Raifun: A 1987 Porsche 944 Built to Firehawk Spec and Headed to Daytona

Most vintage racers start with a car they can afford and fix up over time. Ramsey Potts did it the other way around. He bought a plain street-going 1987 Porsche 944 for $7,500, then set out to build a near showroom-stock Firehawk tribute, completed in 2022. The result, which he calls Raifun, is a useful case study in how far a production-based car can go before it stops being a showroom car at all.

The dream started in 1988

The idea goes back to a press pass Potts secured for the 1988 IMSA Camel Continental Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. He wasn't there for the Porsche 962 or the V-12 Jaguar GTP prototypes. He was drawn to the production-based cars in the supporting Firestone Firehawk street-stock endurance series. For a racing-obsessed 20-year-old, that was what racing should look like.

His route into the sport was improvised. His first race car was a two-stroke sprint kart, and he didn't own a trailer. He hauled it in a 1991 Pontiac LeMans his dad bought him, a rebadged Daewoo he describes as an "abomination" that still had a big trunk. "My entire race team was stuffed in the trunk of that car," he says. His future wife had to ride separately because the toolbox and parts filled the front and back seats.

He moved to cars in the early '90s, racing a 944 in the SCCA Improved Touring class. Later he bounced between spec Miatas and a spec Neon and dabbled in street-stock endurance racing in the early 2000s. Along the way, his love of endurance racing took root at the 1991 24 Hours of Daytona, where he slept in the bleachers and then in an airport. He still rarely misses that race. "It's a mythical event for us from that era."

Building the car

Potts' career in insurance and his move into auctions at RM Sotheby's in 2017 gave him the means to revisit the dream. A six-month gap in 2021, between that role and his current post as a partner and senior car specialist at Broad Arrow Auctions, supplied the time. He wanted to go vintage racing, and the choice of machine was easy. His friend and colleague Marvin Waters was running a Porsche 944 Firehawk tribute in Historic Sports Car Racing (HSR), the vintage series that now operates under IMSA.

Turning a street 944 into even a showroom-spec race car is a serious undertaking. Potts worked with Colin Dougherty and Tom McCarthy at CDOC Racing to list every part the car needed, from roll cage and shocks to bushings, a race seat and a window net. Joe Frazar of Frazar Sports Car Services in Savannah, Georgia, then took the car apart. Stripping the sound deadening alone required harsh chemicals and a lot of labor.

Frazar was not thrilled. Potts was heading toward six figures of spending on a car that started at $7,500. His verdict, paraphrased only lightly, was that Potts was trying to turn a perfectly good 944 into a rainbow-farting unicorn. Potts took the jab and kept the name. "We took the 'ra' from rainbow, the 'f' from farting, and the 'un' from unicorn, and we call her Raifun."

Engine and hardware

Potts wanted to follow the Firehawk template closely, which meant using Porsche parts wherever possible. CDOC fabricated the roll cage and reassembled the car with its race-spec upgrades. The brakes, oil cooler and oil filter came from a 944 Turbo, a sensible swap that keeps the parts bin on-brand.

The engine went to Lindsey Racing in Oklahoma, where specialists refreshed the 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four to Potts' request. Lighter valvetrain, pistons, flywheel and clutch parts, combined with a header and straight pipe, add roughly 15 hp, bringing output to about 165 hp. The factory five-speed still sends power through a factory limited-slip differential. That's a modest number, but in a car this light and this focused on balance, it's the reliability and driveability that matter more.

The car first ran in September 2022 at Watkins Glen, the same circuit that started the whole idea. "That place is magic," Potts says.

Livery, number and a nod to history

The Brumos Racing livery was non-negotiable from the start. Potts got the family's consent to use it, which he calls "very satisfying." The number is where he showed some care. Brumos cars always ran #59, with #58 or #60 for a second entry. Waters already runs #59 in his Firehawk-tribute 944, so Potts chose #58 as a deferential nod to both the team's history and his friend.

Reliability and the calendar

Potts runs about six to eight events a year, and the reliability numbers are the part that stands out to anyone who has owned a race car. The rebuilt engine arrived with 50 miles on the odometer and now has nearly 7,000. He says he hasn't missed a single session at any track because of a driveline issue. There was one hobbled finish, when a spring unseated itself over a bump at Sebring, but he completed the session. His verdict on the car: "the best race car I have ever had the privilege of sharing the track with."

The big target is the HSR Classic 24 Hours of Daytona, which Potts calls the white whale of the season. He and Raifun are heading to Daytona International Speedway in a few weeks, with the event weekend of November 15. He's clear about his goals. "Winning is awesome," he says, even if the fun is the main point.

What to watch

Raifun is worth watching for more than its story. A 944 built to tribute-car spec, with Porsche-sourced upgrades and a carefully documented build, gives buyers and enthusiasts a benchmark for what a privately built vintage car can deliver. Potts' own argument, that an old Miata can get you on track for far less, still holds. But if you want a Firehawk-style 944 that has already logged thousands of trouble-free miles, this one is a strong reference point. The Daytona run will show whether the build holds up over 24 hours.