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  Porsche 917 K      

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Country of origin:Germany
Produced from:1970 - 1971
Numbers built:12
Price new:DM 140,000
Internal name:917
Predecessor:Porsche 917
Author:Wouter Melissen
Last updated:April 18, 2017
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For 1970 Porsche decided to leave the running of the 917s to a number of private teams, who would all be fully supported by the factory: Martini Racing, JWA Gulf Racing and Porsche Salzburg. Still franctically looking for the problem that dogged the 917, Porsche together with the private teams were testing the 917 in the fall of 1969. Some of the JWA engineers present were particularly interested in a Porsche 917 Can-Am Spyder also being tested. The short-tailed car seemed to handle a lot better than the regular coupes. The spyder's tail did fit so the engineers picked up a saw and cut off the rear section of the tail. A career changing action!

With the revised tail the JWA 917 changed from a handling nightmare to a pretty well-sorted racing car. Porsche picked up on the British team's golden move and produced a set of new tails for the 917. The rebodied cars are commonly referred to as 917K. At least twenty original 917s were brought up to 917K spec and in 1970 another 12 new 917Ks were constructed. The experiments with the bodies did not stop here and various long-tail variants were tried in 1970 and 1971. The final coupe version was the chunky 917/20 raced at Le Mans in 1971.

Now that the handling was sorted Porsche set out to explore the boundaries of the engine regulations. Ferrari's upcoming contender was going to be fitted with a five litre engine so to be ready for the new challenge a 4.9 litre version of the engine was created by stroking the engine. A lot more torque and 20 bhp were the result of the work. For 1971 a slightly larger bore brought the engine up to 4.998 litre and 630 bhp. For Can-Am racing Porsche developed the most powerful road-racing engine ever, based on the 12 cylinder unit. With two Turbos and a displacement of 5.4 litres this behemoth of an engine produced 1100 bhp in racing trim, with a lot more available for qualifying.

Porsche's well deserved Le Mans win
Although Ferrari brought out a Group 4 racer of their own in 1970, there was no stopping the 917K on fast tracks and the 908/03 on slower tracks. Compared to the 917K, the Ferrari 512S was both underpowered and overweight. Even before the race, it was almost certain that Porsche would finally win the much coveted 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Two questions remained: which semi-works team was going team and with what tail configuration? The JWA team had refused to run the new longtail or LH cars, deeming them too unstable on corners. Both Porsche Salzburg and Martini entered a LH and Porsche Salzburg also fielded a regular 917K.

Ferrari surprised in practice by qualifying one of the 512S models as high as second. In the race, started by Ferry Porsche, the Ferrari's pace was not as good and the fleet of 917s took off. In the lead were the 4.9 engined longtail of Salzburg together with the two JWA cars also powered by the more powerful engine. Various accidents caused by the dismal weather had taken out most of the eleven Ferraris started. Soon after the fastest Porsches and the sole remaining works Ferrari retired or crashed out as well. Two 917s remained to take the first two places, with the Herrmann/Attwood driven Salzburg entered 917K beating the Martini longtail of Larousse and Kaussen.

Right after Le Mans Ferrari returned to the drawing boards and designed the lighter and more powerful 512M. Although it was still heavier and less powerful than the Porsches, its more advanced chassis design made sure it was on pace with 917s. In the season's finale at Kyalami, a privately entered 512M took a victory beating a 917K by two laps. Surprisingly Ferrari abandoned the 512M and focussed on a new car for the 1972 World Championship, leaving the 512M to be raced by private teams. Unlike Porsche's privateers, the Ferrari teams didn't get full factory backing and were not really a match for the likes of the multiple Le Mans winning JWA team.

For 1971 Porsche had developed a further modified longtail version, which was more stable than the previous type. JWA was convinced of it now as well and fielded two longtail 917s in their traditional Gulf livery. The most advanced 917 on the grid was the Marko/Van Lennep driven, Martini entered 917K, which was the only 917 to ever race with a magnesium frame. Like in so many races before, the very well prepared JWA cars proved to be the fastest of the 917s, but both cars failed to finish, both with an engine failure. This left the victory for the white magnesium 917K entered by Martini.

End of the line
At the end of season, the Group 4 class was abandoned by the sport's governing body, leaving the Porsche 917 obsolete. Instead of building a new car to comply with the 3-litre prototype regalutions set for the 1972 World Championship, Porsche set out to modify the Porsche 917 for the popular North American Can-Am championship. The results were again very good, making the 917 in its different guises one of the most successful racing cars ever. By scoring the first of now many Porsche victories at Le Mans, the 917 story will always have a gold lining in the German manufacturer's history books.

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  Article Image gallery (359) Chassis (11) Specifications User Comments (5)