RE: Porsche 917 Turns 40
Tuesday 10th March 2009
The ‘greatest racing car in history’ celebrates its 40th birthday this year and, to celebrate, seven of the most important 917s have gone on display at the new Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.
Various iterations of the soon-to-be iconic Porsche racer were to follow, but all shared a tubular light-alloy frame, fibreglass bodywork and a rear-mounted, air-cooled twelve-cylinder boxer engine – initially with a capacity of 4.5 litres making 520hp. Different bodies were designed for different racing conditions, with short-tail models developed on twisty circuits where maximum downforce was required, and the long-tail cars for faster tracks demanding a higher top speed. The open 917 Spyders dominated in CanAm and Interseries events, where the final turbocharged car campaigned by Mark Donohue in 1973 boasted a turbocharged engine with a monster 1200bhp on full boost – and performance so overwhelming that the CanAm series rulebooks were re-written for 1974 to keep the 917 out.
Porsche 917 Turns 40
New display at Stuttgart museum celebrates iconic racer
The 917 was unveiled at the Geneva motorshow in March 1969, having been conceived the year previously to compete in the FIA’s new 5 litre, 800kgs homologated sports car class. Although it dropped out of its first three races due to technical problems, the victories soon began to pile up – the first being in the hands of Jo Siffert and Kurt Ahrens at the Österreichring 1000kms in 1969.
With victories at Le Mans also under its belt, the ‘greatest racing car in history’ accolade was awarded by Motor Sport magazine. Among the seven 917s on display at the Porsche Museum are the 1970 and ’71 Le Mans winners, and the ‘ultimate’ 917/30 Spyder.
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Discussion
Simply the best-looking racing car ever, in my opinion (particularly in Gulf colours), and very small: look at the size of the Mk1 Golf in 'Drift's pic...
When you stand by one they come up to your knees!
The red car is chassis 023, raced by Porsche Salzburg, Austria (hence the colour scheme), and was the first 917 to win at Le Mans (1970) driven by Richard Attwood / Hans Herrmann. 2863 miles at 119.29 mph: heroes or what?
When you stand by one they come up to your knees!
The red car is chassis 023, raced by Porsche Salzburg, Austria (hence the colour scheme), and was the first 917 to win at Le Mans (1970) driven by Richard Attwood / Hans Herrmann. 2863 miles at 119.29 mph: heroes or what?
FourWheelDrift said:
Even better on the road 
Count Rossi converted chassis 030 for road use, using it to test ABS braking for road cars.This is it before conversion:
http://962.com/registry/917/917-030/index.htm
A mighty mighty car.
Can you imagine Le Mans back in the day? 917 v 512. Now *that* was racing.
Still, its a shame Porsche had to be Porsche and did what they did to Can Am, ruined a stonking series and if only they could have let the 917/10s and 30s compete there without the turbos. Can you imagine a sustained 917 v M8 battle? *They* were racing cars!
Audi R10 diesel? A 917 and M8 would nut the thing before giving it a damn good shoeing for being such a wussy arsed piece of crap.
Oh and whilst we are dreaming of early 70s proper cars, can BMW give us a real CSL aswell pls? Not just another accountant-mobile.
Can you imagine Le Mans back in the day? 917 v 512. Now *that* was racing.
Still, its a shame Porsche had to be Porsche and did what they did to Can Am, ruined a stonking series and if only they could have let the 917/10s and 30s compete there without the turbos. Can you imagine a sustained 917 v M8 battle? *They* were racing cars!
Audi R10 diesel? A 917 and M8 would nut the thing before giving it a damn good shoeing for being such a wussy arsed piece of crap.
Oh and whilst we are dreaming of early 70s proper cars, can BMW give us a real CSL aswell pls? Not just another accountant-mobile.
jeff m said:
Considered unfair when they raced, turn up the boost get a decent lead, lower boost cruise home. Well not quite.
Only the CanAm turbo ones 
Just like F1 in the eighties, really.
To be fair, the idea of CanAm was a no-holds-barred series to showcase the fastest cars and most modern technology available at the time and attracted many top drivers, including F1 stars of the day. Home-grown V8s crept up to c9-litres and 800-900 BHP was considered necessary to win. If someone (Porsche) was to come along with turbos and adjustable boost, good luck to them. They weren't the first to put a turbo on a CanAm car, but were the first to make it work properly, which apparently included welding the heads to the block to stop the gaskets blowing... They reckoned 1500 BHP wasn't impossible from that flat-12 turbo.
which apparently included welding the heads to the block to stop the gaskets blowing... They reckoned 1500 BHP wasn't impossible from that flat-12 turbo.
[/quote]
Indeed, they must have been proper monsters.
That is a brilliant idea welding the heads on to cope with the boost, a real win at any cost attitude. "who cares if the engine is scrap after, will it hold together for one race".
Mind they were probs scrap anyway.
Amazing piece of kit, would love a go.
[/quote]
Indeed, they must have been proper monsters.
That is a brilliant idea welding the heads on to cope with the boost, a real win at any cost attitude. "who cares if the engine is scrap after, will it hold together for one race".
Mind they were probs scrap anyway.
Amazing piece of kit, would love a go.
leon9191 said:
which apparently included welding the heads to the block to stop the gaskets blowing... They reckoned 1500 BHP wasn't impossible from that flat-12 turbo.
Indeed, they must have been proper monsters.That is a brilliant idea welding the heads on to cope with the boost, a real win at any cost attitude. "who cares if the engine is scrap after, will it hold together for one race".
Mind they were probs scrap anyway.
Amazing piece of kit, would love a go.
USCCayman said:
I feel lucky to have seen Pedro Rodriguez win the 24 hours of Daytona in 1970 and '71. Also saw the 917/30 run at Road Atlanta in 1973. I will never forget the beauty and monsterous performance of those cars.
You were. Mention of the Rodriguez brothers usually just gets you strange and bewildered looks. Pedro was one of the greatest drivers the world has seen and the 1000km Brands Hatch 1970 race deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Fangio and the ring in 57.People think Senna at Donnington in 93 was special, Pedro in the 917 at Brands in the lashing rain was on a different level.
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