Porsche 917 Factory Racing In 1969 Porsche’s new 917 was never intended to be ready for the two Florida races, Daytona and Sebring, at the beginning of the 1969 season. As it happened, the 917 also missed the first two European races of the Championship for Manufacturers, namely Brands Hatch...
Without question, Ferdinand Piëch’s crowning glory came with the arrival of the Porsche 917 in 1969. This race car brought Porsche the one trophy that was missing from its trophy cabinet, the Le Mans 24 Hours. Remember, this was a time of great change in many aspects of life as...
‘It feels like a bathtub with a bomb stuck to the back of it!’ Those were the words of a shocked F1 driver, Mark Webber, after a turn at the wheel of the Porsche 917 racecar. It’s an extreme description but apt for one of the most fearsome machines ever...
Incredibly successful in Le Mans Porsche was incredibly successful with the 917 in Le Mans and in the World Championship for Makes in 1970 and 1971. However, the governing body’s decision to only accept engines with a maximum displacement of three liters meant Porsche could not compete in the following...
The Porsche 917 – What They Said We found some great interviews from back in the day on what drivers thought about driving the mighty 917. Below we took excerpts and quotes from the drivers who were brave enough to drive the Porsche 917. Brian Redman The below appeared in...
In 1996 the 30 years of the Canadian – American Challenge Cup series were celebrated, better known as CanAm and which only ran for 9 seasons (1966-1974), although it stood out for using the cutting edge technology of the moment. The CanAm series gave more than enough action to keep it in the memory of the...
The Engines Engine Type 912 – 12 Cylinders The Porsche House made it the norm since 1967 to participate in the tests for the Manufacturers’ Championship only with new machines, because the cost of developing and building them was partially offset by the sale of the used units at the end of each season. This...
The Martini team run by Hans-Dieter Dechent had three cars, two to race, and one T-car. The #3 was driven by the two Austrians, Helmut Marko and Rudi Lins Some say this was the best Daytona 24 hour ever. It certainly was the closest finish up to that point in time....
Le Mans 24 Hours, 23-24 June 1951: In the foreground of the workshop at Teloché is the #46 Porsche 356 SL driven by Edmond Mouche and Auguste Veuillet, while in the background is the #47 Porsche 356 SL which was damaged in practice by Rudolph Sauerwein Porsche has been represented...
Simeone Foundation Museum – 1970 Porsche 917-043 While diplomats and cartographers may technically show the roads around Le Mans as French soil, Porsche has laid claim to the winding bit of pavement that comprises the race track and especially victory lane. Since 1951, when a silver Porsche 356 clocked up...
1973 Vasek Polak Porsche 917/10-018 Cam-Am Spyder driven by Jody Scheckter Jody Scheckter was born in East London on the east coast of South Africa, a sleepy seaside town that actually carried the honour of being the country’s motorsport centre up until the early 1960s. In 1973, Scheckter, by then...
Corsica Rally, 1967: Vic Elford and David Stone driving a Porsche 911 2.0 R Not a company to stand still for long, Porsche was constantly looking for ways to improve its engines in the ‘60s. Somehow the Type 916 twin-cam 6-cylinder engine always seemed to miss the limelight…not anymore! The...
‘Production line racer’ – in their quest to produce 25 running cars in time for the inspection by the FIA, Porsche pulled out all the stops as evidenced by the activity in this image The name Porsche is synonymous with the world’s toughest endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le...