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Porsche 908 Variant Guides

Some of the earlier Porsche 907s equipped with the smaller 2.2 litre engine were modified with the new 3 litre 8-cylinder engine. This resulted in 908/01, from which two different bodies were created. First was the Porsche 908K or 908/01 Coupé, which was in fact a 907 with the engine required for Group 6 and asymmetric air inlets on the front. The second car was 908 LH or 908/01 Long Tail that differed from the 908K (908/01) as it had a longer body with improved aerodynamics for fast tracks. A beautiful 908LH ‘Langheck’ (‘long-tailed’) version also was developed for exceptionally high speeds at Le Mans, Spa, Monza and Daytona. For 1969 Porsche developed an ultra-lightweight open-cockpit Spyder version, the Porsche 908/02 again with two body styles. One was a traditional curvy shape and an aerodynamic wedge shape nicknamed the ‘Flunder’ (flat fish). In 1969, while Porsche concentrated primarily on development of its twelve cylinder 917 from the middle of 1969, the eight cylinder 908 was also developed further, getting a completely new tubular frame based on that of the 909 Bergspyder, becoming known as the 908/03 Spyder.

Porsche 908/01 LH Coupé
The FIA’s new three-liter prototype (Group 6) and five-liter sports car (Group 4) regulations adopted for 1968 presented the opportunity for Porsche to update its 907, which had won races but lost the championship. In came a 2997 cc flat-eight engined 908. Despite its aero appearance, it was no easy car to drive fast, weaving as speeds approached 200 mph. Despite winning the 1000km Nürburgring, the 908 was anything but convincing in 1968.
Porsche 908K
The Porsche 908/01 K Coupé was basically a 907 K with the new 3-litre flat-8. “K” in the designation stands for Kurz which is “short” in German, meaning the car had short-tail body compared to the 908 LH (“langheck”, long-tail). Although 907 and 908 were similar, there was a visual difference - the 907 had symmetrical front openings and the 908/01 K had asymmetrical. The 908/01 K debuted on May 19 at the Nürburgring 1000 km race and won it outright.
Introduced in 1969, the three-litre 908/2 is an evolution of the Porsche 908K Coupe. As the rule book for the season no longer required a minimum windscreen height nor the requirement to run a spare wheel, Porsche opted for a much lighter Spyder body; which looked like a chopped version of the short-tail Coupe used in 1968. The Spyder body was perfectly suited for high downforce races like the Nürburgring 1000 km and the Targa Florio. It was also about 100 kg lighter than the Coupe.
Porsche 908/02 Flunder
The 908/02 K Spyder and 908 K Flunder Spyder were basically the same cars with slightly different bodyworks. If you look at the non-Flunder Spyder, you see that the body drops after the front wheel arch and rises again before the rear wheel arch. In the Flunder version, this concavity doesn't exist. The difference between the two versions was mainly visual, no difference in racing use. The first competition the Flunder was entered, was the Nürburgring 1000 km on June 1, 1969.
The longer tail 908 Spyders were created only with the Flunder body - the body that's upper surface is almost flat between the axles - and not with the "normal" curvy Spyder body. Very few LH Flunders were created, both with 908/02 and 908/01 chassis numbers. 908 LH Flunder Spyder was first used at the 1969 Le Mans 24h race by Jo Siffert and Brian Redman, but they had to retire because of the gearbox failure. The only excellent result was 3rda at the 1970 Le Mans.
Although Porsche concentrated primarily on development of its twelve cylinder 917 from the middle of 1969, the eight cylinder 908 was also developed further. This 908 received a completely new tubular frame based on that of the 909 Bergspyder and its three liter engine was moved forward by mounting the gearbox ahead of the differential to achieve more equal weight distribution.

Porsche 908 Special Variant Guides

Porsche decided to end its 20-year history of factory sports car racing and sold the 908/03 cars to customers. Customers continued to race several 908/3, fitted with extra weight as required by the rules. In 1975, some 908s were fitted with turbocharged engines, similar to those used in the Porsche 934 GT car. Even with 2.1-litre and a turbo factor of 1.4, the turbos by now out-powered normally aspirated 3-litre engines.

Porsche 908 Turbo
Porsche decided to end its 20-year history of factory sports car racing and sold the 908/03 cars to customers. In 1975, some 908s were fitted with turbocharged engines, similar to those used in the Porsche 934 GT car. Several customer-908s were upgraded with 936-style bodywork. The Porsche 908/80 Turbo of Joest and Jacky Ickx which finished 2nd in the 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans turned out later to have a real Porsche 936 chassis, though.

Porsche 908 Data & Research

We dig into some of the data surrounding the Porsche 908, including production numbers, specifications, chassis numbers and much more. 3.0 I flat 8 (908/01, 02, 03) 2.1 L turbocharged flat 6 (908/03). In terms of power, the early 908s were seeing 350 hp from their 3 liter Flat 8s, while the privateer Turbo 908s were seeing 500+ hp from their smaller turbocharged flat 6 engines.

Porsche 908 Pictures, Galleries & Wallpapers

The 908 originally was a closed coupe to provide low drag at fast tracks, but from 1969 on was mainly raced as the 908/2, a lighter open spyder. Sold off to privateers for 1972, various 908s were entered until the early 1980s, often retro-fitted with Porsche 934-based 2.1-litre turbocharged flat 6 engines. The thing you will notice with all these variants is just how varied the 908s looked over the years, especially depending on their body styles.

Porsche 908 News & Updates

Recent auctions, awesome review videos and all the latest news and posts regarding anything to do with the Porsche 908.

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