George Follmer enjoyed a measure of success in Southern California sports car racing with Porsches in the early 1960s. Seeking a competitive sports-racer in the under-2 liter class, Follmer ordered a new Lotus 23 without engine or radiators.

Bruce Burness, who had recently left Shelby American to return to school, suggested to Follmer that, installed in the Lotus 23, a Porsche 550 Spider engine could meet the goals of power, lightness and reliability. They began to re-engineer the chassis for the Porsche 550 engine, but soon Follmer persuaded Pasadena VW-Porsche dealer Trans-Ocean Motors to give them a powerful new 2-liter Porsche 904 engine for the project.

In its first outing at the 1964 Times Grand Prix at Riverside, the undeveloped Lotus 23-Porsche qualified last but finished 11th overall and 3rd in the Under 2-Liter, proving its tremendous potential.

Over the winter, Follmer and Burness upgraded the Lotus to full 23B specifications and beyond to accommodate the Porsche 904 engine.

Follmer then decided to compete in the top-level 1965 USRRC. Follmer, Burness and Terry Bowen towed the Lotus 23-Porsche across country to the first race of the season at Pensacola, Florida. Follmer qualified first in U-2, winning the race ahead of the more powerful cars.

Three weeks later at Riverside, Follmer finished fourth overall and first in U-2. Burness recalled years later that for the first time “we realized the [SCCA] was awarding equal championship points for the winners of both the big-bore class and the under 2-Liter class.” Follmer was leading the championship.

Still leading, even after finishing Second in Class at Monterey, Follmer’s team was joined by Tom Nuckles, owner of Trans-Ocean Motors, to contest the next USRRC rounds on the East Coast.

With their new member, the team achieved a pair of class wins at Bridgehampton and Watkins Glen, keeping Follmer and the Porsche in the USRRC lead. A Second in Class at Kent, Washington was followed by another class win at Continental Divide Raceway in Colorado. AutoWeek described Follmer in the headline as “Unsinkable Trans-Ocean George”.

The championship was decided in the Road America 500 at Elkhart Lake, a race distance that the Lotus-Porsche had never attempted before.

Jim Hall, who had been racing hard all season trying to make up his early season deficit, drove both Chaparrals to assure maximum points, finishing first in one and second in the other. George Follmer finished third overall and first in U-2, clinching the USRRC Championship.

It was one of racing’s legendary David and Goliath accomplishments.

Subsequent History

In early 1966, Follmer sold the Lotus 23-Porsche. Its Texas buyer raced the car for a while, later installing a flat six-cylinder Porsche engine and modifying the frame to make room for the larger unit. In the late 1980s, it reappeared in an as-raced and much-modified condition. It was authenticated at that time by its original fabricator/mechanic, Bruce Burness, whose individual touches and modifications were still visible.

Eventually purchased by a prominent collector and vintage racer in Germany, it was restored in Paul Lanzante’s shop in the UK with advice from its original mechanic Bruce Burness, and is now presented in exceptional vintage racing condition. The engine is a correct 200 hp four-cylinder, four-cam 587/3 series Porsche built from OEM parts. It made its debut at the 2007 Porsche Rennsport Reunion at Daytona, amongst the finest and most important racing Porsches, where it stole the show and earned the Best Special Porsche award against impressive competition.

Creativity, imagination and an uninhibited choice of chassis and engines made the USRRC one of the most aggressively contested championships ever run and an indispensable precursor to the Can-Am series. Can-Am was a mythical era in motor sport which wouldn’t have existed without the 1965 USRRC won by George Follmer and the Bruce Burness-prepared Lotus 23-Porsche offered here.

One of the most important cars of a legendary era in sports car racing, the ex-George Follmer Lotus 23-Porsche will reward its new owner with invitations to some of the most enjoyable, important and pleasing historic racing events, where it will continue to compete wheel-to-wheel with the thundering V-8-powered cars that, under George Follmer’s guidance, were defeated more than forty years ago.  This car launched Follmer on his remarkable career which saw him successfully competing with Porsche in the Can-Am series. The car presented here is a pivotal car not only for Folmer but also as an important milestone for Porsche Racing in America and in the foundation of Can-Am. Follmer is widely acknowledged as one of the USRRC and Can-Am icons along with drivers such as Mark Donohue and Bruce McLaren.

Forty-three years later, this Lotus Porsche is still the USRRC Champion.

• 1965 United States Road Racing Championship Winner
• Authenticated By Its Original Builder
• Presented In Its Original Livery
• Exceptionally Good Race-Ready Condition
• Important Part Of  Racing History