This long line of Porsche 917s was taken in 1969, the cars are all awaiting delivery to their respective race teams. The 917 went on to win Le Mans in 1970 and 1971, it was also the car that co-starred in Steve McQueen’s now infamous 1971 film “Le Mans”.
Powered by a flat-12 engine producing 620hp the 917 was capable of 0-60 in 2.3 seconds and a top speed of over 240 mph (390 km/h), later turbo-charged versions of the engine would produce over 1,580hp.
The original body had to be revised as it was found to be producing significant lift on the high-speed straights, the Gulf team had been experimenting with shorter tail sections and Porsche adopted this into their official design. In 1970 engineer John Horsmann created a wedge shaped tail, to boost downforce. His idea worked and this car became known as the 917K, this version went on to win Le Mans two years in a row, it was also the car featured in Steve McQueen’s film.
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
