You can keep your Porsche 944 Turbo Cups with all their turbo lag and misery. I prefer the smoother, more predictable powerband of the naturally aspirated 944s, and the biggest engine Porsche ever put in a 944 is my holy grail. That, of course, is the 944 S2, and one of just seven IMSA Firehawk 944 S2s is for sale.
The IMSA Firestone Firehawk series running at the time of this car's build featured cars that were very close to their street-car counterparts. Porsche built seven Firehawk 944s for the series themselves, only three of which still exist. North American Porsche shop Kelly-Moss Racing appears to have also had a hand in the Firehawk 944's creation, according to the listing:
Was prepped by Kelly Moss Racing with their special "Firehawk" cam (original cam and some spares are included) and ECU programming along with KMR adjustable shock tower mounts. Estimated horsepower is around 260 and approximate weight is 2,600 lbs.
According to the eBay listing, this car is so close to stock that they were able to get it titled for road use in Oregon in 1994, with only 60 miles on the odometer. I guess it hadn't done much racing in its early years. Perhaps this was a spare car.
It only has 18,094 miles on it now, but with the ad stating that a recent major service was performed, I wouldn't be worried at all that it would have all the dried seals and other woes of a 944 that hasn't been driven enough.
Best of all, this is the 944 spec-ed out exactly how I'd want Stef's Dream 944 to be. Per the listing:
Super original and numbers matching with COA. Original Koni Cup suspension, factory Recaro seat, magnesium Fuchs and Matter cage. No sunroof, no A/C, no power steering/windows, limited slip, no undercoating or sound deadening.
No fluff or frills, as a racing 944 should be.
The photos show that it's on the 944 "phone dial" wheels instead of the usual Fuchs, but that wouldn't matter. The 944's "cookie cutter" wheels are lighter than either of those, anyway, so I'd probably leave the pricey Fuchs in a closet unless I was taking it to a concours or something and race it on the cookies.
[Correction: As several posters have pointed out, this car appears to have the very rare magnesium phone dials that were very, very light. They're not the usual Fuchs that come on the 944: they're even better. Also, the cookies being lighter the usual five-petal-shaped Fuchs depends on the wheel weight and diameter: more than one size of the 944's standard Fuchs wheels were made.]
I'm...I'm in love.
In addition to the car being eligible for Rennsport, the ad claims that vintage racing is adding a "Firehawk" class just for vehicles like this.
The 944 Turbo gets all the love, but the 944 S2 is the engine I covet for myriad reasons. The power delivery is just so smooth in these cars, making them easy and fun to drive. Plus, this is even rarer than the factory Turbo racers.
If you buy this, you're on the list of new best friends along with whoever picked up my Spirit Animal.
All photos belong to the original listing here.
[H/T Ralph Burkey]