Schuppan 962CR: The Group C Road Car

In the history of endurance racing, the Porsche 956 and its successor, the 962, are absolute royalty. They dominated the Group C era of the 1980s, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans a staggering seven times combined. They were pure, unadulterated racing machines characterized by massive aerodynamic ground effects and reliable, incredibly powerful turbocharged flat-six engines.

Naturally, these cars were never intended to be driven on the street. However, in the early 1990s, an Australian racing driver named Vern Schuppan—who had won Le Mans in a Porsche 956 in 1983—decided that the ultimate road car shouldn’t just be inspired by a Le Mans winner; it should be a Le Mans winner.

The result was the Schuppan 962CR. Built with the tacit blessing of Porsche but entirely engineered and funded by Schuppan’s own company, it was a multi-million-dollar attempt to legally put a Group C prototype on public roads.

The Chassis: Reynard Carbon Fiber

The foundation of the Schuppan 962CR was based directly on the Porsche 962 racing chassis. However, Schuppan did not use the original aluminum tub designed by Porsche.

Instead, he commissioned Reynard Motorsport (a legendary British racing chassis constructor) to build a bespoke carbon-fiber monocoque. This tub was actually stronger, stiffer, and lighter than the aluminum tubs used in the factory race cars.

While the suspension geometry and the engine mounting points remained identical to the Group C race car, the track was slightly altered to accommodate road-legal tires.

The Design: Taming the Prototype

The bodywork of the Schuppan 962CR was entirely unique. Designed to look more like a high-end supercar than a stripped-down race car, it featured smoother, more rounded lines than the angular 962.

• The Headlights: The massive, flat headlight covers of the race car were replaced with smaller, circular projector units.
• The Rear: The “longtail” bodywork required for the Mulsanne straight was shortened. The massive racing wing was integrated more smoothly into the rear bodywork, though it still dominated the car’s profile.
• The Cabin: The tiny, claustrophobic bubble canopy of the race car was slightly enlarged. It featured normal, functioning doors rather than the complex upward-hinging units of the race car.

Despite these modifications to make the car look slightly more civilized, the 962CR was an incredibly wide, low, and intimidating machine.

The Engine: 600 Horsepower Water-Cooled Flat-6

Powering the Schuppan 962CR was an engine lifted directly from Porsche’s motorsport department.

It was a 3.3-liter (3,294 cc) Type 935 flat-six engine. Unlike the early 956s which were air-cooled, this later 962 engine featured fully water-cooled cylinder heads.

It was fitted with twin KKK turbochargers. Because the car did not have to comply with the strict FIA fuel consumption rules or restrictor plates that choked the race cars, Schuppan’s engineers tuned the engine to produce a reliable 600 horsepower.

Power was routed to the rear wheels via a traditional 5-speed manual transaxle. Because the car weighed just over 1,050 kg (2,315 lbs), the performance was utterly terrifying for a road car.

The Schuppan 962CR was claimed to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in roughly 3.5 seconds, and had an estimated top speed of 370 km/h (230 mph)—making it one of the absolute fastest cars in the world upon its introduction in 1992, rivaling the McLaren F1 which was still in development.

The Interior: A Compromised Cockpit

Schuppan attempted to make the interior luxurious, fitting leather seats, air conditioning, and a high-end stereo system. However, there is only so much luxury you can graft onto a Group C chassis.

The cabin remained incredibly cramped. The driver and passenger sat virtually shoulder-to-shoulder. Because the car retained the right-hand-drive, right-hand-shift configuration of the endurance racers (designed to give the driver better visibility on clockwise circuits), it was deeply unconventional to drive on the street. The ride was punishingly stiff, and the noise from the solid-mounted flat-six engine was deafening.

The Financial Collapse

Vern Schuppan planned to build 50 examples of the 962CR. The asking price was an astronomical $1.5 million in 1992—making it one of the most expensive cars in history.

The project was heavily backed by Japanese investors. Unfortunately, just as the cars were entering production, the Japanese “bubble economy” spectacularly burst. The primary financial backers went bankrupt and defaulted on their payments.

Unable to secure funding to continue production, Vern Schuppan’s company was forced into receivership. In the end, it is believed that only six examples of the Schuppan 962CR were ever fully completed (including prototypes).

Today, the Schuppan 962CR is a mythical unicorn in the hypercar world. It represents a brief, insane moment in time where privateers attempted to blur the lines between Le Mans and the local high street, resulting in one of the most extreme, uncompromised road cars ever created.