How often do you see an ex-works Porsche race car hit the auction block? It rarely happens and this is one of the few that were sold publicly in recent history. This is a 1960 Porsche 718 RS 60, member of the 718 RS family of open-top sports cars built and raced by Zuffenhausen for half a decade beginning with the RSK in 1957. The RS 60 appeared at a time when sports car manufacturers started realizing that mounting the engine behind the cockpit might be beneficial to the performance of the car after witnessing Jack Brabham muscling his way to the title in F1 in 1959. Porsche was already doing it and had been doing it for years, beginning with the 550 Spyder, a car infamous for having an important part to play in actor James Dean's death but one that was, more importantly, a successful car in road racing.

The RS 60 Spyder raced everywhere around the world, following the trek of the World Endurance Championship and, along the way, ticking starts at Le Mans, the Nurburgring, and Targa Florio. Only 18 were built in period and the factory kept for its own use a mere four examples and this, according to RM Sotheby's, was "the only to likely become available". Powered by a four-cam engine - first a 1.6-liter mill and, in 1961, a 2.0-liter one - the car you see in the pictures, chassis #044, doesn't boast with the most enviable of racing records having retired out of both the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans race and all of the three major races it contested in 1961: the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 1,000-kilometer race at the Nurburgring-Nordschleife and the Targa Florio in Sicily. Having said that, it must be said that the car was fast, taking pole position outright in the Italian road race before being raced extensively by Bob Holbert, father of Porsche legend Al Holbert, an amazing driver in his own right - both behind the wheel of Porsches and, later, Cobras. It is, then, no wonder that chassis #044 sold for over $5.0 million back in mid-August during the Monterey sale. That's one expensive aluminum Spyder!

1960 Porsche 718 RS 60 Werks Exterior

Porsche introduced its first mid-engined thoroughbred race car, the 550 Spyder, in 1953 when it won its class in both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Carrera Panamericana. Four years down the road, Porsche launched the 550's replacement named 718 RSK, the 'K' not referring to the short-tail bodywork but to the torsion bar suspension that was used then for the first time on Porsche's aluminum open-top sports cars. The developmental work continued, however, and the 718 was updated a number of times over the next five years with the 718 W/RS still raced by the factory as late as 1964 by which team the 904 had already been introduced.

In fact, very few details remind one of the RS 60's roots as the front end is more aerodynamic with incorporated headlights and fog lights in the lower bumper and also a lower profile and rounded tail section. But, for all it's worth, the 718s still featured a pair of air vents protected by grilles in the back, just like the 550 did on its sloping rear deck.

In the front, the Wilhelm Hild-penned racer (Hild designed the original 718 RSK but much of the design cues have been carried over to the RS 60 with the W/RS of 1961 debuting a more straight-cut appearance with boxier arches) features a face that only broadly resembles that of your usual Porsche 356. That's because the fenders don't rise high up leaving the hood behind to curve down towards the bumper. Instead, the whole frontal surface is almost level with the fenders only minimally curving upwards to make room for the larger rims that were fitted to improve the car's stability.

Just below this roundel, the two extra light clusters protrude forward. There's a rectangular air inlet placed horizontally in between them as well as two smaller inlets located outboard. Only the four cars (chassis #041 through to chassis #044) destined to be used by the factory team came with the additional lights in the nose while privateers had to make do with only the two headlamps in the fenders. This was, most likely, insufficient given the headlight technology available in the early '60s and the fact that most road courses were poorly lit or not lit at all (minus the start/finish straight) during the night in round-the-clock events meaning that you'd find yourself relying on muscle memory to brake and turn when the eyes failed to notice things in front due to the lack of lighting.

The front lid is held in place via two leather straps. From the side, you'll notice the rather lengthy front overhangs (compared to the much more stubby 550 Spyder) that flatten towards the leading edge of the car, making it more slippery as it travels at speed through the air. Aft of the front wheel arches you can see the name 'Camoradi' that you'd rather associate with the legendary Maserati Tipo 61 'Birdcage.' Camoradi, which is an abbreviation of 'Casner Motor Racing Division' was the racing team formed by Lloyd 'Lucky' Casner in 1959 to race at Le Mans with Maserati's Tipo 61, a tube-framed sports racer that had been built by Alfieri Maserati although the company was near bankruptcy. The car carried the Camoradi name as it was entered by Casner's outfit but prepped by Porsche mechanics in what you may consider a very early form of sponsorship. Camoradi itself can be considered the first American race team to be backed by the industry receiving funds from Dow Chemicals to race as Camoradi International in the 1961 season.

