Porsche at Norisring 1980

The #8 Kremer K3 Porsche 935 entered by Dick Barbour and driven by John Fitzpatrick, in the pit lane ahead of the 1980 Norisring race. The author, Martin Raffauf, is at the car’s right front wheel

The Race for the Pork Cutlets… The end of June 1980 was a busy time at Dick Barbour Racing. We had just run at Le Mans with two Porsche 935 cars, chassis 009 00030 and 000 0023. Car 000 0023 was a brand-new Kremer K3 that had just been picked up the week before in Germany. Chassis 000 0009 sat in the paddock as a spare/parts car the whole week in France, as it had run the Nürburgring 1000km at the end of May, where it had won Group 5 and finished second overall.

John Fitzpatrick stands alongside the #8 Dick Barbour Kremer K3 Porsche 935 before the start of the 1980 Norisring race (note the wet track)

Chassis 000 0023 finished fifth overall at Le Mans and won the IMSA class. Although it led at the halfway point overall, during the night it developed a chronic misfire, and eventually lost a cylinder, but did manage to finish. Unfortunately, 009 0030 dropped out with engine failure.