1980 | Porsche 935 dp II

• Road registered Porsche 935
• Dp- built when car was new
• 420 BHP engine

In the late seventies the Porsche 935 was the dominant force in endurance racing, yet it was Kremer Racing’s privately run 935 K3 that truly changed the landscape by winning Le Mans outright in 1979. The aerodynamic mind behind that victory was Ekkehard Zimmermann of DP Motorsport. His understanding of airflow, drag and downforce was so advanced that even Porsche engineers took notice. Naturally, ambitious Porsche owners began wanting more than a standard Turbo. They wanted something that captured the attitude of the Group 5 monsters they saw ruling Le Mans, Daytona and Silverstone. Zimmermann was the only one who took that desire seriously, and the result was the first generation of DP 935s. Hand-built reinterpretations of the 935 philosophy, created by the very man whose designs had helped defeat the factory itself at the world’s most important endurance race. This car is one of the earliest and purest expressions of that idea.

According to its original Porsche Fahrzeugauftrag, the car left Stuttgart in October 1980 as a perfectly specified 930 Turbo in Grandprixweiss. That foundation remains entirely intact today. The paint tag in the door still shows colour code 908 9 2, the interior retains its original black period sport seats, and the VDO speedometer now displays just 33.500 km. Beneath the surface it is equally correct, retaining its matching numbers engine type 930 60 and its matching gearbox 930 34. Early DP builds that still sit on their complete original mechanical base are exceptionally rare, making this example particularly significant. 

Shortly after delivery the first owner took the car directly to DP Motorsport in Overath, where Zimmermann applied the same construction methods he had refined on the Kremer K1, K2 and K3. The result was a genuine road-going interpretation of a 935. One detail captures the spirit of this era better than any other. The rear tyres measure an extraordinary 345 millimetres. At the time, there were only two road cars fitted with such tyres: the Lamborghini Countach and the DP 935. The deep-dish Fuchs wheels required to house them became a signature of early DP craftsmanship and remain one of the most recognisable features of this car. The exterior livery reinforces that identity: white with three blue Kremer-style stripes, with the wheels painted in matching tones. Mechanically the period upgrades — sharper camshafts, a larger turbo, a revised wastegate and a bigger air-to-air intercooler — transformed the driving character, giving the car the unmistakable punch of a true early turbo.

What makes this particular DP 935 so special is the fact that it remains unrestored and remarkably original. All the small details that disappear the moment a car is refurbished are still present. The front compartment retains its collapsible spare tyre and the period instruction sticker in the correct factory position. The paper band wrapped around the fluid reservoir is still intact. The REPA seatbelts still carry their factory date tags. Mechanically, the originality continues with a rare DP-branded Porsche fuel filter and an early DP Motorsport intercooler, handmade in period and identifiable by its ribbed aluminium top plate and characteristic welds.

With 33.500 km today, it shows exactly the kind of careful, occasional use that proves it was never a static showpiece, but a car driven as intended while remaining outstandingly original. It stands as one of the most authentic and best-preserved early DP 935s on the market. All factory numbers match and every DP component is period correct.

Practically unfindable when you start searching for one, yet here it is. A car that bridges Group 5 racing and the road, built by the same man whose ideas shaped a Le Mans winner, and preserved with a level of originality that very few DP 935s can claim.