1970 Porsche 917
Porsche has always been known for dominating the race circuits. During the period between the ‘70s and ‘90s, the German marque scored no less than 16 victories. The 917 made its debut in 1969, when a certain Ferdinand Piëch was still relatively unknown in the racing world. That was about to change.
Spurred on by Le Mans victories in the early 70s, the 917 would go on to achieve international fame in the 1971 film “Le Mans” – a fictional depiction of a 24 Hours of Le Mans race, starring the legend Steve McQueen and a Porsche 917.
Many believe it was these events that really put Porsche on the trajectory to where it is today, becoming one of the most prominent race cars manufacturers in history, while propelling its successive lines of road cars to the highest regard.
Powered by a Type 912 flat-12 engine which was progressively enlarged from 4.5 to 5.0 litres, the 917 was introduced in 1969 and initially proved unwieldy on the race track but continuous development improved the handling and it went on to dominate sports-car racing in 1970 and 1971. In 1970 it gave Porsche its first overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a feat it would repeat in 1971. It would be chiefly responsible for Porsche winning the International Championship for Makes in 1970 and 1971. Porsche went on to develop the 917 for Can-Am racing, culminating in the twin-turbocharged 917/30 which was even more dominant in the role. Porsche drivers would win the Can-Am championship in 1972 and 1973. 917 drivers also won the Interserie championship every year from 1969 to 1975.
A ‘short tail’ evolution of the original Porsche 917 racing car, the Porsche 917K took to race tracks in 1970 to much success. Now, many years on, one of these incredibly exciting racing cars has sold at auction for over
£10million.Dominating at Le Mans in both 1970 and 1971, the 917K featured a 5.0-litre flat-12 engine that produced a maximum of
630bhp. Unlike the original 917, which had been noted by the drivers to be a handful at high speeds, the 917K (Kurzheck or ‘short tail’) featured a less upswept tail and vertical fins to assist with aerodynamic performance and high speed stability. In fact, the 917K was so stable that the drivers noted they would be confident enough to entirely remove their hands from the wheel at speeds above
200mph.