Porsche 924 Turbo

Nearly every spare moment for the quartet was spent preparing the cars with Heigo roll cages, reinforced front wishbones and rear suspension, ventilated disc brakes, a five-speed transmission, a spare ignition system, dual fuel pumps, and front fender flares to cover the rally car’s wider 15-inch five-lug forged Fuchs wheels. Sufficient sponsorship from Datacom, an electronic data processing company, was landed by Janda who was the Sales Manager of Porsche Spindler in Würzburg. In fact, so dedicated was the team that Kussmaul spent 600 hours of unpaid time on the cars alone!

As the 924 Turbo only just hit the assembly line, their turbocharged Monte-Carlo hopes would hinge on a production number of 400 Type 931s produced by the new year, yet a metalworkers strike would ensure that this would not be. Ever the politician, Barth lobbied the FIA to waive the homologation requirement but, in the end, the Datacom 924s would race with naturally aspirated engines.

Historic images on file show the two 924s resplendent in their Datacom livery with chassis number 0015 crewed by Janda/Ristl in start number 48 before the start of the first special stage. To further show the team’s commitment to the regulations and creative thinking, the Rallye Monte-Carlo plate was riveted over the NACA hood duct and other model specific-features undone. As history would show, that year’s star rally would feature a snowy start with rain and warmer weather throughout. While Barth and Kussmaul would go on to finish 20th overall and 4th in class, number 0015 would record a retirement due to shock absorber issues with Janda choosing to stop the car. As a proof-of-concept, especially without the use of turbocharged engines (the homologation was complete just one week after the event), the Datacom team left the rally elated with two undamaged cars and an incredible feat accomplished in just four months.

0015 – Safari Rally

With the Monte-Carlo experiment successfully completed, the team turned its attention to the brutally demanding 1979 Safari Rally, by which time the 924’s 170-horsepower turbocharged engine was fully homologated. Once again entered with factory approval (even Race Director Peter Falk flew down to assist); the Safari would prove a trial by fire. Even though 0015, as start number 26, was upgraded with more power, front headlight guards, front water-crossing flaps, and a passenger-side Bosch spotlight, shock absorber failures from stress due to punishing terrain leading to broken transaxle joints ultimately forced retirement for both Datacom 924 Turbos.

The rally provided invaluable lessons—hard-won knowledge that underscored both the ambition and resilience behind Porsche’s first turbocharged transaxle rally cars. It further underscored the rally car’s forward thinking motorsport foundation, one that no doubt influenced Porsche to undergo the engineering of the 924 Carrera GT/GTS, racing GTR, and later the 944 Turbo Cup that was so influential in returning Porsche to a customer sport company, later paving the way for the numerous highly-successful 911 GT3 Cup championships.

0015 – Post-Competition

With both cars returned to Germany, paperwork offered with the sale of the car reveals that Barth handled the sale of chassis number 9248100015 to the world-famous French Porsche distributor Sonauto in December 1980. According to Jürgen Barth, L19 was acquired as part of a Paris-Dakar attempt and is likely why the turbocharged engine was removed and replaced with the naturally aspirated variant it retains to this day. Yet the trek through France and multiple African countries was not to be, and the car returned to Barth who placed it in the internationally recognized Technik Museum Sinsheim where it remained until 2022.

That year, Jürgen Barth, once again, guided the fate of this historic Porsche 924 Turbo, selling chassis 9248100015 to the consignor, a highly regarded collector of “one-off” special Porsche cars of significant importance. Naturally the Datacom 924 slotted in among Porsche’s finest racing and Sonderwunsch examples reflecting both sides of that same collection for Barth’s strong-willed desire to take Porsche back to international rallying in the late 1970s.

Today, this rare 924 Turbo development car turned Rallye Monte-Carlo and Kenya Safari Rally racer is offered as a nearly untouched artifact from its days rallying in the late 1970s. It is incredibly original with its battle-tested components and original “924 L19” internal number sticker and as a result of its incredible “as-raced” presentation it will require thorough sorting depending on its newest owner’s wishes should they include a return to the road or historic rally stage. In fact, given its well-known Monte-Carlo history, the Turbo Porsche would no doubt be welcomed with open arms by Ferdi Porsche and his FAT International Ice Race team in Zell am See, Austria or their Big Sky, Montana event that looks to be an annual fixture.

In furtherance of its original Turbo development and Safari Rally specification, L19 is offered with a spare turbocharged M31/01 924 engine should the new owner opt for a boost in power. In addition, this 924 Turbo Datacom rally car is offered with an impressive history file with its original German Fahrzeugbrief, historic paperwork, digital and physical race imagery and more.