In a bid to promote the 914 series, the decision was taken by the management of Stuttgart to develop the machine for competition; after all, sales would undoubtedly increase on the back of any successes just as they had done with all previous Porsche production models.

The 914/6 GT
This was officially nothing more than the standard 914/6 fitted with the optional R-package; indeed, to prove the point, all 12 of the works-prepared cars carry production 914/6 chassis numbers. However, because of its FIA homologation in the two-liter category for Special Grand Touring cars, the name 914/6 GT was quickly coined.

In addition to the works vehicles, a large number of cars were converted to GT specification for customers, either by the factory or privateers from Porsche-supplied parts. The 914/6 GT was available in three versions: a customer car for competition/fast road work; a track racer, and a rally model.

These Models were not cheap. At a time when the standard 914/6 cost DM 19,980 (quite a lot of money), the basic customer car was priced at DM 24,480, whilst the full-blooded racer was nearly double that at DM 44,480. The rally car was somewhere between the two, costing DM 28,480, but specification was high in all cases.

On the racer, the two liter Carrera 6 engine was used with Weber carburetors and twin spark ignition. The internal dimensions were the same as those already in use on the 914/6 (ei an 80 x 66mm bore and stroke giving a 1991cc displacement), but the cylinder bores, heads, cams, cranks, con rods, and pistons were all substantially different, and the compression ratio was far higher. Power was transmitted through a transaxle sourced from the 904.

Throughout the GT series many braking components were sourced from the 911 range, although the front brake calipers came from the 908 on works-built racers. Heavier lower wishbones were developed for the front suspension, and various anti-roll bar combinations were made available. Uprated shock absorbers and a slightly different suspension geometry completed the transformation.

The wheels were Fuchs forged alloys (usually 7J width at the front, 8J at the rear) hidden under steel wheelarches 50mm wider than those found on the standard cars. (this being the limit allowed by the FIA regulations.) A 100 liter petrol tank was added on the racer, leaving little room in the front compartment for anything other than the spare wheel.

The chassis was braced at the front and rear with six extra strengthening plates; the roof panel was bolted in place to add rigidity to the structure and give the car better claim to being a true GT; after all, if the roof could be removed, it wasn't a closed car. In addition, a bar running across the suspension towers braced the chassis at the front, and stabilizer bars were fitted in the rear compartment.

The front and rear lids (the latter with larger grilles) were made of fiberglass with balsa wood members in order to make them lighter, and perspex side and rear windows were used for the same reason. Fiberglass one-piece bumpers replaced the originals, and the interior was naturally stripped-out to the bare minimum (even the inner door panels were replaced with a simple strap), racing seats, and a roll bar.

Bringing The Porsche 914/6 GT to Power & Glory

Graphics are nice, but what is the 914 like to drive?
The car is one of the most underrated Porsches ever released. As a matter of fact, legend goes that Porsche was more than careful to never provide a stronger engine than the 2.0 liter one, because they where afraid that the car could be faster than the firms flagship 911 carreras.

The mid engine configuration, gives a fantastic turn in and big amounts of traction. It also has balance, plenty of grip and the short wheelbase offers great agility, although it will bite you back if you overdo it. The engine is not very powerful but it's not either too weak. The early 70s tyres, although still treaded, are much better in both grip and precision, than the old 60s ones. Together with the wide rims, they make the car very precise, but still permit nice drifts and good feedback. All of this, make this car probably one of the best cars for starters, but it can also make you to never want to drive other cars again... you have been warned.

For Power&Glory v2.0 we are simulating not only different tyre makers and compounds, but also the legendary sonauto entry of 1970s 24 hours Le Mans race, that used narrow rims on the same tyres. This solution, transformed the car's handling in less precise but much more predictable, giving to the drivers the opportunity to blast through the all wet race and achieve a 6th overall place and 1st among all GTs, just behind the five front runner prototypes of Porsche 917K and Ferrari P512S! A truly epic accomplishment for the little under 2 liters car. Check the 1970 24 hours Le Mans race results
Try it for yourself in rain conditions and see how much more predictable the car is from the ones with the wide rims.

Finally some screenshots

The Ford Mustang first appeared in 1964 and was immediately popular for its style and its capabilities.

Ford turned to SCCA racing to stir even more popularity for the car, and wanted a performance version of the Mustang that could go after the Corvette in SCCA B Production racing, so it tagged Carroll Shelby to build one, to fit competition rules.

