1994 Porsche Schuppan 962CR
Chassis No. AS962CRP2

– Road car of Group C base
– Full Carbon body
– Only 6 cars were produced
– Gold interior and Yellow exterior

“Group C Runs Through the Town”

The Porsche 956/962C is arguably the most successful race car in the history of 24 Hours Le Mans. Once a driver gets himself into the cockpit of this road-going racing car which inherited the basic body structure, chassis, and powertrain thereof, he should not be able to help feeling as if he is driving a Le Mans winner car on Les Hunaudiers.

The facts that a small-diameter steering wheel and an H-patterned shift gate are both positioned on the right-hand side of the cockpit should prove that the origin of basic structures of vehicle is a true race car.

It takes a little bit of getting-used-to in order for a driver to get in and settle himself into the tight bucket-seat. Stepping on the seat surface without hesitation and then slipping into the seat would probably be the smoothest way.

The floor-hinged pedals are just like a race car. Manipulating the clutch pedal smoothly in this car can be as tough as doing so in a real race.

It was first registered back in 1997, then the ownership was transferred to the last owner who is a collector of super car in 2007.

It was originally finished in silver, but the last owner modified the car based on his preference: repainting the body in yellow and refinishing the interior with gold leather upholstery. The striking color coordination was the result of careful consideration and consultation.

Besides the cosmetic alteration, more vital mechanical sections were most carefully and thoroughly maintained.

The service was done by HRS (Hasuike Racing Service). The President/Owner Kazumoto Hasuike went to England in his early 20s after saving up money from being a truck driver in Japan with the ambition of becoming a professional race mechanic one day. He went on to join the race car constructor “GRD” and eventually became a skillful mechanic.

From 1974 to 1976, he was invited to work for the “Project 4” (later known as MP4) led by Ron Dennis, now known as the CEO of Mclaren Technology Group, and got involved in European F2 series. After coming back home, he worked as a chief engineer of an entirely domestic F1 car “KE009” and he has been building his successful career as a race engineer ever since. He is indeed a “walking dictionary” of races and race mechanics.

The vehicle is retrofitted with necessary daily equipment such as an air conditioning, a navigation system, an ETC, and a kill switch. Also, the rear cowl was given alteration to mount a rear-view camera.

The body received minor adjustments to pass mandatory vehicle inspections in Japan and the headlights were replaced with brighter units.

Normally, the front and rear cowl have to be taken off in order to be serviced in its original state, but those were modified with an easy-to-open cowl system, simplifying the access to mechanical sections.

Since the exhaust sound of fascinating race car exceeds permissible level in Japan, an exclusive silencer is installed to lessen the volume. This vehicle also carries a custom made 3-point-suspension hydraulic jack.

The vehicle has passed the Japanese car inspection and therefore, it is allowed to be driven on the public roads. However, it must be carefully handled due to its race-car-derived performance. It is truly an awe-inspiring machine for a skilled owner to drive the way it is supposed to be driven.

We hope a new owner to enjoy the ride of this vehicle created by Vern Schuppan with passion of Porsche. Driving the car will be the reminder of an exciting race scene from 1990s.

“History of Schuppan 962CR”

The reason for this car to be called as “Schuppan Porsche” is because it is built by an Australian Porsche’s great works driver, Vern Schuppan based on 962C which is the best Group C car and designed as a road-going car.

Vern Porsche, he was not only Porsche’s works driver but took part of developing racing car as well. He won Le Mans 24 hours race in the overall class with Number 3 Rothmans-colored 956 in 1983. In the same year, he participated in Endurance Race which started in Japan and won the first championship.

Porsche 956 introduced to the public in May of 1982, so Schuppan suddenly reached his top career in Porsche. With the honor and by encouraged by the power of unbeatable machine, “Team-Schuppan” was established. To start the race activities in Japan was the beginning of today’s Schuppan 962CR.

There were three best models existed, 956, IMSA’s GTP version 962, and 962C, the total evolutional model.
Other than the length of wheelbase, monocoque length, is being different between each model, they are almost the same.
Even though it is highly competitive in world class racing machine, the vehicle was widely known as a strongest car for nearly 10 years. Because of that, there are many cars that various modification was done by private parties and there must be a story for each modified car. Schuppan 9962CR is also one of them.

Once Porsche announced that they will stop supporting the works of 962 in late 1980s, Porsche users with reserved power demanded continuance of the support. As for Porsche, they could not back off so easily knowing that there is still a chance of success and because they had been supplying 962 to many private parties.
They supported by supplying parts, engine, monocoque, and also provided the supporting team as well at the end.

Some of powerful team had not only modified the body parts but begun to build original monocoque body under the support of Porsche. It is no surprise that Vern Schuppan, a former works driver of Porsche was the one of those people, because he had strong tie with works team.

Porsche had announced to stop the works activity in 1988 (later they returned in Joest-racing) and Schuppan produced aluminum monocoque body just like the works car following year.
In 1990, he used an outsourcing company, Advanced Composite Technology, to produce monocoque made by Carbon Fiber Reinforce Polymer and the design was originally drafted by Porsche.

At the end, 962 racing car with CFRP body was never viewed in public, but luckily Schuppan received a great idea from Japan where super car was on high demand because the country was at the peak of economic inflation.

The idea of creating a road car by using carbon and aluminum monocoque developed for 962C, installing racing engine made by Porsche, and designed in the original state was implemented by Schuppan as Japanese Art Sports.

This new car was called Schuppan 962CR because it is 962 C road car type. The price was about 200 million Japanese Yen and that was the most expensive super car at that time.

There were some other super cars which had took after the design of race cars such as Koenig and Dauer. However, the design of 962CR was completely different. 962 kept the taste from 956 and wore fully original style made of carbon. The only hint of being a racing car is canopy style design of cabin.

Because of that, an acrobatic skill is required to be seated in the driver’s seat as if you were to do so in a racing car.
In order to make like a road car, the car is made with two modified seats and the interior is covered with leather. Even though H-pattern shifter is installed, the view from the driver’s seat is identical to C car.

The specification of engine is: IMSA type; 3.3L; air cooled flat; V6 DOHC 24-valve, and 600PS. This output is based on boost pressure of 1.2 bar, and it is fixed true output power. From the perspective of durability, increase from 2.65L to 3.3L was necessary and this change is beneficial for driving public road in long run. The maximum speed is recorded as 370km/h.

Gearbox is all synchronous 5-speed manual made by Porsche. Suspensions, front and back, is equipped with double wishbones, coils, and shock absorbers with stabilizer.
The basic layout is the same as 962C except suspension geometry, spring rate, and shock absorber are changed to be suitable for public roads.

Needless to say, the tires and wheels are chosen specially for public road: 255/35ZR18 in front and 345/35ZR18 in rear; all Dunlop; wheels are five-spork center and the spinner of center-lock spinner is shaped in hexagon. A tool kit for desorption is also included.

Only 6 cars were manufactured, and it is said that 3 of them were imported to Japan.