19 replies to this topic

[gerard BARATHIEU]

QUIZ, gentlemen could you identified this rare photo of a PORSCHE 917/10.

sorry for the bad condition of the photo !!!

[Gerard Gamand]

I think you have do a mistake ????

[gerard BARATHIEU]

is it good this time !!!

[jcbc3]

[AAA-Eagle]

Obviously this chassis is 917/10-001, which has a bit extraordinary story behind. Below is an article from CarAndClassic website:

The Porsche 917 was - quite simply - the fastest racing car of it's time and was quicker than the Formula 1 cars of that era.

The motivation for developing the 917 was to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1966 3 Ford GT40s took 1st, 2nd and 3rd, followed by 3 Porsche Carrera 6s in 4th, 5th and 6th. These 906's as well as the 910, 907 and the 908's was to lay the groundwork for development of a special car - The 917.

The key factor in the early development of Porsches racers was weight saving which was to give Porsche's relatively small engined cars a fighting chance against much bigger capacity competition such as the Fords and Ferraris. The 917 project was to be headed by Ferdinand Piech, Piech got approval for the 917 in July 1968. The new project's mission was - simply - to dominate international sports car racing.

Weight saving was to be taken to such a degree as to have a number of engine parts manufactured from glass fibre.

To be able to run from the start of the 1969 season meant an extremely tight development schedule - the Porsche team where working day and night and at weekends such was the enthusiasm of the relatively small team of very talented and driven engineers and designers.

On 12th March 1969 the first 917 was launched at the Geneva Salon, and within a week Porsche also unveiled there the new 908 Spyder racing car. To the press this was a remarkable achievement for a relatively small car manufacturer to release two racing cars in the same week.

After Porsche's all but total dominance of the 1970-71 sports car endurance racing championship season, the international governing bodies wrote rules that outlawed the breathtaking 230+ mph Porsche 917 prototype coupes.

Desperate to retain their pre-eminent position in sports car racing, Porsche prompted by their American motor sports chief Jo Hoppen, created what was at that time the most powerful road racing car ever built: the 1100 horsepower Porsche 917/10.

Packing the already formidable punch of a Porsche 5.0 litre flat-12, the twin turbocharged 917/10 roadster was capable of 200+ mph speeds on the short road racing courses of the Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or more commonly called the Can-Am Series.

The first Porsche 917/10 - Chassis number 001 with a normally aspirated engine was built at the Porsche Works race car factory - Weissach. The first drivers of 001 were none other than Mark Donohue, Jackie Ickx and Willi Kauhsen himself. Under guidance from Weissach engineers the car was tested and developed over a 12 month period with is final configuration being the 4.5 litre twin turbo 1000 plus bhp 12 cylinder engine as fitted today. The car at this stage in its life is as well documented as it is through time with a number of images and much written about this car throughout its development.

In 1972 the car started its racing career at the hands of the great Kauhsen - coming in 2nd place at Hockenheim on the car's first outing.

Between October 1972 and September 1974 Porsche 917-10 - 001 raced 19 times driven by Kauhsen, and both the Fittipaldi brothers - Emerson and Wilson at events in both Europe and the USA. Such great circuits as Laguna Seca - Nurburgring - Imola - Riverside - and Hockenheim all feature in the history of this legend.

An interesting aside to the history of 001 was after winning the 1973 Nurburgring event Kauhsen was visited by the West German Secret Service with a very strange request to take a mystery guest around the Nurburgring circuit in the now famous "Yellow Car". The following morning the 'Ring' was carpeted with a blanket of thick wet snow but when the mystery guest turned out to be none other than the President of the Federal Republic who was a great fan of Kauhsen and the Yellow Car, the lap of the 'Ring' had to proceed.

So - in 6cms of snow, on slicks followed by a number of secret police in Mercedes saloons and the German army in trucks Kauhsen and the President of Western Germany, Gustav Heinemann, proceeded on a lap of the famous Nurburgring, at least one army truck overturned, several police cars left the track but Kauhsen and the President returned unscathed!!

What is beyond remarkable and indeed priceless is that this machine has remained in Kauhsen's ownership until now and is only being offered for sale due to other plans. There is surely no other one private owner from new 917 with such an unquestioned originality and provenance on Earth!

After 1974 the car remained in storage with the Kauhsen family and has never changed hands. As a result the Yellow Car has featured on German television and indeed a large limited edition model was launched to celebrate the anniversary of the win at the Nurburging.

