A brief history of the Dauer 962 LM

Dauer 962 Lm 

An un-heard of car that could out perform a McLaren F1, as it was built on the Porsche 962 Le mans car.  This car had such outstanding performance as it took a different approach when compared to the other early hyper cars, it was a Le Mans car built for the road. To understand the success of the Dauer 962 one must note the success of Porsche 962 in group C class in Le Mans and all the other endurance races along with its  predecessor the 965 were well renowned in the endurance race scene. Porsche built 150 962’s and sold it to other privet racing teams and certain individual customers, knowing the amount of strain an endurance car goes through Porsche built a parts supply that would suffice all the racing teams. One of the most famous teams that used the parts or chassis from the 962 was the Schuppan motor sports who later on produced 5 Schuppan 962 cr. amongst these teams even Dauer was one such team. The Daure 962 was showcased at the 1993 Frankfurt auto show.

The engine

The engine was a flat 6 2994 cc, twin turbocharged engine that produced 730bhp @ 7400rpm and torque was 517 lb @ 5000rpm. The 0-60 mph mark was hit in 2.8 seconds and max speed was 238 mph. the turbochargers had independent intercooler systems, Bosch Motronic 1.7 engine management system controlled the ignition and injection. With an extraordinarily-high compression ratio of 9.0:1. All these facts translated to an astonishing 240hp per litre, without doubt Dauer’s performance figures were questioned, and all these questions were answered once the Dauer hit 251.0 mph at Volkswagen's Ehra Lessien test track in November 1998.

 The Dauer weighed only 1080 kg and had an excellent aerodynamic drag at merely 0.31, which was easily achieved in wind-tunnel work by eliminating the excessive downforce from the Porsche race car. The chassis was nearly unchanged from the Porsche Group C racer - steel tubular space frame covered with Kevlar body, very professional for its time, if not as rigid as McLaren's carbon fiber monocoque. Power was sent through a 5-speed manual gearbox to no-nonsense double wishbones. Springs were made of titanium, while dampers were height-adjustable like Porsche 959. When the car was running at high speed, the driver had the ability to lower the ride height by just turning a switch to a switch, thus making better use of the ground-effect under tray to enhance stability. (Host note: sorry if the above section went to deep into each and every part of the engien, but this is one car that I absolutley geeked out on, thank you. Back to the story). 

Interiors you ask?

The car had air-conditioning, leather seats, and ABS. Yet all this is overlooked by the large number of problems that occur due to its true nature, that is a group-c race car. The interior was like a spruced up race car interior which was hiding the rawness of a race car. Also the interior was very cramped. The rear visibility was zilch and the Dauer was manufactured in an era when revers cameras were not an option.  

What prevented it from being well recognized?

The major factor was that people were more interested in the McLaren F1 as it was  comfortable and surprisingly reliable, was attractable to look at plus it was designed for the road and the track. The F1 was still the king in terms of technology. Hence the Dauer 962 lm was less recognised.

The current value of the Dauer is around 1million pounds today (not accurate don't quote me). It is still a lovely car to look at, and is much rawer than the McLaren F1, and a car that deserves to be driven hard on the track.