The 928 – Miscellany…

The 928 versus the 911
Some sources, including the Porsche factory and “Project 928″ book by Julius Weitmann and Rico Steinemann, maintain that the 928 was designed to be Porsche’s flagship model, intended to replace the 911 like the 911 had replaced the 356. As such, they feel that the 911 was a better sports car than the 928. In fact, the 928 was marketed to a different customer base, neither competitive with the 911 nor totally capable of supplanting it.

While a similar vintage 911 in the hands of very skilled driver could match the 928 on a track, the 928’s more predictable handling, more even dynamics, balanced 50/50 weight distribution, and more powerful engine meant proved it a competent on-track match for the 911. It was easily capable of out-accelerating all but the 964 generation 911 Turbo, which is notoriously difficult to drive at the limit. This performance, combined with the 928’s more luxurious standard features, more compliant highway ride, and an overall comfort level allowing it to be driven for hours on end without fatigue made staked its claim as Porsche’s best all-around vehicle, if not its most sporty.

Porsche 942
The Porsche 942 was a special edition 928 given as a gift to Ferry Porsche on his 75th birthday in 1984. Its also known by name 928-4, 928S[2]. It featured 10 in (254 mm) longer wheelbase than normal 928 production model, including an extended roof above the rear seats to better accommodate tall passengers, at the time very advanced projector headlights, the 5 liter 32 valve engine before it was introduced in US market, and S4 front and rear bumpers two years before they entered production.

In 1986 Porsche together with tuning company AMG made few long wheelbase 928 specials. Unlike 942, these had normal 928 headlights. One was presented to American Sunroof Corporation (ASC) founder and CEO Heinz Prechter. ASC was later partly responsible of making Porsche 944 S2 cabriolets.

The Max Moritz ‘Semi Works’ 928 GTR
Porsche’s Racing Department never officially entered or prepared a racing 928 for a pure works entry.Only once Porsche decided to make it obvious to the 911 enthusiasts that they usually tended to underrate the racing genes of the 928. Porsche then “arranged” this 928GTR to compete against the then dominant 911(993GTR) on the race track. In order not to offend sensibilities of their traditional 911/993GTR customers by officially challenging them with an outright Works – 928GTR, Porsche asked Max Moritz Racing, their long time private racing partner from next door Reutlingen to enter this 928GTR Cup as a ’semi-works’ car.

It didn’t come as a surprise that the drivers were: Bernd Mayländer, Manuel Reuter (Porsche Works Pilots), also Harm Lagaay (then Head of Porsche’s Design Studio).
Vittorio Strosek sponsored MM with his Lightweight-Body-Parts and racing exhaust.
The car was officially entered by Porsche-Club-Schwaben.
Homologation minimum weight had to be, and actually is 1,370 kg (3,000 lb).

Lagaay reports, that the car was very competitive and able to hold most 993GTR down, although the engine was no more than fine-tuned after chosen from a set of high power output specimen in Weissach.In the last race of the season at Hockenheim a crank-bearing ran dry. As the car was supposed to race in 1995 as well, she was made ready to continue her successful competition in the 1995 season. A fresh engine was installed, selected from the same lot of high output engines and tuned as before. In 1995 Porsche’s 928 production came to an end, and the car consequently was not raced in the new season.

The late Max Moritz himself then had her join his collection of historic cars. She was not put on the road again until after his death, when the family sold the car in October 2004 – with only 24500 km on the clock (Porsche-Weissach is the only documented owner).