Chassis 6066
Customer: Mr. Heidenreich, Germany
Delivery: 11. May 1993
Color: Speed Yellow
Present whereabouts: unknown
Today I show you a car which most people remember for its success in the 1994 Daytona 24h. The car was used under the banner of "HEICO Dienstleistungen" or later under the name "HEICO Motorsports"
The activities of HEICO Motorsport have been part of the HEICO Group. The origin of the group of companies goes back to 1966, when the Heidenreich family founded the room and office care institute Heidenreich & Co. in Wiesbaden Hochheim and operated it for over twenty years. In 1987, the management was taken over by Dirk-R. Ebeling. At that time, new business areas were opened up. In the years that followed, HEICO developed into a mixed service group. In 1990, the company was renamed from Heidenreich & Co. to HEICO. (source:
https://www.wikiwand.com/de/HEICO_Group)
HEICO Motorsport was founded in in 1986 and was initially focused on historic motorsport. In the early 90s the team started to do service for modern racing cars (mainly BMW and Porsche). In this period Mr Heidenreich bought the RSR chassis 6066. The driver lineup included mostly no professional race drivers but successful business men and racing amateurs.
The first adventure of the team was the Le Mans race in 1993. The car was delivered in time for the Le Mans test which took place the 16. May 1993, 5 days after the delivery of the car. A good explanation for the naked design....
Le Mans 24H Test 1993, HEICO Dienstleistungen #65, Cat. 4
The first race event followed soon after. The most experienced driver in the lineup was Ulli Richter. Karl-Heinz Wlazik had tested his skills in the Spa 24h race before and Dirk Ebeling started his adventure with the Le Mans test. They did a great job finishing 3rd in class and 17th overall.
Le Mans 24H 1993, HEICO Dienstleistungen #65, Cat.4
The team must have had a soft spot for endurance racing as the next race they took part in was the Pokka 1000 km race on the Suzuka circuit. This time Jürgen Barth joined Dirk Ebeling and Karl-Heinz Wlazik. Suzuka sadly ended with a DNF result.
Jürgen Barth is not only one of Porsche best remembered drivers, he also saved the sports car racing branch of motorsports from an almost certain end. When the prototype scene was at its lowest point after the end of the Group C era, Barth, in his function as Porsche customer sport director, had the idea to revitalise GT racing. Together with Stéphane Ratel and Patrick Peter, he created the BPR series in 1994.
Pokka 1000 km Suzuka 1993, HEICO Motorsport #65, LM-GT4
The beautiful car was next seen for the 1994 Daytona 24H race. This time Richter, Wlazik and Ebeling were joined by Gunter Döbler. Döbler fitted perfectly in the lineup of gentleman drivers. His first international event was the Le Mans 24h race from 1993 and the Daytona race in 1994 was his second international race.
Nobody had the team on the list for a top result and especially not for a podium, but they did not only finish on the podium, they went for the class win in GTU class. This race was a game changer for HEICO Motorsports. In the same year Volvo contacted them and asked if they would like to run their official European motor sport program from 1995 onwords. The success of the team with Volvo and later Mercedes went on until 2012, when HEICO decided to end the motor sport activities...
So here comes the 1994 Le Mans GTU class winner...
IMSA GT 1994, Daytona 24H, HEICO Motorsport #65, GTU
all the skins related to BPR will be released as part of the BPR Recreation Project. The other skins will be part of the car release. The release date is not yet fixed.
to be continued.......
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