The Porsche 904 Carrera GTS is a GT sportscar which was produced by Porsche in Germany in 1964 and 1965. This coupe, manufactured from 1963 to 1965, was street-legal under road traffic laws, allowing it to be driven not only on race tracks but also on public roads. It was sold as Carrera GTS, not under its internal development code 904, as Peugeot owned rights to such x0y numbers, and the Porsche 901 was renamed Porsche 911, too. The successor Porsche 906 was sold as Carrera 6 as it was road legal, too, while the later pure race cars 907, 908, 909 were not affected.
Over 100 had to be produced to be homologated as Group 3 GT racing car for the 2 litre class. The car was used by the factory team in the Sports Car World Championship from 1964 to 1966. Additionally, numerous private teams raced the Porsche 904 in these international series as well as in national championships, such as the German Automobile Circuit Championship, specifically in the 2-liter GT class.
The Porsche 904 achieved significant success, winning the 2-liter GT category in the Manufacturer's World Championship in 1964 and 1965, and it also won the prototype class in 1964.
History
thumb|right|Porsche 904-6
After having withdrawn from Formula One at the end of the 1962 season, Porsche focused again on sportscar racing. The 904 debuted late in 1963, for the 1964 racing season, as a successor to the 718, which had been introduced in 1957. Porsche designed the GTS variant to compete in the FIA-GT class at various international racing events. The street-legal version debuted in 1964 in order to comply with group 3 appendix J homologation regulations requiring a minimum of 100 road-going variants be sold by the factory. Porsche produced one-hundred and six 904s at four or five a day with a list price of US$7245 (FOB Stuttgart). Weber carburetors to generate from the four-cam engine. appearing more like a specialist racing car than the modified sports cars typical at the time, and was painted white. The fibreglass body was bonded to its steel chassis for extra rigidity, and achieved a drag coefficient of 0.34. The Type 771s, however, suffered a "disturbing habit" of making their flywheels explode. was given chassis numbers that began with the 906. Therefore, the car is also sometimes called the 906/8 Bergspyder, Later, the Bergspyder received again a lighter and rounded at the front and aerodynamically improved car body.
A total of five copies were produced, of which three were destroyed in accidents. The 904 Bergspyder was replaced at the end of 1965 at the hill climb Ollon-Villars by the Porsche 906 Spyder Mountain.
Suspension
The chassis and suspension were taken over without major changes from the 904 coupé. The engine delivered up to 191 kW (260 hp) at 8,800 rpm and had a compression ratio of 10.5: 1. The car had a top speed of around 260 km/h (161 mph). in the US.
Racing
Making an inauspicious debut at Sebring in 1964, where it suffered clutch trouble,