A
very
interesting Porsche 962 variant. Perhaps the most radical ever? Designed
by Art Center graduate Richard Yagami, and powered by the venerable 3.2
liter, twin turbo, Porsche flat-six, the DR2 was a substantial reworking
of a racing legend. 
The
DR2's tub was fabricated by Dave Klym's Fabcar,
then located in Atlanta (they have since moved to Indianapolis).
According to Klym, the DR2's tub differed from the factory's in that it
was manufactured out of aluminum honeycomb sandwiched between aluminum
sheet (as opposed to just aluminum sheet) with solid billet front and rear
bulkheads. Klym cites that the Fabcar DR2 tub was between 6 and 8
times stiffer than the Porsche factory tub. Additionally, the factory
Porsche tubs seemed to loose torsional stiffness over time due to how they
were initially bonded at the factory. The factory tubs were riveted
and then bonded together with a tape adhesive that needed to be oven cured.
Story goes that Porsche would fabricate X-number of tubs and then oven
cure a entire run. So the first tubs fabricated in a given time period
sat until an entire run was ready for the oven. The adhesive's out-life
was such that the tubs that waited the longest before heat curing were
the ones that degraded the quickest. The resin in the adhesive essentially
began to cure out as the tubs sat waiting to head into the oven thus reducing
the adhesion characteristics when they did finally see heat.
The
triple
element wing was designed for maximum downforce. The hole in the
end plate more than likely allows for more airflow volume to interact with
the wing with the idea simply to make downforce more efficiently.
Yagami indicated that the DR2's development did not benefit from wind tunnel testing.
The
962DR2's underbody was substantially altered from the factory (compare
with the Joest
962C). The pancake nature of the flat-six and its packaging difficulties
is evident here.
The
DR2 debuted at Watkins Glen, Round 10 (of 14) of the 1991 IMSA season.
Qualifying 10th, the Porsche DNF'd with engine trouble in the race.
At Laguna Seca, the DR2 qualified 9th and finished 6th. At Portland,
the Dyson DR2 qualified 7th but finished in 14th place some 17 laps down.
The DR2 finished out the season at Road America (Round 13) where it again
succumbed to mechanical woes (clutch). The car was absent at the
Del Mar season finale. 