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Racing cars in the legendary Gulf colors achieved great success in the sports car world of the 1960s and 70s. This includes Porsche's triumphs at the Targa Florio. In the daring race across the roads of Sicily, the Zuffenhausen-based manufacturer secured a one-two finish in 1970 with two 908/03s sporting the Gulf livery. Jo Siffert and Brian Redman won ahead of Leo Kinnunen and Pedro Rodríguez.
Thanks to retro liveries, the distinctive design remains a familiar sight at the racetrack to this day. However, the homage is rarely implemented as thoroughly as by GPX Racing in 2020. Their Porsche 911 GT3 Rs not only adopted the orange and light blue color scheme at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, but also showcased beautiful details inspired by their predecessors. Similar to the Targa Florio-winning car, the 911 with No. 12 has two orange arrows on the front end, along with green accents. Matt Campbell, Patrick Pilet, and Mathieu Jaminet finished fourth with this car. The No. 40 car driven by their teammates Romain Dumas, Louis Delétraz, and Thomas Preining, however, carried only one arrow, mirroring the livery of the second-placed 908.
The ck-modelcars label WERK83 has released both Targa Florio winners in scale 1:18. Ixo completes the Gulf lineup with the two modern GT3 racers from GPX Racing, also reproduced in scale 1:18.
Both model manufacturers pay a similar tribute to the 1994 Le Mans winner. The Dauer Porsche 962 was particularly remarkable for its technical features. The start of the vastly superior car was only possible by finding a loophole in the new regulations. Besides this spectacular story, the distinctive FAT Turbo livery, with which Yannick Dalmas, Hurley Haywood, and Mauro Baldi won, also remains memorable. Behind the FAT acronym was "Français Allemand Transit," a transport company operating between France and Germany that acted as a motorsport sponsor. Ferdi Porsche, the great-grandson of Porsche founder Ferdinand, has since acquired the rights to FAT and revived the brand as a lifestyle label.
As part of this revival, the FAT design also found its way back to the racetrack, for example, on the Porsche 963 fielded by Proton in the World Endurance Championship. The FAT colors made another striking appearance at the 2024 Nürburgring 24 Hours on the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R. Dressed in retro livery, Robert Renauer, Vincent Kolb, Dennis Olsen, and Matt Campbell finished 16th overall in the Eifel Classic.
While WERK83 focused on the Dauer Porsche, the 30-year-younger 911 in FAT livery was created by Ixo as a collector's item. These two faithful models in scale 1:18 are also available from ck-modelcars and make an excellent addition to the Gulf models from the past and present.
Porsche 908/03 #12 Gulf Winner Targa Florio 1970 Siffert, Redman 1:18 WERK83, RRP €79.95, item-no.: W18031003
Porsche 908/03 Gulf #40 2nd Targa Florio 1970 Kinnunen, Rodriguez 1:18 WERK83, RRP €79.95, item-no.: W18031004
Porsche 911 GT3 R Gulf #12 4th 24h Spa 2020 Campbell, Pilet, Jaminet 1:18 Ixo, RRP €79.95, item-no.: LEGT18-20012
Porsche 911 GT3 R #40 Gulf GPX 24h Spa 2020 Delétraz, Dumas, Preining 1:18 Ixo, RRP €79.95, item-no.: LEGT18-20040
Porsche 962 #36 Winner 24h Le Mans 1994 Dalmas, Haywood, Baldi 1:18, RRP €69.95, item-no.: W18005001
Porsche 911 GT3 R #5 FAT Turbo 24h Nürburgring 2024 Herberth Motorsport 1:18, RRP €79.95, item-no.: LEGT18-245002
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