24
P
orschecelebratedthe50thanniversary
ofitsgroundbreaking 917 sports-racerin
styleat the77thGoodwoodMembers’
Meetingwitha spectacularrollingdisplay
oflandmarkexamples,threeof whichhad
beenspeciallyre storedby Porscheitselfin
timefortheevent.Elsewhere,60 yearsof theMini
wascelebratedina specialraceforcompetition-
tunedexamples,amidtheusualjoyfulchaos of the
likes of theGerryMarshallTrophy.
Porsche 917 prototype
‘Thisis a 1969 car,chassisnumberone, anda bitof
a wildchild!’saidformerPorscheworksdriverand
91 7 pilot Richard Attwoodof oneof thePorsche
Museum’s newly-restoredcars.‘It wasveryfast,but
notstable.A yearlater,in1970,Porschehadthe
tailundercontrolwithbetteraerodynamics,but
low-draglong-tailversionswerestillusedforhigh-
speedcircuitslike Le Mans.ButthefirsttimeI ever
drovethe 917 wasinqualifyingat Le Mansin 196 9!’
Attwoodandco-driverVicElfordledthe 1969
24 Hourraceuntiltwo hours beforetheend,when
thegearbox failedcatastrophically.
Elfordwasalsoon-handwithhismemories of
thecar. ‘I wasthefirstpersonto laptheCircuit
delaSartheat over150mph,ina 917,’henoted.
‘Funnilyenough,it didn’t feelfast– at that speed,
yourmindstartsto sloweverythingdown.Before
bankingandsafetybarrierscamein,there used
tobea restaurantintheinfieldontheMulsanne
Straight,visiblefromthetrack.Whenpeople
st artedcomingfortheirfirstcocktailof the
evening, I couldactuallyrecogniseindividualfaces
ontheterrace,evenat 180mph.
‘TheLongtail 917 waswonderfullyfast,butit
didn’t takekindlyto beingmanhandledmid-corner
- onceyou’dmadea mistake,youweregoingto
knowaboutit. Theshort-tailvariantpermitteda bit
ofadjustabilitymid-corner– the 196 9 cardidn’t.’
Porsche917/30prototype
Unseeninpublicfor37 years,thisfreshPorsche
Museumrestorationrepresentedtheultimate
evolutionof thecar.‘It’sa 30, theCan-Am– or
moreaccuratelyInterserie– versionof the917,’said
AlexanderKlein,headof Porsche’sHistoricCar
Collection.‘It wasbuiltforVicElfordto competein
‘Wil il ’ unl t 77MM
UniquePorsche917sspeciallyrestoredfortheGoodwoodMembers’Meeting
the 1973 InterserieChampionship– theEuropean
versionof Can-Am– althoughit alsoserveda
prototyperole.It’stechnically917/30chassis 00 1,
but it’s in between the 917/10and917/30interms
of specification, and differsfromallother917s.
‘At the rear, it has a rectangularsubframelike
a 10, which ends right behindtherearaxle. Later
91 7/30s had a longer tail forbetteraerodynamics.
But as a test car, this actuallyhadanextendable
wheelbase, so it could befine-tunedfromtrackto
track until Porsche had therightsetupfortherest
Interserie917/30
MONTH IN CARS
Events
