Porsche 917-001 legacy: Time for Coffee?

The 50th anniversary celebrations continue - and this time Mark Webber and Derek Bell are among the partygoers

Porsche is not letting the 50th anniversary of its legendary 917 go unnoticed, so following the get together chassis 001 had with Concorde 002 earlier this month, it’s now brought the first car together with a collection of its descendants. Even better for us, the video created for the meet includes legends of motorsport who raced 917s and the vintage track footage to go with it.

Because despite being half a century old, the 917 is still an awesome machine by any measure. Its cabin controls might look crude, but the technology crammed within its flat-twelve was light years ahead of its time and the 520hp output from just 4.5 litres means it's potent even by today’s standards. As 2016 Le Mans winner Marc Lieb puts it in the vid, the racer was equal in performance to the machines of Formula 1.

More spectacular is the fact drivers, including Derek Bell and Richard Attwood, raced the model at over 240mph during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the 917 secured Porsche’s first wins in 1970 and 1971, raising the bar for sports car racing the world over. To this day, it ranks at the very sharp end of icons in motorsport engineering and aerodynamics. So we can permit Porsche the opportunity to milk its birthday a bit...