Evaluation: One of 38 built for the Canadian Rothmans Porsche Turbo Cup but this one was never raced. It remained in the original Alberta dealership until 1990 and was used occasionally on the street until going into the Taj Ma Garaj collection in 2002 and having the Rothmans decals applied while there. The car still looks nearly unused.
Bottom Line: The Canadian Rothmans Porsche Challenge started with naturally aspirated production 944s pulled right off the production line and upgraded for competition. The running costs were low while the racing was close and exciting by design, so the series got popular and eventually switched to the more powerful 944 Turbo for the 1988 season.
A total of 38 factory-prepped lightweight 944 Turbos were allocated to Canadian privateers. Other Turbo Cup cars campaigned across France, Germany, and South Africa. Many of those got the usual bumps and bruises of close racing, so this may be the cleanest one in existence. And this was apparently the very best place to sell it. After selling for $49,500 at RM Fort Lauderdale in 2018, it was a $43,250 no-sale on Bring a Trailer in 2020 and then brought $63,800 at an RM online auction in 2021. Another Turbo Cup 944 with good race history sold for $130K on PCarMarket a year ago and was the most expensive example sold at auction, but this never-raced car just blew that record out of the water, surprisingly.
No suprise here. These are Factory built race cars super low production with the added part that they are “street legal” in most if not all 50 states.