From ‘72T to 2.5 S-R: GeLo Racing #44

[matteo68]

So, here's the 'rari tyre jack kit with ultra-rare Stafor centrelock wrench:









Doesn't look like £5k's worth of stuff to me, but apparently that's what they fetch and what do I know?!...

[hashman]

All the best with your build, just love an ST.

Karl

[rich73]

Looks like a great project, do you know if the #44 car still exists?

[matteo68]

No, I have no idea unfortunately. It's probably sat in a barn or a garage somewhere in the world looking very sorry for itself and not much like an S/T anymore. I do know that its engine ended up in period in another S/T (911 230 1195) owned and raced by Toni Fischhaber but have no idea how that came about, nor what happened to the chassis afterwards.

I have done as much research as I possibly can on it to date, but this still remains very much incomplete (I have no photos of the interior for instance). However it appears that it was delivered in Tangerine with chassis number 911 230 0955 and engine number 6622034 (2,492 cc, type 911/70 long-stroke) to a Gunther Chrzanowski on 1st March 1972 by Porsche dealer Schulz of Dusseldorf - information provided to me in a rather expensive 2-paragraph letter by one Jurgen Barth (but as we know he is not totally reliable...)

I believe that it was then rented to Georg Loos for him to compete in several rounds of the World Championship of Makes and European GT Championship, as well as Le Mans 24 hours. However whilst he entered a total of nine races, he only turned up for five of them and never appeared for the World C'ship of Makes round 6 (Spa 1000 kms) on 07/05, European GT C'ship round 3 (Zandvoort) on 18/06, World C'ship of Makes round 10 (Zeltweg 1000 kms) on 25/06 and European GT C'ship round 5 at the 'Ring on 30/07.

- 03/04/72: European GT Championship round 1 - Nurburgring 300 kms: finished 10th - car #107 (no photos available);

- 16/04/72: European GT Championship round 2 - 25th Grand Prix Paris (Montlhery): finished 5th - car #17:





- 25/04/72: World Championship for Makes round 5 - Monza 1000 kms: DNQ - car #46:



- 28/05/72: World Championship for Makes round 8: Nurburgring 1000 kms: DNQ - car #61 (no photos available)

and

- 11/06/72: Le Mans 24 hours: DNF after 8 hours with crankshaft failure - car #44 (although it ran with #78 in practice until Georg Loos' co-driver Pierre Greub withdrew, and Jean Sage, who was entered with another 911 S with #44 in practice, joined Loos and Franz Pesch for the race and brought the #44 with him to the GeLo car:




It may well have been returned back to Chrzanowski later in 1972 and whilst I have discovered from a Wikipedia entry that states Chrzanowski started a Porsche racing team in 1974 with a 911 S/T (in fact the team still exists - http://www.chrzanowski-racing.de), I do not know if this was the same S/T that he rented to Loos.

The reason why I chose this car? Because when I decided I wanted to build a '72 S/T replica, I was very fortunate to discover that my T was originally delivered in Tangerine (my favourite colour) and GeLo #44 was the only factory-built 2.5 S/T also delivered in Tangerine which ran at Le Mans (in fact the only other M491 was the Toad Hall Keyser/Barth Light Yellow S/T #41, which finished 13th). I've also always had more than a passing interest in all the fantastic cars that Georg Loos went racing with in the 1970's including 512M, 917/10 TC, 2.8 RSR, 934 RSRs and numerous 935s, all resplendent in that distinctive red and yellow livery...

[RobFrost]

Of all the photo options, I found adding the Tapatalk app to my phone and uploading any photos directly from my phone the easiest. It starts out free but after a certain number of photos they start billing you about 70p a month. Effortlessly uploading posts with photos from my phone while pretending to watch a romcom on the tv? Priceless.

[matteo68]

Thanks Rob.

Flickr seems to be working pretty well for me so far - 1000 free photo uploads and easy editing and IMG sharing functions too. App and website both allow sharing to DDK although I find the website easier for this.