In 1998 and 1999 it was decided to overhaul the car completely in order to take advantage on the ever growing number of events to which Kauhsen and the Yellow car were being invited so to that end former Weissach mechanics - Gustav Nietsche and Harro Deutscher with much help from manager of the Porsche Museum Klaus Bischof who actually ran the Yellow Car between 1972 and 1974.

Subsequent to the restoration of this fantastic original race car it has been used in commemorative and historic events that have included the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2001 and 2003, The Nurburgring Anniversary, the 40 years celebration at Daytona Speedway in April 2004 and the Porsche Festival at Brands Hatch in July 2005.

As for the answer, my idea for several reasons is: Günter Steckkönig, Silverstone, 1973...

[gerard BARATHIEU]

This is the entire photo from AUTOSPRINT 1973:

it is the INTERSERIE COPPA d'oro SHELL at IMOLA:

this 917.10. is the car driven by CHARLIE KEMP ; is it a car rent to KHAUSEN ?

[jcbc3]

[Phigr7]

This pix is from the italian magazine Auto Sprint
It shows Chalie Kemp in Kauhsen's spare car, entered by Rinzler, for the Imola's Interserie 73 round.
I've scanned & sent it to a webmaster a couple of yers ago

[Phigr7]

What about these?

This one's easy


Harder

[AAA-Eagle]

It's pity I missed the answer by just 19 days that were between Imola and Silverstone races. I was thinking about that Imola race and Chalie Kemp, but decided to choose Silverstone misleading by different colour scheme of Chalie Kemp's Rinzler Porsche in Can-Am races that year, although I did understand that in Can-Am Chalie Kemp didn't use #001 chassis, but #005. It seems to me that if not a poor quality of the picture I would certainly recognize that small red 'RC' logo on the car. And I thought that Günter Steckkönig's appearance in Silverstone could be considered as really rare one. But anyway it's an interesting photo.

[AAA-Eagle]

Originally posted by Phigr7
What about these?

This one's easy


Harder

1)Wilson Fittipaldi, Hockenheim, 1973; 2)Willi Kauhsen, Interlagos, 1972. Willi's Porsche is in front of Andrea De Adamich's Alfa Romeo 33TT3 and beside George Loos in McLaren M8F.

[Phigr7]

You(re right, AAA-Eagle

This one may be related to what you wrote about the german President

[r.atlos]

As AAA-Eagle feels so strongly about Steckkönig's appearance in Silverstone on 20/05/1973 I thought he might appreciate this shot from practice:

[RDV]

Sweet memories... I had a ride in it in 73, and mindblowing is not the word.... the most brutal thing I,ve sat in apart from a Mirage2000....

[Andretti Fan]

Almost off topic, but Charlie Kemp grew up about 20 or so miles north of me. A few months ago, the first page of our local paper had an article about a B-25 bomber landing at the local airport to refuel on it's way home from an air show. The caption named several people who'd just happened to see the plane approach for it's landing and rode out to have a look at it. Imagine my suprise to read that one of the gentlemen was none other than ...... Charlie Kemp.

[Ralliart]

In Luki Scheuer's book "Nurburgring: Tradition und Fortschritt", there is a photo of Kauhsen with Heinemann and his wife at the Ring. Kauhsen is suited up while Heinemann is in suit and tie so it might've been taken after the fact. The date of that amazing run was 2 April 1973.

[r.atlos]

I am a bit surprised to say the least about this story. All period photos show only Kauhsen in discussion with Gustav Heinemann and "First Lady" Hilda - but none with Heinemann on board. There is also a string of photos which show that Kauhsen was leading a convoi of pre-war cars, the presidential Mercedes 600 and a couple of "smaller" Mercedes with officials and bodyguards around the 'Ring and that the snow only set in when they arrived back at "Start und Ziel".

If anyone could provide a photo with Heinemann on board and Willi in full flight around the 'Ring I would very much appreciate.

[dwall]

whilst idling through flickr I came across this

http://www.flickr.co...65038945&size=o

[raceannouncer2003]

Can anybody tell me where Porsche 917/10-015 ended up after it was auctioned by Bonhams and Butterfields at the Quail at Carmel, California in 2006? Link here:

http://www.conceptca...che-917/10.aspx

Vince H.

[917historian]

917/10-015 is currently being restored by PCNA in California