Come See and HEAR a 917 run!

Saturday, November 6th at noon! I believe at the Simeone Museum.

Their message:

 

Vic will be there the evening before also - Saturday should bring out a few interesting local cars ......

 

Sounds great! I will be there

 

Do guys want to make a mini-meet before hand? Say at 11:00 or so? Then at noon we can head over and see the 917.

 

Oh I suspect some of the West Chester C&C crowd will head over on the day ....

 

That 917 is one wild looking beast. I understand it scared the poopy out of anyone who drove it in anger. I think that is why the tail grew so long.

Engine: Flat 12-cylinder, dual overhead camshafts, Bosch mechanical fuel injection, 4999 cc, 630 bhp at 8400 rpm, 434 lb-ft at 6500 rpm; Gearbox: 5-speed Porsche transaxle; Brakes: 4-wheel disc; Suspension: front, independent by unequal control arms with coil springs over tubular shocks; rear, independent by unequal control arms and radius rods with coil springs over tubular shocks; Right hand drive.

Porsche built the 917 with one underlying goal: to win its first overall victory in the 24 Heures du Mans.

Starting in July 1968 twenty-five 917s were conceived, designed and built in only ten months to meet the FIA production minimum. Those first 25 examples incorporated remarkable technology: Porsche’s first 12-cylinder engine, an aluminum tube space frame chassis, myriad components from titanium, magnesium and exotic alloys, even suspension springs made from titanium wire. Over the next three years the Porsche 917 was to become a symbol of modern road racing technology, an effect far greater than would be expected from only the 37 examples built.


From the beginning, Porsche spent great efforts developing bodies with low aerodynamic drag for the Mulsanne Straight. They succeeded admirably, but on the track the slippery shape proved to be seriously unstable. At a late ‘69 test session which included the first prototype Can-Am 917, they realized the Can-Am car’s chunky high downforce design solved the 917’s stability problems and thenceforth ran two versions of the 917, the 917K (kurzheck, or short tail) and 917L (langheck). The latter were used in racing only at Le Mans. Only five 917Ls, of which this is one, were built, specifically to achieve Porsche’s ultimate goal, overall victory in the 24 Heures du Mans.

917-043 was supplied to Martini Racing for the 1970 Le Mans classic and began a tradition of exotic livery for certain Porsche team cars. Porsche’s new styling chief, Tony Lapine, gave the Martini 917 elaborate whorls and swoops of light green on a violet background, and earned it the instant nickname “The Hippie Car” from the team and media. Drivers Gerard Larousse and Willi Kauhsen performed perfectly in their supporting role to the factory cars, finishing second to Porsche’s first overall Le Mans winner, Hans Hermann and Dickie Atwood in the Porsche-Salzburg 917K. That Larousse and Kauhsen were playing the tortoise role to the hares of the factory cars and the Ferrari 512s is witnessed by their also winning the Index of Thermal Efficiency, averaging 9.1 miles per gallon against the winners’ 7.4 mpg. It also attests to the low-drag efficiency of the langheck body. In 1971, 917-043, still with the proven 4.9 litre engine instead of the more powerful 5.0 litre twelve used in shorter races, was assigned to the Gulf-Porsche team for Pedro Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver. -043 had revised bodywork owing much to French designer Charles Deutsch (famous for his Deutsch-Bonnet race cars) with a shorter nose, semi-enclosed rear wheels (now 17” wide to better handle the 917’s power and the chassis’ 36-64 weight distribution) and a full-width rear wing between the fins. -043 led the race for 8 hours, setting the fastest lap at 3’ 18.4” (151.854 mph), before falling back in the twelfth hour and retiring two hours later when oil lines added to both their 917Ls by J.W. failed. The third J.W. entry, a 917K, finished second to the winning 917K of Martini Racing, driven by Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep. Porsche had accomplished not only its goal of overall victory, it had established overall dominance.

That was at Radnor in 2006. it took some massaging but they eventually got it fired up.

cheerz

ken
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When and Where will this take place? And how rare exactly is this Porsche? Thanks.
-Jared

 

Nov 6th for the running of the car - how rare ? bleeding rare !

Never heard a V12 Porsche then BE THERE

Simeone Museum near Philly airport - check their website.

 

Rarer than rare

 

I was there when they ran the 375 and pontoon 250, and I will DEF be there for this.

Thanks for the heads up

 

Ken: One addition to your terrific narrative on the 917: most of the very best drivers of those years were terrified of this car. Why? The 917/30 was the most powerful sports car racer ever built and raced, its 5.3 liter 12 cylinder twin-turbocharged engine could produce 1,580 bhp and it weighed only 1800 lb......The only thing I can think of that makes that kind of noise is the Sapce Shuttle at launch! M

 

I was talking to the owner of the Mark Donohue 917-30. Indeed, that car scared the crap out of him. He said at the Atlanta speedway, he shifted gears above 120 or so and the front end lifted when he hit the gas. That was alot of power in a very compact shape.

Its strange to see one in person and realized just how small the car is.

regards

ken

Hey Michael, you going to st Michael's this Sunday?

kcv
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BTW Dickie Attwood used to bring his 917 to the annual multi day PCGB event - and during the evening he'd start up the 917 - wonderful sound and lots a color from the exhausts !!

If you have any oil in your veins then you should be there to hear the 917...

 

I'm there! I tried to organize a local club cruise there and couldnt muster up the numbers. I just learned about the museum this summer and I am totally game for catching a demostration day.

 

Bayer, right on...the 917-30 was positively nuts and still is.

257mph on Paul Ricard during a race, not a top speed event!!

Mark Donohue did some amazing engineering work on the 917-10 and re-engineered the machine to make it usable. He got injured in a wreck and Follmer won the championship in it...but Mark got his chance with the 30.

Its performance is still insane today. 0-200mph in 10 seconds or so?

Yummy.

All with just a rollbar overhead.

LS

 

Ken Yes, hoping to be there for a bit early, can not stay long but it's a great gathering and for a good cause M

 

anyone else going? I will be in attendance, any additional news on this event as well?

Open to meet and ride with anyone from the NE-Maryland area. I live right off of exit-80 of 95-N, so let me know.

 

I'll be there. Fcar is still in the shop (major), so I will be there in my 8 series.

 

I shall be there as well. Sometimes if one is early enough there in the morning (before the museum opens) you can still catch them warming up the car in the back lot; one may be able to hear more of that glorious flat-12!

- Jan

 

several porsche guys will be heading from West Chester C&C to arrive circa 10am.

Look out for early 911s.....

 

I've talked at length with ex-917 drivers including Elford. Scary stuff. And, my friend was always nervous when he was driving them. Another friend owned a 512S for many years. Same period with the same "rough" design. Safety was an afterthought, if at all. You do not want to stuff one of these cars. His wife finally prevailed upon him to sell it.

CW

 

Scratch that, something came up, so I won't be there. Next time!

 

Anyone from baltimore or dc going?

 

I'm going. I live just north-east of baltimore in harford county. As it stands I am driving up on my lonesome. Wanna meet up somewhere? Maryland House or Chesapeake House?

I've never been there before or know when to arrive. I was told showing up early can be worth it, so I was thinking around 1030 or so for an arrival time...any thoughts?

-Lester
four.4 three four one 7/ forty 30

 

Great event today, I couldnt stay for the whole demo, I got to hear the Havoline car run which was sweet.

I'll have to upload pictures tomorrow after I finish with my camera at another event. I drained my battery today.