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A very special racing series made itself a name during this colorful time. The International Race of Champions, or IROC for short, heralded a new era in motorsport in the USA in the early 1970s.
Les Richter and Roger Penske, presidents of the American Riverside International Raceway, created an unprecedented spectacle with the IROC in 1973. After many years of cooperation between Penske and the Porsche racing department in Weissach, a total of 15 models of the 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR were custom-made there for the IROC and each painted in an individual color. The background was very simple: the spectators, more and more of whom had a color television at home, should be able to distinguish the racing cars better.
The 3.0 RSR built on the basis of the road-legal Carrera RS impressed with its 315 hp three-liter six-cylinder boxer engine, the characteristic "whale tail" as a rear wing, the well-known and popular Fuchs rims and a high butterfly injection system specially designed for the IROC models. Due to the uniqueness of the vehicles and their livery, the IROC series from 1973 achieved collector status.
The IROC racing series was home for twelve of the best racing drivers in the world. Formula 1 world champions such as Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi and American all-star and CAN-AM champion Mark Donohue drove against CAN-AM champion George Follmer or NASCAR legend Bobby Allison. Lottery decided which driver got which car. After the first season, all 15 used Porsche changed hands, which made them all the more valuable from today's perspective.
The two best known models of this Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR from the first IROC season in winter 1973 to 1974 are the orange Porsche that bears Mark Donohue's name and the yellow or much more sahara beige Porsche of Emerson Fittipaldi. Donohue managed to win three of the four races at Riverside and Daytona to go down in history as the first IROC champion. The orange-colored RSR with starting number one, which was then still seen in many historic racing series, became an absolute icon.
The sahara beige RSR with starting number one by Emerson Fittipaldi achieved the very first pole position in IROC history. Due to a violation of the rules, however, he had to start from the end of the field. The car only gained notoriety after its successful racing operations, when it came into the possession of the Colombian cartel boss Pablo Escobar.
The models from WERK83 in scale 1:18 are as unique as the 15 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR and their stories. Like the originals they are based on, the miniatures more than deserve a place with a true collector.
Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR orange #1 Mark Donohue IROC Champion 1975 1:18 WERK83, RRP €79.95, item-no.: W18016001
Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR yellow #1 Emerson Fittipaldi IROC Riverside 1973 1:18 WERK83, RRP €79.95, item-no.: W18016005
Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR black #14 George Follmer IROC Riverside 1973 1:18 WERK83, RRP €79.95, item-no.: W18016009
Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR gulf blue #9 Bobby Allison IROC Riverside 1974 1:18 WERK83, RRP €79.95, item-no.: W18016011
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