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Preparing for Le Mans 2014 Porsche remembers 1971 and the 917 [w/video]

Jonathon Ramsey — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:05:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Videos, Porsche, Racing

Porsche has given us another look back at its successes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This time it's 1971, the year that its 917 set records that haven't all been eclipsed. It's 45-kilogram magnesium tube frame was the lightest, Jackie Oliver set the fastest in-race lap with a time that still stands, and winning drivers Helmut Marko - the same Helmut Marko currently with Infiniti Red Bull Racing - and Gilles Lethem did so many laps that their distance wasn't exceeded until the Audi R15 TDI did it in 2010.

1971 was also the year of the "Pink Pig." With bodywork created by a French aerodynamics firm, the wider, rounder 917 earned the porcine moniker so Porsche painted it pink and labeled it with the cuts you'd get from a pig. Sponsor Martini was so miffed they demanded all Martini branding be removed. No one can remove the thousands of photographs taken of the car ever since. Enjoy that and more in the video below.

Continue reading Preparing for Le Mans 2014 Porsche remembers 1971 and the 917 [w/video]

Preparing for Le Mans 2014 Porsche remembers 1971 and the 917 [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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1970 Porsche 917/LH makes rare trip from Porsche Museum to New York

Noah Joseph — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:59:00 EST

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Classics, Coupe, Porsche, Racing

There have been a number of iconic racing liveries over the course of history - JPS and Gulf spring immediately to mind - and every historic racing fan has his or her favorite. But few are as downright awesome as Martini. The Italian vermouth label has sponsored everything from Lancias to Fords, but many of its very awesomest have been Porsches. Like this bitchin' 917/LH.

This long-tail version (Langheck in German) of the all-conquering 917 racer was fielded twice at Le Mans: once by Porsche Salzburg in 1970, and once by Martini Racing (which gave it its enduring paintjob) in 1971. It qualified first and second at those respective runnings, but proved fragile over the course of the 24-hour race and failed to finish both times.

The overall results don't mean that this isn't a devastatingly beautiful example of motor racing history, or that it's anything less than priceless. Better check it out in our gallery of images from the show floor before it's secreted back off to Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.

1970 Porsche 917/LH makes rare trip from Porsche Museum to New York originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Historic Porsche collection going up for auction at Amelia Island

Drew Phillips — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Auctions, Porsche

Classic car aficionados are currently making arrangements to be in Northeast Florida for the second week of March for the Amelia Island Concours, but not everyone will be headed to Florida just to see cars. Plenty of collectors come to the annual event with cash burning in their pockets, and the various auction houses are happy to oblige with a selection of special cars on offer.

One of the highlights of the weekend's auction action will surely be this incredible Porsche collection slated to cross the block at Gooding & Company. Owned by the late Matthew Drendel, the collection consists of 18 classic Porsches from a rare 1973 917/30 Can-Am Spyder with an estimated value of up to $3.25-$4 million to a very attainable 1991 944 S2 Cabriolet worth around $30,000. Also of note are a two-time Daytona 24 winning 1984 Porsche 962, the very first Porsche 935 built and a 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Evolution that is one of just four factory team cars.

Follow the jump for more details on the auction and the Drendel Porsche collection, or take a closer look at the drool-worthy cars in the gallery above.

Continue reading Historic Porsche collection going up for auction at Amelia Island

Historic Porsche collection going up for auction at Amelia Island originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazing mod Egg chairs in your favorite classic racecar liveries

Zach Bowman — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:29:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Etc., Design/Style

These days, you only have a Ball chair in your office if you're an evil genius or confused enough to think it's still 1962. The clever artists at Racing & Emotion Design are out to change all that, though. The company has taken it upon themselves to slather the spherical seating, as well as an "Egg" style chair, in some of the world's most famous racing liveries.

Want to kick back in the same style as the Gulf Porsche 917? No problem. What if the Pink Pig is more your style? Racing and Emotion Design have you covered. The French designers have even worked up a chair in Ayrton Senna's helmet livery, as well as the colors found on the racer's Lotus 97T. In all, there are 21 separate liveries to chose from. We're particularly smitten with the BMW 3.0 CSL piece, though the various Gulf liveried thrones are likely to be sure winners.