[matteo68]

Just a quick update today:

In an attempt to get the T engine running with a view to offering it for sale, Angus discovered that the non-standard CIS metering head and various other parts of the fuel system were all seized having stood for decades and no amount of release oil would free them up. He then concluded it wasn't going to run on the CIS without spending a lot of unnecessary time and money on it (principally because it's not originally a CIS engine), so he hooked up a single VW 'bus carb to it and managed to get it to run for a few seconds - it span over okay and had oil pressure at cranking speeds which was positive. However then it backfired (as these CIS are prone to doing apparently until properly set up) and therefore we abandoned any further work and decided to drop it out so we can get going with the strip-down of the car in earnest in the New Year.

The crank-cases, P's & C's, camshafts, heads etc are probably all okay (but no investigation undertaken obviously), and someone could fit a set of carbs to it if they wanted a euro-spec 2.4T engine for a project car.

[matteo68]

Some nice ally bits sorted: new rear panel just arrived at Greatworth (thanks 210bhp! ) and a barn find '73 rear lid and grille in Belgium secured thanks to eagle-eyed Billy Bean on Porsche Parts group on Facebook. That's a rare WTB sorted a lot quicker than I was expecting - I owe you for that one Kirk!

[RobFrost]

Where did you get the alu rear panel, and what make is it? Been waiting nigh on 6 months for one from Design911. About the 6th delivery date came and went 10 days ago.

[majordad]

Gunter Chrzanowski is still alive and trading /:racing I bought my 993:RSR from him in 2005. I’ve contact details if you need them.

I’ve also got a reproduction aluminium engine lid on my 2.4 s which is for sale as I’m replacing it with a steel one.

[matteo68]

Don't know! You'll have to ask Mike! I think he's had it for a while. Restoration Design do one though: https://www.restoration-design.eu/rear- ... -911s.html

[Lightweight_911]

.

I've got an original that came with a 'job lot' of competition parts I acquired years ago.

It needs some repairs though ...

.

[matteo68]

Gunter Chrzanowski is still alive and trading /:racing I bought my 993:RSR from him in 2005. I’ve contact details if you need them.

I’ve also got a reproduction aluminium engine lid on my 2.4 s which is for sale as I’m replacing it with a steel one.

Thanks. I am in touch with Georg Loos' namesake, who runs a GeLo Racing Team fansite (http://www.loosfahren.de) and when we discovered the Chrzanowski connection, he said he only lives about 30kms from Lagenfeld where Chrzanowski Racing are based (not far from Dusseldorf).

Georg made contact with a Mr Vita there who told him on the phone that Guenther Chrzanowski senior doesn’t remember anything about chassis numbers etc. Apparently at that time everything was 'cash and carry' and very dynamic with a number of players involved like Tebernum and Kannacher. Notwithstanding this, Georg went to see Mr Vita back in October and this is what he told me following his visit:

"I visited Chrzanowski Porsche garage today. All people there are younger and born later than 1972, therefore nobody can remember what had happened 72 to 74. Most probably it was even the father of Guenter Chrzanowski who bought the ST and rented it to Loos, but he died in the 80s. Most properly Guenther Jr will not remember, but Mr. Vita will ask him. At least I got 2 photos of the Chrzanowski ST from 1974, one shows the color red with open door. I will get 2 more photos by e-mail. But there is no proof that this is chassis 0955."

Apparently the last photo is of Guenther Chrzanowski getting out of his S/T in 1974:

[rich73]

Hi There,
Aluminium centre panel looks nice, what are you plans for the corner pieces? Are they available in ST profile or are you getting something made? I’m planning on using a one piece rear bumper but interested to see what other options there are.
Thanks

[matteo68]

Thanks!

I believe that ‘72 S/Ts had OEM steel rear quarter bumpers (there was no fibreglass rear bumper/ 1-piece section listed in the Nov ‘71 Porsche competition spare parts list) and Angus has kindly let me have a very good, straight and sound, steel set in original gold paint that he was keeping for a special car:



Mine will have reflectors as per GeLo and the factory ‘72 S/T rear photo and have no overriders on the rear panel: