I have compiled some interesting and little known facts and pre- history of the 917. I hope you enjoy them.
1. The Early 917 (1969 4.5 Lt Engine car (540 hp) 10-100 Km/h = 3”9 (amazing to think that today’s road Porsche's are faster that the early 917! (0-200 Km/h = 13”4)
2. The 4.5 Lt engines weighed 260 Kg. The total dry weight of the car was 800 Kg.
3. Top speed (early car) was 380 Km/h.
4. After the CSI Bombshell of June 12, 1967, where the over 3-liter prototypes are banned from the circuits, Porsche at once smells it chance to win the race it never won: the Le Mans 24 hours.
5. Production 5 liter cars are allowed (intended as field fillers) provided that 25 cars are manufactured.
6. Originally the rules for homologating a 5-liter car required that 50 cars were to be built. However because of pressure applied by smaller British companies (like Chevron) the rule was changed to 25 cars. The young Piesch came up with a storming idea: since Porsche AG sold yearly some 30 of its used race cars to privateers, why not building 25 5-liter Porsches and have them homologated?
7. The 3-liter 908-01 had gained grid position 1-2 and 3 in the 1968 Le Mans qualifying but losses to the John Wyer 5-liter GT40 in the race. (best 908 finishes 3rd -6 laps down)
8. In 1969 the 908-01 - now existing also in Spyder version - won all rounds of the Manufacturer's Worlds except Daytona, Sebring and ... Le Mans. At Zuffenhausen they understand that after the defeats from the 5.0 Lola T70 Mk3B at the Daytona 24 hours and from the 4.9 Ford GT40 at the Sebring 12 hours that a 5-litre machine is necessary if one wishes one day to win at Le Mans.
9. The construction of the “new” 917 starts in 1968.
10. On March 30, 1969, the new 917 (chassis 002) shows at the Le Mans tests. In hands of Rolf Stommelen the car realizes the fastest time with 3'30"7, which was nearly 5 seconds faster than the 3'35"4 pole of the 908-01 the previous year. Another 917 (chassis 003) is tested by Hans Hermann. The same week-end the new 917 (chassis 001) is presented at the Salon Automobile de Genève.
11. In April Dean Delamont of the FIA inspects the 25 copies so that the car is homologated. The new race director Rico Steinemann, successor of Huschke von Hanstein, decides to send 2 cars - chassis 003 and 005 - to the Spa 1,000-kms on May 11, 1969. Although Jo Siffert sets the fastest time (chassis 003), that car is not raced due to a dubious road holding. The much slower 005 of Gerhard Mitter and Udo Schütz is retired with a deficient engine.
12. During the following 2 weeks the complete geometry of the front suspension and the direction are reviewed. Three weeks later the 917 (chassis 004) is tested at the difficult Nürburgring, not very appropriated for heavy cars. It finishes 8th.
13. The 005 is sold for DM 140,000 to a privateer, John Woolfe.
14. 4 cars are sent to the Le Mans 24 hours, all in LH version. The 006-007-008 chassis are entered by Porsche System Engineering, the 005 by John Wolfe. The 006 serves as spare car ("mule"), whilst the 2 other cars set a 1-2 on the grid in qualifying.
15. The pole time set (by car #14 – Chassis #007) was 3’22”9 more that 12” faster than the 1968 pole time. (Out of interest: the 2008 Le Mans pole time set by Peugeot was 3’22”2 – slightly different track)
16. This same car leads during the first 4 hours but is retired due to an oil leak. Again Le Mans is lost from a John Wyer 4.9 Ford GT40, now by only ...120 meters, with a 908-01LH finishing as runner-up.
17. The #005 is destroyed just after the start in a fatal accident by the late John Woolfe (RIP).
18. No factory cars were sent to the 2 last rounds of the FIA Manufacturer's World Championship and to Watkins Glen 6 hours, but at Österreichring 1,000-kms the 009, sold to Freiherr von Wendt, and driven by the work's racers Jo Siffert and Kurt Ahrens wins the race. Another 917 - chassis 010 - sold to David Piper finishes 3rd. This car will also win the”off-championship” 1969 Kyalami 9 hours.
19. Starting the 1970 season race director Rico Steinemann opts for a complete new racing strategy. Remembering what Ford did in 1965 - after its serious defeat from Ferrari - he decides for an intramural competition. The 917s are no longer raced by Porsche System Engeneering, but by so-called independent teams. Since Porsche couldn't defeat John Wyer, Ferry Porsche & Co decided that 6 work's cars should be confined to ...JWA Gulf Racing with Wyer as race director. Porsche will pay the wages of the racers: Jo Siffert and Brian Redman. Pedro Rodriguez, until then a hyper fast work's racer for Ferrari, joins the JWA Gulf team. Moreover, Wyer attracts a new, unknown racer, at his own cost: Finland's Leo Kinnunen. Three other cars go to KG Salzburg(run by Louise Piech-Porsche), being a direct competitor for JWA Gulf.
20. Louise and Ferry founded Porsche AG witch each 50 per cent of the shares. It was an uneasy association, especially when in 1964 Ferdinand Piech, son of Louise, entered on the scene. He was a young and ambitious engineer, placed within Porsche AG by his mother as head of the Research and Development section. Piech followed a policy that each Porsche race car should be made obsolete by its successor. So he replaced the 904 GTS by the 906 (1966), the 906 by the 910 and by the 907 (1967) and the 907 by the 908 (1968).
21. When the Porsche clan, within Porsche AG, made the famous deal with John Wyer Automotive, Ferdinand Piech and mother Louise decided to use their own racing division (Porsche Austria) and to let race full factory cars under the new banner of KG Salzburg. For the American rounds of the Manufacturer's World Championships Louise co-operated with the American importer. (Louise – who had lived in constant conflict with Ferry- could not accept that her brother confided the new 917 to a "stranger'(John Wyer) especially since it was her son Ferdinand Piech who was the man behind the whole 917 project. So Louise and Ferdinand decided to race their own cars for the Austrian branch of Porsche, KG Salzburg).
22. Ferdinand Piech didn't respect the "stranger" John Wyer and his JWA Gulf team very much. He described Wyer as "too opinionated". Whilst Piech defended the 917LH, Wyer refused to race it. When Piech claimed that a 16 cylinder engine should be built (in order to keep concurrent Ferrari busy!), Wyer - not interested in CANAM racing - was strongly against it. Piech considered his uncle Ferry in racing affairs as too conservative, fully dominated by Wyer, as "a spineless chap".
23. In the course of the 1970 season the 4,494 cc motor, developing 560HP at 8,300 revs/min with a maximum couple of 50kg at 6,800 revs, was replaced by a 4,907cc motor with 600HP at 8,500 revs/min and a maximum couple of 54kg at 6,800 revs. Compression ratio was maintained at 10.5:1. The 4.9-litre motor was used for the first time in competition by the JWA Gulf cars at the 1970 Francorchamps 1,000-kms on May 10.
24. At 1970 Le Mans John Wyer used the new motor on his #20 and #21 (not on his #22). KG Salzburg used it at its #25 917LH but not on its #23 917K and not on its T-car.