Finished in “Dutch Orange”, This 1966 Porsche 906 Carrera 6 Can Be Yours

This brightly coloured beauty goes by the name of 906 Carrera 6, and is one of Porsche’s finest racing machines ever created. It might be overshadowed by the 917 series and, of course, the 911 itself, but the 906 sports cars hold a special place in the brand’s history. Created as the follow-up to the already quite brilliant 904 Carrera GTS, it is surprisingly both street-legal and an FIA homologated race car, entering Group 4 and Group 6. That means it could enter a wide range of competitions, which it did, and very successfully too! Draped in the colours of Racing Team Holland, this specific example is up for auction with RM Sotheby’s.

A double racing life

The story of the 906 is one of two sides, really, as not only did Porsche develop the car with several engines, meaning it raced in various different classes, but they built several factory prototype versions, as well as customer cars. And quite a number of them, too, as the German manufacturer built 65 cars, with 52 being sold to privateer racing teams and clients. It had a very simple reason, as the FIA stated that at least 50 cars would need to be built for it to be homologated for its intended classes. For the 906 Carrera 6, that would come down to the Group 6 Prototype class and the Group 4 Sports Car class.

The car was introduced ahead of the 1966 racing season. It was built on a tubular steel spaceframe chassis with a remarkably sleek design, a very low nose, a cut-off “Kammback” rear section and a low cockpit with a wrap-around windshield to increase visibility outward. The body is made of fibreglass to cut down the weight as much as possible, and it comes with Gullwing-style doors. Porsche also developed a number of titanium and magnesium components, resulting in a car that tips the scales at an impressive 580 kilos only. To meet FIA’s regulations as both a street and sports racing car, a passenger seat was installed, and there was space for a spare tyre and luggage incorporated into the design from the start, much like the 917 had when it made its debut a couple of years later.

It was developed by Ferdinand Porsche and Hans Mezger, and the Group 4 customer cars were fitted with a 1,991cc flat-6 901/20 engine, while the prototypes were fitted with larger 6- or 8-cylinder engines to compete under Group 6 regulations. The 910/20 6-cylinder engine produced about 210 horsepower and made the 906 Carrera 6 eligible for 2-litre classes in short and long-distance racing on closed circuits, as well as hillclimb events and, of course, road races such as the Targa Florio. Porsche even went as far as to develop a special 906 Bergspyder (mountain spider) for hillclimb races, although it wasn’t as radical as the ultra-light 909 Bergspyder that was built in 1968.

Among the 906’s many accolades is a class win at the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours, an overall win at the 1966 Targa Florio, the World Sportscar Championship the same year, and a 4th-5th-6th overall and 1st-2nd-3rd in class finish in the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours. Throughout its racing career, it regularly beat much more powerful and faster cars such as the Ford GT40 and Ferrari 4-litre P-series cars, cementing its legacy as one of Porsche’s greats.

Racing Team Holland’s 906

Out of the 65 chassis built, the Dutch racing outfit known as Racing Team Holland took delivery from the Porsche factory of chassis 906-146. The team was headed by Ben Pon of the Pon automotive dynasty, the long-lasting (and still) importer for brands like Volkswagen and Porsche in the Netherlands. Support for the Racing Team Holland also had a royal touch to it, as several members of the Dutch royal family, including Prince Bernhard, had a deep love for cars and motorsport.

Just days after it was delivered, the strikingly orange 906 Carrera 6 made its racing debut at Zandvoort, piloted to a first-in-class result by Wim Loos. What followed was a string of relatively successful races with Ben Pon, David van Lennep and Gijs van Lennep (two-time Le Mans winner) at the wheel of the light-weight sports car. Among those results was a win at the 1966 Trophy of the Dunes at Zandvoort, a podium finish in the Paris Grand Prix at Montlhéry, and overall or class wins at Silverstone and Snetterton.

By 1968, the car was sold to Antoine Hezemans, another very famous Dutch racing name, and his STR team. Repainted in white with a red and blue stripe, as a nod to the Dutch national colours (which is not Orange, that comes from our royal family’s name). With Hezemans behind the wheel, the 906-146 won three more races before being sold again. The last race it entered was the 1971 Welschap race, where it finished in second place with Arie Ruska behind the wheel. It changed ownership several times after it retired from racing, before the car was restored in 2005. It received a new 2.4-litre 911 S engine, with Weber carburettors, but the original 1,991cc 901/20 flat-6 engine is still with the car as a spare. It also comes with full papers, is registered in the Porsche factory archive and confirmed to be fully authentic.

This rather famous Porsche 906 Carrera 6, again finished in Racing Team Holland orange, is up for auction at RM Sotheby’s. The estimate is set at EUR 1,800,000 to EUR 2,200,000. Now imagine what one of the three 906 Carrera 6 cars that finished 4th, 5th and 6th overall and 1st, 2nd and 3rd in class at the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours would cost! Probably quite a bit more, I imagine!

For more information, please visit RMSothebys.com.

Editorial Note: The information used and images portrayed in this article are sourced from and used with permission of RM Sotheby’s, unless stated otherwise.