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Fly Porsche 911 #18 Daytona 1966 - Fly 25th Anniversary Series
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Fly A2502 Porsche 911 #18 Daytona 1966 - Fly 25th Anniversary Series. RRP £54.95. Available for Pre-order

This little Porsche is an important one. It was the first 911 to win a major international circuit race - the GT2.0 class at the 1966 Daytona 24 hours.

       

Porsche were taking the 1966 Daytona 24 hours very seriously - and Jack Ryan's 911 wasn't part of those plans. Daytona was to be the debut for the brand-new 906 2-litre sports prototype. Driven by Hans Herrmann and Herbert Linge, the 906 won its class - but the 911 was probably the bigger story, especially for the history books.

       

Ryan had bought the 911 (chassis 300-128) just a few months before. The car was previously a demonstrator at Brumos Porsche - and had been one of the first pair of 911s to arrive in the US back in December 1964. It had clocked over 30,000 miles in the next eleven months. Ryan - a VW dealer in Atlanta - teamed up with Lin Coleman and Bill Bencker to drive the car at Daytona. Ryan added a custom-built exhaust, a basic roll bar and extra headlights - and saved some weight by ditching the radio and the passenger seat. Otherwise the Porsche was virtually stock, right down to the brakes.

Porsche didn't want Ryan's private 911 to race. Team manager Huschke von Hanstein tried to persuade him to withdraw, but - legend has it - Ryan replied, “It’s my car now and I’m entering it.” Ryan had legally acquired the car; the 911 had been built in accordance with the rules and accepted by the organisers. Starting thirty-ninth in a field of 59, the little 130bhp Porsche 911 worked its way up the field to lead the 2-litre GT class. Now von Hanstein took interest, even offering Ryan assistance from the factory team.

The number 18 didn’t need any assistance. The 911 was running like a charm. The team refuelled regularly, checked the oil level, and changed drivers and tires as necessary. Ryan, Coleman and Bencker went on to finish sixteenth overall, completing 548 laps on the 3.81-mile track, and winning their class. The only other production-based car to come in ahead of them was a Roger Penske-entered L-88 Corvette with a 7-litre V8 and 540 horsepower. Von Hanstein was delighted - the Porsche 906 had also scored a class win and taken sixth overall behind four Ford GT40s and the Ferrari 365 P2.

   

After multiple changes of ownership, the car was donated in 2013 to the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida. This historic 911 is now part of the Miles Collier Collections, alongside many other significant Porsche sports cars. Amazingly, the car remains almost as it was in 1966 - with the original engine, transmission and the custom exhaust. The passenger seat and radio have been re-fitted.

   

The Fly 25th Anniversary Series model will undoubtedly be in demand with Fly and Porsche fans. The car is available for pre-order at Pendle Slot Racing and other Fly retailers.
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