Unfortunately, we won't be dragging one of these home to the lair anytime soon. The chairs each cost around $3,788 at current conversion rates, which means we'll just have to control our death ray from the comfort of the couch. Head over to Racing & Emotion or Classic Heroes to take a look at the full range.

Amazing mod Egg chairs in your favorite classic racecar liveries originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rennsport Reunion IV: 350 Porsches take to the track

Drew Phillips — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:59:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Porsche, Racing

Porsche has a longer history of racing - and winning - at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca than perhaps any other car company. At the legendary track's very first race in October of 1957, a Porsche 550 RS Spyder took the overall win of the SCCA National Laguna Seca Championship. Since then, dozens of Porsches have competed in and won races at the track, piloted by some of the most famous drivers in the world.

Porsche's racing history at Laguna Seca is perhaps why the fourth edition of the Rennsport Reunion is the best yet. The five historic racing classes are packed with legendary race cars and drivers. Watching a trio of 935s spiral through the corkscrew makes you feel like you've gone back in time to the 1970s, or watching a 962 blast down the front straight transports you directly to the 1980s.

There were plenty of examples of Porsche's modern race car on track at Rennsport, as well. Dozens of cars competed in the Cayman Interseries, 911 Invitational, 911 Cup and PCA races, and Porsche's recently retired racing prototype, the RS Spyder, was also on track. The RS Spyder has a history at Laguna Seca as well, winning the LMP2 class in its debut at the track in 2005.

Whether it's the vintage racers of the 1950s or '60s, the flamboyant 935s and prototypes of the 1970s and '80s, or the modern race cars, there was something for every Porsche fan at Rennsport IV. Click through our gallery above to see a sample of what was on track at Laguna Seca this past weekend.

Rennsport Reunion IV: 350 Porsches take to the track originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's about time to pay tribute to Porsche's first Le Mans victory

Noah Joseph — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:58:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Porsche, Design/Style

Porsche Design P'6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition - Click above for high-res image gallery

Some races come and go, but a handful remain inextricably intertwined with the very fabric of motor racing around the world. Races like the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The latter is well known worldwide as one of the most grueling tests of man and machine, and nobody has won it more times than Porsche.

The German marque's first victory came at the hands of Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood, who led a 1-2-3 finish for Porsche behind the wheel of their iconic 917 K. Forty years later, the company's merchandizing division, Porsche Design, has released a limited-edition timepiece to commemorate the feat.

The Porsche Design P'6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition, as you might have guessed from the name, features a face styled after the 917 K's dashboard instruments, with white indices on a black background and red hands and accents, offset by the number 23 that adorned the winning long-tail 917 K and which followed Herrmann throughout his career. The tachometer scale around the bezel can be used to calculate overall speed, etched into the brushed and polished titanium case and affixed with a perforated calfskin strap with red topstitching reminiscent of the 917's steering wheel.

Only 917 examples of the special edition chronograph will be offered, released just in time for the Le Mans Classic. Each comes accompanied by a scale model of the 917 K and a booklet signed by Herrmann and Attwood. Details in the press release after the jump with photos in the gallery below.

Gallery: Porsche Design P'6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition

[Source: Porsche Design]

Continue reading It's about time to pay tribute to Porsche's first Le Mans victory

It's about time to pay tribute to Porsche's first Le Mans victory originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: The 1970 12 Hours of Sebring completely ruled

Alex Nunez — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:24:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Videos, Porsche, Ferrari

1970 12 Hours of Sebring film - Click above to watch video after the jump

If we had a time machine, we'd set it for 1970 and never look back. And once we landed, bought some new threads and scored one of the amazing cars in production at the time, we'd road trip it to Sebring so we could see that year's 12-hour enduro in person. Why? Because as good as modern sports car racing is, Sebring '70 is special. From the cars and drivers (a who's-who of legends including Mario Andretti, Jo Siffert, Pedro Rodriguez, Dan Gurney, Henri Pescarolo, and yes, Steve McQueen, who co-drove his Porsche 908 with Peter Revson despite having his broken left foot in a cast at the time), to the the overall atmosphere, Sebring, Florida on March 21, 1970 was very much the place to be.

