Starting life as a homologation special for a Group B rally car, the Porsche 959 became the world’s fastest street-legal production car in 1986 and went on to become the forerunner of all future super cars. In order to satisfy FIA homologation regulations of the time, Porsche has to build at least 200 street legal 959’s in order to go racing. A total of 337 cars were built, which included 37 prototypes during the development stages.
Using the basic 911 monocoque as a starting point, Porsche fitted a computer controlled four wheel drive system that could control the amount of power sent to the front wheels. This was done through the use of a PSK clutch fitted between the transmission and front differential and controlled via driver selectable settings comprising of four choices. Double wishbone suspension was used on the front instead of the regular McPherson struts of the 911, and featured twin coil over dampers for greater performance with the four wheel drive system. The rear also made use of a double wishbone setup with a single coil over.
