{"id":6498,"date":"2019-07-22T08:24:41","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T10:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-143.com\/?page_id=6498"},"modified":"2023-02-21T11:38:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T14:38:32","slug":"porsche-956-3-spark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/porsche-956-3-spark\/","title":{"rendered":"Porsche 956 #3 &#8211; Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/porsche\/race\/porsche_956_3_03.jpg\" alt=\"956 #3\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><strong>1983 Porsche 956<\/strong>\nPilots: A. Holbert, H. Haywood, V. Schuppan\nTeam: <em>Porsche AG \/ Rothmans<\/em>\nRace: 1st overall (Class C) at Le Mans in <strong>1983<\/strong>\nSpark - 43LM83 (resin) <\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-medium-gray-color has-text-color has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Published 07\/22\/19<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">The 956 debuted in 1982 at La Sarthe with a bang: on its first year, it finished <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/porsche-956-1-2-and-3-rothmans-set-hpi\/\" target=\"_blank\">1-2-3<\/a>. And to make things even better for Porsche, it also won in the other four classes that year. So for 1983, the expectations for the 956 were quite high. The Rothmans Team was again a works team, and they had four cars in the race. Car #33 was in fact a camera car, that would shoot the race for a film about Le Mans. However the producer had financial troubles and the film was postponed, so Rothmans deleted the car from the grid. Interestingly, Vern Schuppan was transferred to 956 #3. The 1983 car was a little different from it&#8217;s predecessor. It now used a Bosch Motronic electronic fuel injection and variable suspension geometry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/porsche\/race\/porsche_956_3_04.jpg\" alt=\"956 #3\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Visually speaking the 1983 car is identical to the 1982 model.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As expected, the race was an in-house affair between the 956s. In theory Lancia\u2019s LC2 should pose a challenge to the 956, but their Ferrari engines just couldn\u2019t take it. However, the winner was only decided on the last lap. The 956 #3 was in the lead and had one lap on the second place car (Bell\u2019s 956 #1). It would be a smooth win for <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"#3 (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/tasmanrevival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Le-Mans-winner-1983.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">#3<\/a>, but then it&#8217;s engine started to overheat. With Holbert on the wheel, 956 #3 had to slow down to a snail\u2019s pace. With that, Bell gained a lap and Holbert\u2019s engine finally seized almost at the finish line. In desperation, he was able to re-fire it and managed to crawl over the line, just 17 seconds ahead of the 956 #1. A short few meters after the engine gave up the ghost for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/porsche\/race\/porsche_956_3_01.jpg\" alt=\"956 #3\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Very few brands allow you to have a complete liveried car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Never a single car model dominated Le Mans like the 956 in 1983. At the start there were eleven 956s, and only two of them failed to finish. But most impressive of all, of the first 10 places, only ninth was <em>not <\/em>a 956. Something like  that has <strong>never <\/strong>happened before and very doubtfully will ever happen again. So you can say 1983 was a true \u201cPorsche 956 Fest\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/porsche\/race\/porsche_956_3_02.jpg\" alt=\"Decals!\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Almost done.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So\u2026 I got myself another 956. And a Rothmans winner, nonetheless. Being from Spark, the Rothmans livery does not come applied to the car, and come as decals. After around 10 minutes of effort the model was with a complete livery. One of the reasons I love Spark is their commitment to collectors like me that cherish historically accurate models. And, of course, making true gems in 1:43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/porsche\/race\/porsche_956_3_05.jpg\" alt=\"956 #3\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Handsome devil, ain&#8217;t he?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1983 Porsche 956 Pilots: A. Holbert, H. Haywood, V. Schuppan Team: Porsche AG \/ Rothmans Race: 1st overall (Class C) at Le Mans in 1983 Spark &#8211; 43LM83 (resin) Published 07\/22\/19 The 956 debuted in 1982 at La Sarthe with a bang: on its first year, it finished 1-2-3. And to make things even better &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/porsche-956-3-spark\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Porsche 956 #3 &#8211; Spark&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6498","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6498"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15171,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6498\/revisions\/15171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}