Hello Mark I don't follow your reasoning for this? I haven't looked at the time line for this, but my assumption was the "film" version of the Sandeman was Piper's car 010. I know 010 appears early in the paddock cameo in red, but given the duration of filming & the amount of money being dispensed, it seems logical to me this would happen (given the red car couldn't feature in the film, as it didn't take part) rather than repaint a Gulf coloured car already with a big part to play...
Mike – sorry I’ve not been replying. Lost my internet connection a while ago so having to use the computer in the local library – pain!
The info was from this excellent website (I believe it's run by Franco Varani and Ronnie Spain):
http://chassis.ultimosystems.com/I found the website when we were discussing 917.024 in the ‘Lost Porsche 917’ thread. They tried to keep the website free to access but couldn’t sustain it financially without a ‘password protect’ system which requires a donation. Trust me, it’s worth it, and it’s a worthy cause – they’ve put an awful lot of work into it.
917.024 belonged to Jo Siffert. According to the chassishistories site, it first appeared as the Sandeman car, then finished the movie as JW Gulf #22 – the eventual ‘winner’. Don’t know where they get their info from, but they appear to know. At the beginning of the movie, #22 was ‘played’ by Steve McQueen’s 917.022, which had been built up to full JW Gulf spec. It therefore has the NACA cockpit air intake and outlet in the roof and the NACA ducts behind the cockpit. If you watch the first lap in the movie, as #22 exits Arnage it puts its tail well out and you can see the NACA duct behind the passenger window. By the end of the movie the NACA ducts are not there – 917.022 had become #20, then ended the movie as #21 after 013 was wrecked in the crash which caused ‘Pipes’ to lose part of a leg – #22 is ‘played’ by 024, which lacked the NACA ducts fore and aft of the cockpit but had an ‘outlet’ in its roof (but no inlet!). The roof outlet wasn't on the Sandeman 917 but could have been added later, of course - it's obviously just a prop on 024. Still no actual proof that 024 was the Sandeman car, though - it would be more logical for it to have been 010 - so the jury's still out! Anyone else able to elaborate?
Here's a photo of 024 (by the end of the movie) with the rest of the cars Seppi supplied for the movie (sorry, copyright unknown):