The racing number can also be seen on the handle-free doors and on the engine hood. The RS 60's profile is simplicity in itself with little to point out besides the added vents placed just behind the doors atop the rear fenders. The vents actually face towards the rear. The rear wheel arches are actually flattened with a part of the rear wheels being hidden by the rear bodywork. The car features one D-Type-esque hump (but without the wing-like element that made the D-Type famous) for the driver. It's not a roll bar in reality as most often the driver's head and helmet would surpass the height of the hump and, as such, we consider it to be more of headrest rather than a safety feature - this is backed by the fact that the hump is padded just like the seats.

From the back, the Porsche sports two tiny taillights placed at a distance from the rectangular cut-outs in the rear bodywork covered by grilles with vertical, chromed bars (and one horizontal bar towards the top for rigidity). These two vents with curved edges are placed below the engine's lid. This example features a single muffler that exits just below the rear bodywork (in fact, two pipes of the exhaust system come together into one tip).

By today's standards, the 718 RS 60 is a lilliputian machine with an overall length of just 145.7 inches, just as much as the 550 Spyder although the wheelbase differs. In fact, the RS 60's wheelbase is four inches longer than that of the 718 RSK. To put things into perspective, a 2019 Mazda Miata measures from end to end 154.1 inches. A Fiat 500 is only six inches shorter and the 718 Cayman, the modern namesake of the 718 RS 60 measures 172 inches and still is the most compact two-door sports car currently on sale from Porsche.

1960 Porsche 718 RS 60 Werks Interior

You can spot this minimalistic thinking everywhere in the cockpit, including the caved-in doors that only feature a tiny lever to help you open them from the inside. True, Porsche also outfitted other racing cars with a strap for you to close and open the door with so, in this context, an actual lever may seem like a luxury feature but, still, the whole thing is straight to the point: the roll cage is exposed, black bars intricately snaking their way along the aluminum floor and around the doors, and even the fuse box is in plain sight for quick fixing when needed.

Jump in the bucket seat meant for the driver and you're confronted with a beautiful steering wheel, almost too pretty to manhandle as you would this being a racing car. Then again, all steering wheels tended to be good looking back in those days but you can't talk about the 718 RS 60's cabin without mentioning the wheel with its elegant metal spokes, hollowed in the middle, and the narrow, but not frail, wooden rim with a black contour. It's up for debate if this wheel is better looking than what you'd find in a 250 Testa Rossa and we're letting you choose the winner for yourself.

Behind the wheel you'll find three gauges - all with green lettering over a black background - and a trifecta of so-called "idiot lights", the lights that flicker when there's something wrong with the car or, for instance, when you have to upshift so that you save yourself the misery of over-revving what is, otherwise, a very expensive engine to repair and service. To the right, there are two more, much smaller, gauges for temperature/pressure that are barely big enough to read.

Back on the left-hand side, you can also find the ignition switch, the toggle for the wipers and, believe it or not, the horn. As a car that would be driven on public roads with live traffic around it (the practice runs at Targa Florio, for instance), it actually needed one - it's not just to please those at the FIA writing seemingly senseless rules. There are four more white knobs on the center of the dash and, on the passenger's side, there's the fuse box covered by a removable see-through plastic cover.

You'll be not-so-pleased to discover, in the rare scenario that you get to drive it, that the pedals are offset to the center of the footwell as is the case in other '50s and '60s sports cars (like Aston Martin's only Le Mans winner, the DBR1/300, whose ergonomics were described as awful by Frank Gardner). The order is the standard one, however, with the pedals bolted to the firewall and the gas pedal painted black and different in design to allow for a different 'touch'. The long shifter erects right from the floor and ends with a white knob. It's placed a bit more to the right than your arm may be used to going and that's because there are two more levers towards the driver, on the floor.

