Restoration of the Porsche 917 from "Le Mans"

[Russ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIdbXsvPZrU

 

that frame...

 

and weight reduction in the key! lol

[Kerry]

...I've seen one of those 917s somewhere before...?

[550Spyder]

From memory they had most of the chassis filled with gas and a gauge on the dash, zero pressure on gauge = broken chassis, a fairly common occurance.

There is a reasonable Australian connection with the 917 as Frank Gardner was one of the main development drivers in the early days of the 917. He rated it amongst the scariest cars he had driven.

When I get myself sorted I will organise a PFA visit to see Andrew Keiller who has built 27 reproductions which is more than the factory! World class from a shed in Melbourne.

[webrest]

From memory they had most of the chassis filled with gas and a gauge on the dash, zero pressure on gauge = broken chassis, a fairly common occurance.

There is a reasonable Australian connection with the 917 as Frank Gardner was one of the main development drivers in the early days of the 917. He rated it amongst the scariest cars he had driven.

When I get myself sorted I will organise a PFA visit to see Andrew Keiller who has built 27 reproductions which is more than the factory! World class from a shed in Melbourne.

 

I was lucky enough to see Andrew's vehicle right back in the day when he was still playing around at home in Keilor getting the original prototype together. Must have been around '94 or '95

He was then a work colleague of my late very good friend Kyran who was also in the automotive design business. 

It was an amazing work in progress and you could see the potential I am so glad that he has now made so many of them.

I remember him telling me that Alan Hamilton had lent him an original set of 917 wheels for setting up purposes and that he was using a G50 transaxle.

How it all is built these days is a mystery to me and I would love it if 550spyder could organise a factory visit.

I for one have my name down 

 

IN

 

Dave

[Chris-p]

Good story Dave. I too would be very interested. 

 

I was very lucky in the mid 80's to see AH's 917/30 being prepared at the Noble Park factory for a demo run at the Adelaide F1 GP.

What a car! Then to see it being let loose down the Brabham Straight in Adelaide, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up just remembering it. The sound, gosh it made a big impression. Almost as much as the flying pass of the FA18 Hornet which was the first time I had seen one of those too. scared the bejeezus out of everyone as they didn't announce it was coming.... funny!

 

C

[OZ930]

QUOTE:

 

"These first cars had alloy tubular chassis, which was gas-filled to detect cracks. There was a big gauge in the cockpit, which measured the gas pressure. If the gauge zeroed, they said it meant that the chassis has started to crack, and they said I should drive home 'mit care'. I told them, 'If the needle zeroes I'll park the bastard there and then and walk back, pick up my Deutschmarks and go home'.

 

Frank Gardner

[OZ930]

On the Le Mans winning 917 with a magnesium chassis:

 

"Gijs van Lennep recently admitted that he only found out after the race that he drove the magnesium car. He did not care about the risk at the time as 'all those cars would easily catch fire in those days anyway. The 1971 Le Mans winning chassis is still owned by Porsche, but Gijs says they can not run it as they fear the thing would just evaporate when they start up the engine…"