Porsche 914 & 914/6 Performance
The Balance of Power
We included this section because we could not find consolidated
performance graphs in a standard format for U.S. specification Porsche
914 and/or 914/6 cars...
anywhere. That was a situation that needed to be remedied. The results
may disclose why this information was not previously available, as they
are not overly impressive.
The principle feature of the Porsche 914 line is the mid-engine
design, resulting in a per-axle weight balance and intra to extra-axle
weight distribution never before seen in a mass production vehicle.
When coupled with the extremely low center of gravity, wide wheel base,
scanty weight (see the SPECIFICATIONS
section for details) and four-wheel independent suspension, the 914
models exhibit extraordinary handling characteristics. From a pure
power
perspective, however, the Porsche 914 (and also the 914/6) cars are
lacking,
especially by today's standards. In short, the 914 is optimized for
road
courses. From a drag race perspective, it gets great gas mileage.
In Its Day, In Its Class...
The factory-built racing version of the Porsche 914/6, the 914/6GT,
was dominant in its class during the production run, securing (among
many others) the 1970 International GT Trophy, 1970 24 Hours of LeMans
first in class (6th overall), 1971 IMSA Championship, and 1971 24 Hours
of
Daytona first in class (7th overall). This success was not lost on the
marketing folks, as can be seen in this PORSCHE 914/6 ADVERTISEMENT from
late 1970.
Like we said... great handling and
endurance, not much straight line acceleration... as the sections
accessed by the buttons on the left will attest.
Let us reiterate that all pages in the P914 "Performance" section
pertain solely to U.S specification Porsche 914 and/or 914/6
vehicles.We do not have factory information with which to generate
non-U.S. spec vehicle power numbers at this time (sorry).