Porsche Racing Across Europe in Classic 911 This Summer

It is a great time to be at PorschePorscheGermany, 1931 > present43 models
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. The company had one of its best financial years ever for fiscal year 2012 and is just beginning to introduce a whole new family of racecars. Its iconic 911Porsche 911Germany, 1963 > present6 series
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is also celebrating its 50th birthday this year. To celebrate that milestone, Porsche has prepared a 1965 911Porsche 911Germany, 1964 > present1 photo
to go race at classic car events across Europe this summer. Porsche calls the car 'Project 50.'

Porsche Cars Great Britain Motorsport is preparing the car, and it will be sent to the Porsche Classic workshop near Stuttgart for final checks. It is an original 1965 short-wheelbase, right-hand drive, version that was originally sold in Italy in 1965. A 2.0-liter flat-six engine with 130hp powers it. After living in Italy for a while, it was sold to a buyer in the US and was then imported to the UK in the 90s. That is when it was converted to race duty.  

The early, short-wheelbase cars are quite rare. Of the over 800,000 911s that Porsche has sold, only 6,607 of them were the 1964 to 1968 short-wheelbase cars. 

It will race at the Nürburgring OldTimer GP, Silverstone Classic, Goodwood Festival of Speed and more. Drivers of the car will include 1970 Le Mans winner Richard Atwood and 2003 Carrera Cup Great Britain Great Britain winner Barry Horne. 

Porsche estimates that the 911 has won 20,000 race victories in the last half-century. This year Porsche returns to factory racing for the first time since 1998 with the 911 RSR that it will campaign in the World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans. For 2014, Porsche will return to prototype racing with a factory-backed car in the LMP1 class, and it plans to debut the car to the public later this year.