Shelby-destined fastback body style Mustangs began life on regular Ford production lines, but they were assembled without hoods, grilles, rear seats, exhaust systems, or emblems. The cars arrived at Shelby-American's Los Angeles facility with stock 289-inch, 271-horse V-8s, but they were soon treated to the Texan's recipe.

Since the Mustang would be packing extra power (306 hp), the rest of the components were modified to respond appropriately. Chassis improvements included relocating the front-suspension mounting points and installing Koni shocks, traction bars, larger antirollbars, and special Goodyear Blue Dot tires on 15-inch steel or aluminum wheels.
Items scrounged from Ford's parts bins included 11-inch front disc brakes, larger drums at the rear and special bracing under the hood.

A quote from Motor Trend magazine's original test of the GT350 (May '65) stated: "Handling is much improved over even the best-handling, kit-equipped, normal Mustang. There's so much cornering force that the idiot light came on and the gauge wavered due to oil surge in the sump."

As planned, Carroll Shelby also developed a lighter, race-ready GT 350R with the same engine specs as competition Cobra 289s. That meant a nominal 340 bhp (up to 380 bhp in some examples) - surpassing an outstanding 1.17 bhp per cubic inch.

In order to qualify for SCCA homologation requirements, 100 examples needed to be produced by January 1st, 1965. Amazingly, the cars were ready to go by the due date, all painted in Wimbledon White livery with Guardsman Blue stripes. Well, they weren't entirely ready but they did pass the inspection.

7 GT-350R's sit in the Shelby factory lot, 1965

The car won its first race ever in February of 1965 at Green Valley, Texas. The GT350R would go on to win SCCA races in Lime Rock, Connecticut, and Willow Springs, just to name a few. It was raced with a lot of success both in American and European events.

A total of 562 Shelby GT350s were built in 1965, 37 of which were the lightweight race or "R-model" cars.

With the Shelby-ized potent engine bellowing through a loud side exhaust, close-ratio aluminum four-speed with steep differential, quick steering, competent suspension and big brakes, the GT 350 was pure performance nirvana.

It was the right car at the right time, putting Ford on the SCCA racing map, and leading Shelby to a promising future modifying Mustangs.
Shelby went on to produce many more Mustang variants later, including the big block GT 500s but, to the cognoscenti, the first one was the purest, being the "R-model" version regarded as the most special of them all.

A common sight in 1965: Wimbledon White with Guardsman Blue stripes 
SCCA B/Production class Shelby, mid corner.

Bringing the GT-350R to Power & Glory

A general clean up of the body was needed to bring the cars back to their period state

The external changes made are:

• New Front bumper style with different vents
• Removal of passenger side mirrors
• Roll cage changed for 60's style roll bar.
• Removal of other non period items, such as cut off switches, and towing hooks.

Of course there have been changes inside the cockpit too.

• Brand new "Stewart Warner" period style gauge set and needles.
• Brand new Moto Lita period style wooden rimmed and leather wrapped steering wheels.
  
• Deletion of front roll bars, electric boxes on dashboard, as well as other non period items.

Physics

Two models are available to drive within Power & Glory 2.0. The SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) version, and the CASC (Canadian Auto Sport Club) version which ran a different set of guidelines and rules to their American counterparts.

Certainly a heavy car, but extremely fun to drive. Although the car shows some understeer in "turn in" phase, you can easily eliminate it by pressing the gas pedal and instantly achieving a very nicely controllable power on oversteer. You can keep some incredible wide angle drifts with this car, but the key to go fast here, is to not overdo it with the gas and manage to keep a slight oversteer that points you at the turn exit. Keeping the differential lock heavily preloaded, will certainly help you achieve this kind of driving style and indeed the differential has two options with just a hint of preload and another one heavily preloaded.

As easy as the the car control is, you better be a bit more careful under heavy braking. The rear drums can and will overheat sooner than the front disc brakes. This also means that they will also arrive at their optimum temp before the front disc pads , meaning that rear wheels blocking is something to be aware of. So you better keep this car braking bias way forward, to eliminate a bit the braking instability.

The SCCA cars have a 340bhp engine, with amazing low and mid range torque that gives excellent tractability. The CASC car has a much powerful 380bhp engine, but lacks the low and mid range power of the SCCA cars and only comes alive after 4000rpm.

