14 Facts About Porsche 917

Porsche 917 is a sports prototype race car developed by German manufacturer Porsche.

When Porsche 917 was first visited by the CSI inspectors only three cars were completed, while 18 were being assembled and seven additional sets of parts were present.

Porsche 917 argued that if they assembled the cars they would then have to take them apart again to prepare the cars for racing.

Three weeks later for the 1000km Nurburgring, all works drivers preferred the 908 over the Porsche 917 which was, despite some modifications, not suited for the twisty track.

At that time, the Porsche 917 already had several races under its belt, yet no success.

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Also, a new low drag version of the Porsche 917 was developed for Le Mans with support from the external consultant Robert Choulet.

Porsche 917 did not compete at all the races of the season, however.

An underdog for 20 years, Porsche had turned itself into the new leader of sports car racing with the 917.

The only potential challenger to the Porsche 917 appeared early in the season: Roger Penske had bought a used 512S chassis that was dismantled and rebuilt beyond M specification.

The Porsche 917 chassis had to be lengthened to accept the longer 16-cylinder engine, and drivers complained that this longer chassis did not handle as well.

The Porsche 917 was the only championship winning car in Can Am not to be powered by Chevrolet.

One 917 is known to have been destroyed at Le Mans and one or two others the location is unknown, although many suspect some were scrapped by the factory as being 'tired chassis' with new replacements being built when needed by customers.

The drivers present instantly preferred the PA and together, the JW and Porsche engineers came up with the idea of a more upswept tail .

Gulf Oil liveried Porsche 917 Kurzhecks are prominently featured in the Steve McQueen film Le Mans competing against Ferrari's 512 Coda Lunga.