Porsche 917 K
Many racing experts refer to the Porsche 917 as the racing car of the century. Porsche seized the opportunity when engines with a displacement of up to 5 liters with a homologation of 25 suddenly became possible at the
end of the 1960s and designed a flat twelve-cylinder engine. In principle, it is made up of two conventional six-cylinder boxer engines, but with a modified crank drive. Pistons lying opposite one another no longer work
against each other, but share a crank pin.
To protect against excessive torsional stress, the torque is not transmitted at the end as is usual, but in the middle on a shaft that runs underneath the engine to the rear. The engine can also be imagined as two six-
cylinder engines placed against each other with the flywheel side facing each other.
The engine is of course not a new one, but is made up of two six-cylinder boxer engines. That sounds simple, but it involves a lot of risks. Ferdinand Piech, head of the racing department, would later describe this as the
biggest risk he had ever taken in his life. He had 25 identical racing vehicles built and could only test them afterwards to see whether they met expectations. If you consider that the company then sold the vehicles
individually for 170,000 DM, you might recognize the risk.
Because private drivers only rely on racing vehicles that have been tested to some extent. At least in 1969 you could buy a nice little house in the countryside for that amount. If the engines had had a systematic fault, for
example, this would have resulted in scrap worth several million DM. The real price is probably even higher. It's a good thing that even back then the VW Group was covering two thirds of Porsche's racing costs.
Only the data for the 69/70 models are noted in the table above. Over the course of its career, well over 800 kW (1088 hp) were achieved and the highest speed recorded in a race with the appropriate gear ratio was around
400 km/h. The 917 won two-thirds of all competitions in which it took part. There was hardly anything left of the competition from Ferrari, Alfa and Matra. It could only really be stopped by new racing rules in 1973.
With the utmost effort, the 25 racing cars required for homologation were completed right up to the last minute. They are intended for the now possible displacement class of up to 5 liters. We will leave it open whether
actually 'wooden brake blocks' were still installed. After all, the cars are said to have been strictly checked on this occasion.
The racing drivers involved described the car as initially unmanageable. Its handling was too unstable. Herbert Linge said that the car barely touched the ground at top speed. It was only the legendary Gulf team that made
the car drivable with all kinds of aerodynamic downforce know-how. Now the overall victories could finally be targeted, whereas previously the focus had been more on class victories. However, the commitment was not
rewarded until the following year, 1970, with the longed-for overall Le Mans victory.
Incidentally, the Swabians have sold racing cars more often. You couldn't offend good customers. After all, their victory after the sale is advertising for the factory at no cost. However, it is the other way round if the private
driver has a fatal accident, as happened to the Briton John Woolfe in his very first Le Mans race. Ferdinand Piech swears up and down that it wasn't the car's fault.
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