racecar."
It was stripped down while still in the
UK, with all parts cleaned, labelled
and inspected. Fortunately, apart
from the expected racing wear and
tear, there were no hidden surprises
as the team got further into the strip
down.
T H E X FA C T O R
The engine was then sent to Xtec
Engineering in Birmingham. "We had
known of Xtec’s reputation with turbocharged
Group C 962 engines, so
they were the only real choice for the
engine work. This was the first time
we had worked with them, but we
quickly developed a good relationship,"
Higgins says.
Once the racecar was stripped to
the bare chassis, decisions were
made with regard to the programme
of work. As the car was going to
be raced in the European Group
C historic series there are several
modern safety requirements that
needed to be met. All of the
suspension, uprights, steering rack
and column, pedals and wheels
were sent away for blasting and
crack testing, the fuel cell was
replaced with a modern certified
version and a new fire extinguishing
system was installed.
"The great thing about the Porsche
962 is that there are so many
of these running that it’s fairly
easy to get the parts for them,"
says Higgins. "There are people
The engine has been restored by UK-based specialist Xtec, which
also suggested the switch from a Bosch to a Motec ECU
“ T H E S E E N G I N E S A R E P R O D U C I N G A B O U T 9 0 0 B H P A N D
T H E Y T Y P I C A L LY R U N AT A B O U T 7 2 0 B H P I N R A C E T R I M ”
www.engineeringnews.co.nz 31
/www.engineeringnews.co.nz