Porsche 935's in Australia

[Jim935]

Hi,
I have just come from the local panelbeater shop in Mandurah WA.The proprieter had a photo of John Pollard's 935 on the wall and when I enquired about it he said that the 935 was residing in Mandurah with Mr Pollard.

Hi all

My father bought the Pollard 935, it's now in the UK going through a complete rebuild. We're doing some big changes to make it a better car, I'll post some pictures I have of it. I'll soon have pictures of the modifications, and I'll put on updates of it going back together. I've actually been trying to put a history of the car together for my dad, so any info or pictures you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated, as it's difficult getting info from this side of the world.

Attached files

[loser]

Hi Jim, welcome to the forum.. Good to hear the car still survives. Sorry for us that it's not here in Australia. D'OH! I have some pics somewhere around here from Sandown maybe 95/96? I think i've also got 1 or 2 posters still lying around. I remember taking a few pics of Pollard making blocks of dry ice in the back of his truck to put in front of the intercooler for qualifying. See if i can find them for you..

[jd yort]

Welcome to the forum Jim.

Agree with Loser. Sad that it has left our shore but good news that the car still exists. Would love to hear how it ended up in the UK? What year etc. It pretty much dropped off the face of the earth here in Aus after 95/96. I have a few bits and pieces on the car, race reports etc plus a bit of footage of when it raced (which was not that often).

[2002 turbo]

Welcome Jim935!

Thanks for the update on the car, solves another mystery!
Pity we can't see it here in Australia anymore but its good that it will be on track again, you'll have to put footage up on Youtube!

That would be awesome to see what upgrades you are doing to the car and to hear how it runs for you guys over in the UK.
What class will it run in in the UK, Historic GT or something like that against all the old Group 5 type cars?

[Jim935]

Hi Jim, welcome to the forum.. Good to hear the car still survives. Sorry for us that it's not here in Australia. D'OH! I have some pics somewhere around here from Sandown maybe 95/96? I think i've also got 1 or 2 posters still lying around. I remember taking a few pics of Pollard making blocks of dry ice in the back of his truck to put in front of the intercooler for qualifying. See if i can find them for you..

Thanks for the welcome, it's such a relief to find some guys that remember the car. Those pics would be great thanks. I've only been able to put 25k pics on this forum, could you send them to my email james.goodwin5@btinternet.com

Do you know if John Sheppard still does cars? I contacted Rusty French, he supplied the bodywork for the car, but didn't know much about the build.

The pics below are before we took it apart, it's now had a flat floor put in and the cage has been beefed up, we're copying most of the detail from an original Kremer K3 (bottom pic).

Attached files

[Jim935]

[quote]Welcome to the forum Jim.

Agree with Loser. Sad that it has left our shore but good news that the car still exists. Would love to hear how it ended up in the UK? What year etc. It pretty much dropped off the face of the earth here in Aus after 95/96. I have a few bits and pieces on the car, race reports etc plus a bit of footage of when it raced (which was not that often).

Thanks for the welcome. My dad bought it about 2 years ago from another guy in the UK, I'm not sure where he got it from or when it came to the UK, I'll do some digging. Was it a competitive car? It was put together well and has the proper flat fan engine and upside gearbox. I should have plenty more pics soon. Anything you could send me would be excellent, I'd very grateful.

[Jim935]

Welcome Jim935!

Thanks for the update on the car, solves another mystery!
Pity we can't see it here in Australia anymore but its good that it will be on track again, you'll have to put footage up on Youtube!

That would be awesome to see what upgrades you are doing to the car and to hear how it runs for you guys over in the UK.
What class will it run in in the UK, Historic GT or something like that against all the old Group 5 type cars?

Thanks for the welcome. I'll take some footage as soon as it hits the track, although I think it will probably do very few races as the cost of engine and gearbox parts are scary to say the least. It's done nothing for years, so we'll start with a track day and see how it goes from there. I dont actually know what series would take in the UK, it would probably end up in odd historic events, it would be great to do classic Le Mans, but they only take original entrants.