While it is a two-seater because that's what the rules asked out of the manufacturers, it was never really meant to carry a passenger so you'd imagine the balance could be off if you take your buddy for a spin. Having said this, there's padding all across the back of the cockpit below the also padded hump/headrest which means there's minimal comfort for the back of the passenger too. There's also some red padding on the top of the doors.

1960 Porsche 718 RS 60 Werks Drivetrain

The Porsche 718 RS 60 was an evolution of the existing 718 RSK which, in itself, was made after lessons were learned racing the 550 RS Spyder (and its experimental brother, the 645 Spyder that was lost in a fiery crash at Avus near Berlin on that infamous banked turn that also claimed the life of Jean Behra).

Porsche didn't update the RSK because it wanted to as the car was doing well enough on the race tracks towards the tail end of the '50s but the FIA basically drafted a new set of rules for 1960 that pushed manufacturers to design safer and, generally, larger sports cars for 1960. Porsche's Head of Motorsports at the time, Baron Huschke von Hanstein, first applied these modifications (as well as a trunk area placed behind the engine and a 'functional' top, according to Porsche) to a 718 RSK chassis and realized that the car had to be widened to meet the cabin-related criteria.

Thus, a whole batch of new cars was built, all underpinned by a tubular space frame chassis (the 550s featured floor pan construction that was less rigid and, as such, prone to flexing). However, time was at a premium and Porsche built the first cars in only half a year to be ready for the beginning of the 1960 World Endurance Championship. Unlike the RSK, that initially came with torsion bar suspension at both ends, the RS 60 was fitted with double wishbones in the back with Koni shock absorbers and coil springs and independent torsion bars in the front with the same shock and coil spring arrangement as in the back. This improved handling and made the 718 RS 60 quicker through the twisty bits helping it conquer the Targa Florio in 1960, the second year on the trot that Porsche had won in Sicily (the Germans first won the Targa Florio outright back in 1956).

Initially, the tried and tested 1.5-liter four-cam Fuhrmann unit straight from the 550 A Spyder was equipped to the RSK and grandfathered onto the RS 60. But the car mostly competed with the bigger 1.6-liter unit (Type 547/4, the 1.5-liter one is known as the Type 547/3) and the 1.7-liter one - both allowing the RS 60 to compete in the secondary prototype division, Sports 2.0-liter. The biggest sports cars of the time such as Ferrari's 250 Testa Rossa and Aston Martin's DBR1/300 raced in the 3.0-liter category and, although more powerful, were often trumped on track by the nimbler and lighter RS 60 making it Porsche's first true 'giant killer'.

This was in spite of the fact that, on paper, the 718 RS 60 was a bit heavier than the 718 RSK due to the widened chassis and addition of a trunk, and windscreen. Still, the extra power and fitment of lightweight magnesium drum brakes on all four corners aided in keeping the weight down compared to the 3.0-liter cars and this meant that a 300-horsepower Ferrari could barely shake off a pursuing 1.6-liter Porsche at the Nordschleife, for instance. But it wasn't only on twisty tracks that the 718 RS 60 excelled. Due to its reliability, it also won in the gruelling 12 Hours of Sebring. A 1.6-liter RS 60 pulled it off as we'll detail below and this was in front of a 3.0-liter Ferrari Dino that ought to have been miles on pace given the superior top speed but the Ferraris was more fragile as were the other big sports cars.

The 1.5-liter four-came flat-four was rated at 150 PS or 148 horsepower while the 1.6-liter mill cranked out 160 horsepower. The big 2.0-liter engine Type 578 was near the 200 horsepower mark. This was a lot, even for the 15-inch wheels of the RS 60 and, especially, for the drum brakes that Porsche still utilized a whopping six years after Jaguar debuted disc brakes in sports car endurance racing on the C-Types in 1954. Steering was by worm & nut and the rear wheels received the oomph from the rear mid-engine via a five-speed synchromesh Porsche transmission. Top speed was said to be in excess of 140 mph for the 1.6-liter models. It may not seem like much in a world where the fastest road-legal cars can now surpass 300 mph but, looking at the numbers, the 718 RS 60 is impressive to this day with 258.18 horsepower per tonne.