porsche 917

alan114 · 01-18-05, 05:45 AM

if anyone is interested the porsche showroom in Reading [uk]have a 917 on show + other le man cars,the showroom is just off the M4 j12,ill try and get some photos

Simon · 01-18-05, 06:29 AM

Oooohhh...that'd be good.

Ken Mason · 01-18-05, 07:08 AM

One of my enduring motor racing images is seeing Pedro Rodriguez in the BOAC race at Brands Hatch in the early seventies. I was standing on the outside of the pit straight and, in the wet, the 917 would jump sideways about six feet as Pedro changed up. It made everyone jump back! That day he was untouchable, even by wet weather expert Jacky Ickx, who, if I recall, was in a Ferrari 312p. The other image from that day was the cars driving through the tunnel to the pits. The 917s burbled through on tickover with mechanics sitting all over them. The Ferraris though, both 512 and 312, came screaming through the tunnel, driven by a red overalled mechanic, looking thoroughly evil to drive so slowly, with absolutely no inclination to pull at anything below about 5000 rpm! Happy Days and I have only recently revisited Brands with my sons. It's a great place to watch motor racing.

Tony Hunt · 01-22-05, 06:05 AM

Called in there yesterday on the way West.
The car is the Gulf 917, chassis 013, used in the Le Mans film. It looks very 'original' with the cockpit very knocked about and many crazed patches of bodywork. It has been decorated as a tribute to McQueen, Pedro Rodriguez and John Piper - 'hard driving men'. There's also a small inscription just ahead of the windscreen 'For Pedro'.
The Porsche staff in the showroom seemed to know nothing about the car, or a 1982 956C chassis 009 and a 1983 956C chassis 103 also on display. They were much more interested in selling me some Porsche 'bling' - soon put a stop to that - 'I prefer my GT40 to anything here'! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Tony Hunt · 01-22-05, 06:08 AM

Here's the description.

Tony Hunt · 01-22-05, 06:09 AM

And another.

Tony Hunt · 01-22-05, 06:14 AM

Cockpit.

Tony Hunt · 01-22-05, 06:16 AM

Rear view.
I have some more shots if anyone's interested, also the 956Cs.

Bill Bayard · 01-22-05, 07:42 AM

Tony,

Some 956 shots would be most welcome!

Bill

Tony Hunt · 01-22-05, 01:23 PM

Bill,
I've started a new thread here.

91740Gt · 01-24-05, 10:22 AM

This is Mark Finburghs car.It has had a hard life. Sadly they had started sripping the old tatty, but original black felt covering off the dash board last year and have not finished it yet and it has lost some of that patina that gave it real character. I have been all over this car with tape measure and drawings, camera,etc, etc in the past, and along with my friendship with David Piper and involvement with his two 917s have been able to gain unique and invaluable insider information for building my own 917s.
Yearning for one of these is high with most people but the "practicalability" is low but i can supply certain genuine parts or exact copies of parts if you want trophies, etc. in advance of the complete beast later this year. You will need a large garage for the 7ft wide rear deck but does makes one helluva coffee table though !!!!!

Graham @ GTA