[jd yort]

Hi Jim,

This is what I could find.
- The 935 was launched to the public in mid June 1992 after an 18 month build time. Original intention was for the car to run at the Gold Coast Indy Carnival Support Event (March 21st 1992) but was not completed in time.
- The intended first race was Winton on October 18th as support for Formula Ford Festival. Unsure if it did actually race. I think this meeting was intended to be the first for the proposed new Sports Sedan / Transam / TraNZam / GT Series

1993
- Calder 14.02.1993 on a hybrid course. DNF'd in at least one of the two races.
- Gold Coast Indy 21.03.1993. In Race 1 it qualified 6th and finished 5th. Unsure of Race 2.

1994
- I have no clippings that mention it running in 1994 at all.

1995
- 2 separate championships this year. Australian Sports Sedan Championship which was contested over 4 races at 2 rounds and the Thundersports Championship which had a 4 round series. John Pollard along with Keith Carling was the driving force behind the split.
- Rd1 Sandown Feb 5th. Unsure if it did race
- Rd2 Gold Coast Indy March 19th. Competed (broke down in at least one of the two races)
- Rd3 Eastern Creek May 28th. Entered but failed to complete a lap with a broken harmonic balancer in one of the two races.
- Rd4 Sandown (Sandown 500 Support). Entered. Unsure if it did race.

CAMS pulled the pin on the series after this and the 4 Thundersports cars (Whincup - Chev Monza, Perry Spiridis - Porsche 935, Mark Williams - Mazda RX7 and Pollards Porsche) I think were ruled ineligible for points from 1996 onward on the the Sports Sedan Championship. The Williams Rx7 was probably the only car that did run regularly after that date. I would not be surprised if your 935 never raced again after 1995.

Anyone have anything else to add?

[loser]

Hi Jim,

This is what I could find.
- The 935 was launched to the public in mid June 1992 after an 18 month build time. Original intention was for the car to run at the Gold Coast Indy Carnival Support Event (March 21st 1992) but was not completed in time.
- The intended first race was Winton on October 18th as support for Formula Ford Festival. Unsure if it did actually race. I think this meeting was intended to be the first for the proposed new Sports Sedan / Transam / TraNZam / GT Series

1993
- Calder 14.02.1993 on a hybrid course. DNF'd in at least one of the two races.
- Gold Coast Indy 21.03.1993. In Race 1 it qualified 6th and finished 5th. Unsure of Race 2.

1994
- I have no clippings that mention it running in 1994 at all.

1995
- 2 separate championships this year. Australian Sports Sedan Championship which was contested over 4 races at 2 rounds and the Thundersports Championship which had a 4 round series. John Pollard along with Keith Carling was the driving force behind the split.
- Rd1 Sandown Feb 5th. Unsure if it did race
- Rd2 Gold Coast Indy March 19th. Competed (broke down in at least one of the two races)
- Rd3 Eastern Creek May 28th. Entered but failed to complete a lap with a broken harmonic balancer in one of the two races.
- Rd4 Sandown (Sandown 500 Support). Entered. Unsure if it did race.

CAMS pulled the pin on the series after this and the 4 Thundersports cars (Whincup - Chev Monza, Perry Spiridis - Porsche 935, Mark Williams - Mazda RX7 and Pollards Porsche I think were ruled ineligible for points from 1996 onward on the the Sports Sedan Championship. The Williams Rx7 was probably the only car that did run regularly after date. I would not be surprised if your 935 never raced again after 1995.

Anyone have anything else to add?

Good work JD.. It did turn up for the 95 Sandown 500 support race. It qualified well up the front. I'm pretty sure with the dry ice on the intercooler for qualifying they used to crank the boost right up. Then in the race the thing was nearly 2 seconds a lap slower than it's qualifying time. From memory it finished somewhere midfield in the first race, had a turbo drama in the second race and went home early. I'll try and find the program etc. but my filing is nothing on JD's..