Sadly, there's no time machine to take us back there, but there was a brilliant race documentary made of the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring. Follow the jump to see the story play out in five parts. Unfortunately, the embedded YouTube clips don't include the film's seven-minute intro section. But that's okay, because you can catch that part over at the State Library and Archives of Florida, which has the 22-minute movie posted in its entirety.

So, follow the jump and see the drama unfold as the Gulf-Porsche 917s battle the Ferrari 512S trio led by Andretti while McQueen and Revson try to pull off an unimaginable upset. Forty years after the checkered flag dropped, this is still an absurdly exciting and entertaining race to watch, even if you already know its storybook ending. Need a spotter's guide before you hit play? No worries, just click here. Thank you, 1970, for being so incomprehensibly awesome.

[Source: State Library and Archives of Florida, YouTube]

Continue reading Video: The 1970 12 Hours of Sebring completely ruled

Video: The 1970 12 Hours of Sebring completely ruled originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Happy 80th Birthday, Steve McQueen

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Classics, Etc., Celebrities

Steve "King of Cool" McQueen - Click above for a high-res image gallery

Odds are, your nickname is not "The King of Cool." Of course, odds are that you never ran away from the farm to join the circus, worked as a towel boy in a brothel, jumped ship from the merchant marines in the Dominican Republic, were a lumberjack, joined a street gang or bought your first motorcycle with winnings from motorcycle racing. Nor were you busted down to private seven times while a Marine only to redeem yourself by saving the lives of five men in frosty arctic waters and then being assigned to guard Harry Truman's yacht. Oh, and you're first film role wasn't in a Paul Newman movie. In other words, we know something about Steve McQueen, and you're no Steve McQueen. Sadly, neither are we. For that matter, neither is anyone else. Oh, and today would have been his 80th birthday.

McQueen is most famous for being a Hollywood heartthrob and anti-hero, rising to prominence as a hunky, square-jawed outsider. His first big screen success happened when none other than Frank Sinatra replaced (none other than) Sammy Davis Jr. with McQueen in a film called Never so Few where McQueen's character was required to drive a Jeep at high speeds. Then came one of his most memorable roles as Vin in John Sturges classic western The Magnificent Seven, where he shared the screen with Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach, James Coburn and Robert Vaughn. Then came The Great Escape and the rest, as they say, is history.

Being supremely and ridiculously cool is all well and good, but it's still not enough to get your birthday mentioned on Autoblog. No, you've got to have a pretty strong connection to cars to wind up here. Did we mention Steve McQueen was the car guy's car guy?

Gallery: Steve McQueen

Continue reading Happy 80th Birthday, Steve McQueen

Happy 80th Birthday, Steve McQueen originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Book Review: Legendary Race Cars by Basem Wasef [w/VIDEO]

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:57:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports

Maserati 8CM number 3011 from Legendary Race Cars - Click above for high-res image gallery

Confused as to what to do with all the Barnes & Nobles and Amazon.com gift cards your in-laws pelted you with this Holiday season? Be confused no more! Legendary Race Cars is the book every pistonhead needs sitting on their night stand in 2010. We really hope you haven't gone all Kindle on us, because Basem Wasef's coffee table-sized book is loaded bow to stern with gorgeous photographs of some of the most desirable cars ever built, let alone raced. Wasef took all the non-vintage pictures, too, and they're quite stunning.

What cars? Well, that's the really fantastic part. Put it like this: had we been asked to write such a book, our choices wouldn't have been much different. There are 25 legendary racers in all, spanning from motorsports earliest days right on up to the present. In truth, a great mix of racing machines.

The first car discussed is the Ford GT40 and the last is Sterling Moss's Mercedes-Benz 300SLR - the No. 722 car. In between you get Carroll Shelby's Aston Martin DBR1 and Cobra Daytona Coupe, all the Auto Union Grand Prix Cars, Senna's McLaren MP4/4, Fangio's Maserati 250F and of course the brutally awesome Porsche 917. Each car is discussed in informative, enthusiastic and playful detail, yet the text is never slavish or obsessive. If you want to know who cut the Maserati 8CM's splines, look elsewhere.

