Marv’s Garage: hail to the king, baby
Let's talk today about one of the outright fastest, most advanced, most dangerous race cars of all time: Porsche's Type 917. Introduced in 1969 the 917 was Porsche's first tilt at an outright Le Mans 24hr win, powered (initially) by a 4.5-litre Type 912 flat-12 engine and costing 10-times what a new 911 did back then.
Designed by Hans Mezger the early incarnations were known as widow-makers thanks to aerodynamic lift at high speeds, and Porsche's maniacal pursuit of light weight. Coming in at 800kg the 42kg aluminium chassis hints at how seriously Gerry Hun took lightening their Group 4 charge.
The dangerous nature of the +200mph 917s can best be proved by Frank Gardner's experience at the 1969 Nurburgring 1000km. To warn of a sudden, catastrophic failure in the frail aluminium frame, Porsche pressurised it and fitted a gauge near Gardner's line of sight. When he saw the pressure drop he was to return to the pits as it signalled the chassis had cracked, though so wary was the Aussie he parked it on the circuit and walked back when the inevitable happened.
After taking wins at Le Mans in 1970 and '71, the evolved 917K (short tail) and 917LH (long tail) was outlawed by a rule change. But it wasn't done being a game-changer - Porsche cut the roof off, fitted twin-turbos and took it to North America where it donkey-stomped the 11ty-litre V8-powered Can-Am series.
By 1973 the newly christened 917/30 was an open top, +220mph rocket sled that killed the entire, legendary Cam-Am series through its sheer dominance. While the meanest muscle cars in Detroit boasted 425-450hp off the showroom floor from over 7-litres, Porsche's 5.4L TT flat-12 made up to 1580hp.
The engine featured titaniun and magnesium internals, high-grade alloys, and super-advanced power delivery methods, making it a work of art and science. Sports car racing would never be the same after Porsche debuted the 917, escalating the arms race Ford started with their GT40.
