THE BULLETIN

News from the world of Porsche

1970 917K LE MANS STAR TO BE OFFERED IN RM SOTHEBY’S AUCTION

To any automotive or motorsport enthusiast, the 917 needs no introduction, though it’s the car’s short-tail coupe form that truly ignites the passions of Porsche enthusiasts most strongly. Commonly regarded as the world’s greatest sports car, boasting a near-perfect twelvecylinder, air-cooled boxer engine capable of propelling the host Porsche to speeds in excess of 230mph, the 917 set a standard for design, engineering and sheer performance that took endurance sports car design to new levels and proved dominant over three incredible seasons of World Championship racing.

Chassis 026 was constructed as one of the three 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans race entries for the JW Automotive Engineering team and was distinctive for having a different version of the now iconic Gulf Racing sponsor livery — the car’s entire roof was sprayed orange, all the way down to the beltline, contrasting with the orange centreline stripe of its sister cars. Carrying race number 22, its driver pairing was David Hobbs and multiple World Champion motorcycle star, Mike Hailwood. In difficult, wet conditions, the car completed forty-nine laps, running as high as third overall at one point, but on the fiftieth lap, Hailwood regrettably aquaplaned and crashed, forcing retirement.

Following the event, 026’s chassis was repaired by the factory and subsequently renumbered 031, being re-bodied as a 917 Spyder with lightweight open bodywork intended to contest the 1972 European Interserie Championship for Group 7 sports racing cars. In this form, the car contested the European race series by privateer, Ernst Kraus, making its debut on April 3rd that year in the 300km Goodyear Pokalrennen at the Nürburgring in Germany. Kraus raced the car extensively throughout 1972, before it was acquired by Georg Loos and his Gelo Racing Team. During the 1973 Interserie Championship, the powerful Porsche continued to perform well against strong competition, achieving several notable results.

Following its eventual retirement from competitive racing in 1974, the open-top track attacker joined the prestigious Chandon

Collection, where it remained until 1988. The car was then acquired by noted enthusiast and collector, Mike Amalfitano, with whom it remained until passing into the current owner’s care a decade ago.

Still in Spyder form, the car was promptly subjected to full restoration to original coupe specification, including a return of the famous John Wyer Automotive Le Mans Gulf livery. The restoration was executed without regard to cost and the results are impressive in every sensory regard, from the stunning design and paintwork to the unmistakable symphony of the flat-twelve at full chat, a sound unlike any other.

Now ready to go racing in historic championships, this historically significant Porsche is also recognisable for its appearances in the Steve Mcqueen motorsport movie, Le Mans, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year (read all about the cars, the stars and the making of the film in the current issue of our sister title, Classic Porsche, which you can order online by visiting bit.ly/cp20210607).

It isn’t often a Porsche with such exceptional provenance comes to market, especially one manufactured in such low-volume production as a 917, which is why the availability of this gorgeous Gulf-dressed short-tail is set to cause a stir when the car is presented for auction at RM Sotheby’s 2021 Monterey Sale, scheduled for 13th-14th August. For further information, and to register for bidding, visit rmsothebys.com today.

MANTHEY-RACING WINS 2021 N24 IN COMPANY’S ANNIVERSARY YEAR

At the end of another disrupted day of racing at the Nordschleife, Manthey-racing clinched its seventh outright victory at the ADAC TOTAL 24 Hours of Nürburgring. 2021’s event, which concluded not long before we went to print with this issue of 911 & Porsche World, was the forty-ninth edition of the endurance classic, with works drivers, Kévin Estre, Michael Christensen and Matteo Cairoli crossing the finish line in first place at the wheel of the 991 GT3 R known as ‘Grello’ (because, er, it’s green and yellow), which carried race number 911.

This triumph rounds off Manthey-racing’s twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations, hot on the heels of the company being fifty-one percent acquired by Porsche. It also marked MantheyRacing as the most successful team at N24, winning what’s widely regarded as the world’s toughest race no fewer than seven times. It was also the thirteenth time a Porsche has crossed the N24 finish line in first place. Meanwhile, the Huber Motorsport customer squad achieved an emphatic win in the Pro-am class with the 991 GT3 R, but bad weather saw the race redflagged for more than fourteen hours, the action halted before nightfall on the Saturday evening. Consequently, total driving time was reduced to around nine and a half hours.

“Congratulations to the Manthey-racing team. The crew did a flawless job and the drivers gave a terrific show at the wheel of the 911 GT3 R,” said a delighted Fritz Enzinger, Vice President of Porsche Motorsport. “I’m also particularly pleased about Huber Motorsport’s Pro-am class win. Our customer teams can be very proud of their achievements.” Unfortunately, strong performance was not always rewarded accordingly — numerous cars had to retire after becoming entangled in accidents experienced (or caused ) by participants in other classes.

The Falken Motorsport team’s no.44 991 GT3 R battled for a podium spot to the very last lap, but narrowly missed out, finishing fourth. Nonetheless, considering the challenges faced, including stiff competition from the MantheyRacing team, it was an amazing result, achieved by star drivers, Sven Müller, Martin Ragginger, Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello. Falken’s no.33 sister car achieved a ninth place finish.

Eighth went to the 991 GT 3 R fielded by Huber Motorsport, with the German drivers Stefan Aust, Philipp Neuffer, Nico Menzel and Marco Seefried at the controls. Under team boss, Reinhard Huber, the car remained in the top ten over the entire distance of the race and even spent some laps in the lead, meaning in the Pro-am class, Huber Motorsport was the unchallenged victor. Porsche’s other customer teams experienced less luck — the 911s campaigned by Frikadelli Racing (carrying the name of the late Sabine Schmitz), KCMG and Rutronik Racing were fast over long distances, but were all involved in accidents.

As a result of torrential rain and heavy fog, and in terms of both laps and run time, the race was the shortest-ever N24, with ‘Grello’ only completing fifty-nine laps in less than ten hours of green- and yellow-flag running. As ever, a large number of different classes of car were involved in the action, varying in speed from GT3 sport cars to a Dacia Logan and the fan favourite ‘Foxtail’ Opel Manta. Despite the challenging conditions, of the 121 cars that started the race, ninety-nine finished. 2022’s N24 promises to be spectacular. We’re looking forward to it already!