You will find that the cars come with quite a variety of different tyres makes and compounds, from early to more modern dunlops, plus firestones and goodyears, each with it's own characteristics of course, but this makes part of a different story.

With good front brakes, fun and easy handling and good grip, it's no surprise this car was a bad client for the Z06 Chevrolet Corvettes with their all around drums brakes and their heavy bodies.

Now for some screenshots

The Austin-Healey 3000 was a sports car built from 1959 to 1967, by Jensen Motors for the Austin-Healey marque, and is the best known of the 'big' Healey models. The 3000 was a successful car which won its class in many European rallies in its heyday - and is still used in competition by enthusiasts today. The car was originally to be called the "Mille Miglia" after the famous sports car race, but the displacement-based "3000" name stuck instead. Both the 3000 and the 100 before it were known simply as "the Austin-Healey" in the 1950s, since the company was essentially a single-vehicle marque.

Austin Healey 3000's have a long competition history - having raced at most major racing circuits around the world, including Sebring (USA), Le Mans (France), Targa Florio (Italy), and Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst (Australia).

"DD300" at Le Mans in 1961. "767KNX" at Sebring in 1965.

The Austin Healey 3000 was pitched against much more exotic machinery in the GT class such as the Aston Matin DB4, the Jaguar E-Type and of course the Ferrari 250 SWB and GTO, the latter also being in the same capacity class (under 3 liters). Not surprisingly, Healey opted for rallying as the main focus for competition, but the car was raced occasionally in GT races.

Bringing the Healey to Power & Glory

The GTL model gave us a great base to start with, but again the details of the cars have been altered and changed to characterize each unique car.

The external changes include

• 2 New exhaust systems. One long "stock" type as seen on the cars in various rallies and endurance tests. The 2nd a racier variant with twin pipes exiting behind the passenger side door.
• 2 New styles of spot lights. For extra vision in night time endurance racing the cars were fitted with additional spot lights. The early type had the spot lights mounted on brackets attached directly to the front of the chassis, where the later type they were embedded into the front bodywork of the cars.
• 2 New grilles. The Early 1960 model Healeys have a new 3D vertical bar grille fitted. As you progress through the years you can see on the later cars this was removed, and finally on the last MK II Healeys it was replaced with a simple full width mesh type grille.
• Welded up side vents. The early Healeys did not feature any side venting. Instead they have a chrome trim piece in its place. Later cars have the vents installed.
• Cowl scoops. 2 different sorts of cowl scoops are fitted to the various cars. A large type as seen above on "DD300" Also a smaller flatter type on later cars.
• Le Mans style Fuel filler. A quick release fuel filler was fitted to some of the cars for endurance racing, hoping to speed up pit stops. The teams modified the filler location by putting it directly in the center of the boot lid, and cutting a hole for it to poke through. The hole was then re-enforced around the cut edge for a clean finish.

Of course there have been changes inside the cockpit too.

• The brand new "Smiths" gauge set is the star attraction, with accurately painted dials that are unique to the Healey.
  
• Gone is the gauge pod on the left hand side of the cockpit, as well as the roll cage and other non period additions.

Physics

As usual, great amount of time has been spent on research for this particular model.From different front tracks depending on the car bodywork, to accurate damage modeling of the delicate wire wheels and of course proper tyres and compounds for mk1s and mk2s, also depending on the model year.

One of the most particular characteristics is the gearbox. The original car gearbox had an extra hydraulic overdrive mode for 3rd and 4th gear, resulting actually as a six speed gearbox. Track racing prepared cars, usually eliminated the overdrive because it would make the gear selection slow and also account for bigger drive train losses. The result was a very closely geared 3rd and 4th gear. Not only we have simulated this as needed and as you would expect, but one of the cars is actually a rally car that is equipped with the overdrive gearbox, resulting in slower gear changes and of course, six very closely placed gears. We are sure that accuracy enthusiasts will be delighted to drive this car.

Although it is true that the car doesn't have top of the range performance and it is actually more of an underdog when compared to other more famous cars like Jaguars and Ferraris, it still is a very easy to drive car. As a matter of fact and despite the big 3 liters engine, people that drive it, tend to compare it with under 2 liter cars, not only for the low performance but most importantly for the agility and lightness in its handling characteristics. Nice low to middle range torque from the engine, good grip on slow circuits and easy on the tires, makes this car an excellent option for extremely long endurance races where driving comfort is very important.

Now for some screenshots