And that's not even the half of it, as Legendary Race Cars is loaded with more winners like Richard Petty's Plymouth SuperBird, the first round the world winner, the Thomas Flyer, the Indy-dominating Marmon Wasp (first car to ever employ a rear-view mirror!), Audi's Group B killer S1 Quattro, Schumacher's Ferraris, McRae's Subarus and even Ecurie Ecosse's Jaguars.

Some of you might be familiar with Basem Wasef's first book, Legendary Motorcycles. If you are, you'll no doubt remember that Jay Leno wrote the introduction to that one. Not bad for your first book. For his second book, Basem got none other than Sir Stirling Moss to pen the foreword, which, for you whippersnappers who have no clue who Sir Stirling is, would be like getting Snoop Dogg to help you write an essay about gangsta rappers and marijuana.

Here's part of what Moss has to say, "Selecting these 25 legendary cars cannot have been easy. Automobiles, like paintings and other works of art, have different effects on different people... I would hate to have been making the choice - but I am enormously proud and happy to have been invited to write the foreword for this book." All we can do is say wow. For his third book, Mr. Wasef will no doubt be writing it in Colin Chapman's blood. Until then, pick up a copy of Legendary Race Cars (It's $23.10 right now at Amazon). You won't regret it one iota. Make the jump to watch Basem Wasef discuss Legendary Race Cars with none other than Jay Leno, and don't forget to check out the gallery that's filled with some choice stills from the book.

Gallery: Legendary Race Cars

Continue reading Book Review: Legendary Race Cars by Basem Wasef [w/VIDEO]

Book Review: Legendary Race Cars by Basem Wasef [w/VIDEO] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Porsche's legendary 917 hits the big 4-0! Happy birthday!

Sam Abuelsamid — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:28:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Porsche

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Porsche 917

Forty years ago this week at the Geneva Motor Show, Porsche rolled out what would become one of the most successful racing cars of all time. The Porsche 917 was born of new FIA homologation rules that required a "production" run of at least 25 examples before the car could take to the track. Over the next several years, 917 variants in several different body styles including short- and long-tail closed coupes and open-top "spyder" models would win wherever they went, including Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring and the Can-Am series.

All 65 examples that were ultimately built were powered by an air-cooled flat twelve-cylinder. The first coupes used a 4.5-liter normally aspirated 520 horsepower engine while the penultimate example was the 917/30 spyder. This 1,200-hp turbocharged beast swept Can-Am in the hands of Mark Donohue, bringing the series to a climax in 1973 before the combination of the economy and Middle East oil embargo caused most major teams to withdraw. Seven of the 917s can now be seen in Porsche's new Stuttgart museum.

As a special tribute to the legendary 917, we've also collected some of our own photos of this very special Porsche for your pleasure. Taken at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and at other gatherings, these photos have been collected in a high res gallery available by clicking any of the images below.

Gallery: Porsche 917

Gallery: Porsche 917, 40th Anniversary

[Source: Porsche]

Continue reading Porsche's legendary 917 hits the big 4-0! Happy birthday!

Porsche's legendary 917 hits the big 4-0! Happy birthday! originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Take a load off on your Porsche 917 sofa

Stuart Waterman — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:26:00 EST

Filed under: In the Autoblog Garage, Motorsports, Etc.

If you're looking for the ultimate piece of furniture to park in your living room the next time you watch Steve McQueen's Le Mans, look no further than the U.K. firm Inspired Design and its Porsche couch. Based on the all-conquering Porsche 917 of the 1970s, the fiberglass and leather couch rests on a powder-coated steel frame and features four period-correct headlights (and yes, they can be made to work).

The striking piece of furniture is being manufactured in limited editions of seventeen, each inspired by the livery and racing number of a famous 917, including the Gulf example shown, and the striking number 23 SEV Marchal 1970 Le Mans winner.

Buyers prepared to part with £3995 can pick their favorite Porsche, or have one made in their own corporate colors. More pics after the jump!

[Source: Inspired Design via Winding Road]

Continue reading Take a load off on your Porsche 917 sofa

Take a load off on your Porsche 917 sofa originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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