1.
Porsche 908
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The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906/Porsche 910/Porsche 907 series of models designed under Ferdinand Piech. The previous Porsche 907 only had a 2200 cc flat-8 engine with 270 hp, the new 3-litre flat-8 engine produced initially 257 kW at 8400 rpm, as well as some teething problems. The 908 originally was a closed coupe to provide low drag at fast tracks, but from 1969 on was mainly raced as the 908/2, a lighter open spyder. A more compact 908/3 was introduced in 1970 to complement the heavy Porsche 917 on twisty tracks that favored nimble cars, like Targa Florio and Nürburgring. Sold off to privateers for 1972, various 908s were entered until the early 1980s, the 908 is not to be confused with another sportscar of the same number, the Peugeot 908. Despite winning the 1000km Nürburgring, the 908 was anything but convincing in 1968, the older and smaller 2200 cc 907 had started the season with dominating wins and later delivered better results than Porsches first serious attempt in the prototype category. This risky investment should take about a year, though, the 196824 Hours of Le Mans were postponed from June to the end of September due to political unrest in France, setting the stage for a showdown between the 908s and the GT40s. The Porsche 908 LH Long Tails were the fastest in qualifying and the stages of the race. Troubles with the alternator caused delays and even disqualifications as the new Porsche team leaders had misinterpreted the repair rules, once again, a V8-powered Ford won, and a 907 Long Tail came in second in front of the sole surviving standard 908. In addition, Ford won the 1968 International Championship for Makes, for 1969, the Group 6 prototype rules were changed, and Porsche lowered the weight of the Porsche 908/02 Spyder by 100 kg, removing the roof and the long tails. Aluminium tube frames were used, with air pressure gauges to check them, the 196924 Hours of Daytona were a disaster for Porsche, as all three 908/02 failed, and a Lola T70 won. At the 12 Hours of Sebring, a Ford GT40 defeated a trio of factory-entered 908/2s, at that time, the more powerful Porsche 917 was introduced in Geneva, and it seemed that the career of the 908 would be over. But with the car having arrived, the 908 started to succeed. The next race was the BOAC500 at Brands Hatch, where the 908 was finally successful, on the other hand, the prestigious 24 hours of Le Mans was again won by a Ford GT40 in 1969, as the 917s had gearbox troubles after leading for many hours. A908 challenged for the win, as Hans Herrmann came in as a very close 2nd behind Jacky Ickx. Herrmanns 908 low drag coupé was fast on the straights, but near the end the brake pads wore down. The team gambled on not changing the pads, which allowed Ickx to pass under braking, despite the more powerful 917 improving towards the end of 1969, the career of the 908 would continue. On rather twisty and slow tracks like Nürburgring and Targa Florio, so rather than trying to make one size fit all, Porsche built dedicated cars for each type of racing track
2.
Porsche 904
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The Porsche 904 is an automobile which was produced by Porsche in Germany in 1964 and 1965. It was officially called Porsche Carrera GTS due to the naming rights problem that required renaming the Porsche 901 to Porsche 911. After having withdrawn from Formula One at the end of the 1962 season, the 904 debuted late in 1963, for the 1964 racing season, as a successor to the 718, which had been introduced in 1957. Porsche designed the GTS variant to compete in the FIA-GT class at various racing events. The street-legal version debuted in 1964 in order to comply with group 3 appendix J homologation regulations requiring a number of road-going variants be sold by the factory. Porsche produced one-hundred six 904s at four or five a day with a list price of US$7245, orders far exceeded the one hundred car requirement to satisfy homologation rules and more cars could have been sold. The 904 marked the beginning of a series of sportscars that culminated in the dominant 917, the 904s mid-engine layout was inherited from the 718, also known as the RSK, the factorys leading race car. It was powered by the 1,966 cc Type 587/3, four-cam flat four-cylinder engine producing 198 hp, probably the most complex four-cylinder ever. It drove a five-speed transmission with a standard 4.428,1 final drive, with available 4.605,4.260,3.636, and 3.362 ratios. Begun as the Type 547, its development began in 1953, Porsche realized it needed something all-new. The 1.5 liter weighed 310 lb dry, eventually producing 180 hp, a complex design that proved very taxing to build and assemble, but very durable, it was used in 34 different models, including 550 spyders,356 Carreras, and F2/1s. The 904 was the first Porsche to use a chassis and fibreglass body, appearing more like a specialist racing car than the modified sports cars typical at the time. The fibreglass body was bonded to its steel chassis for extra rigidity, while many German race cars had used unpainted aluminium bodies since the famous 1934 Silver Arrows, most 904s were painted silver, the modern German national racing color. Unusually for Porsche, the bodies were provided by contractors. Frontal area was only 14 sq ft, the Porsche 904 rode on coil springs, with unequal-length A-arms in front. The wheelbase was 90.5 in, track front and rear 51.7 in, height 42 in, brakes were 275 mm discs at thefront and 285 mm at the rear. To satisfy demand, twenty 1965 models were produced, some featuring a variant of the 911s flat-six. A few factory race cars were fitted with a flat eight-cylinder power plant derived from the 1962804 F1 car, the 225 hp 1,962 cc Type 771, the Type 771s, however, suffered a disturbing habit of making their flywheels explode
3.
Porsche in motorsport
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Porsche has been successful in many branches of motorsport of which most have been in long distance races. The Porsche 917 of 1969 turned them into a house, winning in 1970 the first of over a dozen 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the 911 Carrera RS and the Porsche 935 Turbo, Porsche dominated the 1970s, and even has beaten sports prototypes, Porsche is currently the worlds largest race car manufacturer. In 2006, Porsche built 195 race cars for international motor sports events. Some aspect of the car almost invariably, was being developed, notable early successes in the USA also included an overall win in the 1964 Road America 500 for an under-2-litre RS-60 driven by Bill Wuesthoff and Augie Pabst. The 90x series of cars in the 60s saw Porsche start to expand from class winners that stood a chance of overall wins in tougher races where endurance and handling mattered, to likely overall victors. Porsche first expanded its 8-cyl flat engine to 2.2 litres in the 907, then developed the 908 with full three litres in 1968. Based on this 8-cyl flat engine and a loophole in the rules, the 4. 5-litre flat 12917 was introduced in 1969, eventually expanded to five litres, and later even to 5.4 and turbocharged. Within few years, Porsche with the 917 had grown from underdog to the supplier of the fastest and most powerful car in the world. Even though introduced in 1963, and winning the Rally Monte Carlo, the water-cooled Porsche 996 series became a success in racing after the GT3 variant was introduced in 1999. The Porsche 917 is considered one of the most iconic racing cars of all time and gave Porsche their first 24 Hours of Le Mans win, Porsche scored a couple of unexpected Le Mans wins in 1996 and 1997. A return to racing in the USA was planned for 1995 with a Tom Walkinshaw Racing chassis formerly used as the Jaguar XJR-14. This is a feat Porsche had also achieved in the 956 era, between 1998 and 2014, Porsche did not attempt to score overall wins at Le Mans and similar sports car races, focusing on smaller classes and developing the water-cooled 996 GT3. Nevertheless, the GT3 and the LMP2 RS Spyder won major races overall during the period, in 2015, a Porsche 919 Hybrid hybrid car driven by Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Nico Hülkenberg won the 83rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Porsche LMP1 program went on to win the victory in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship. The 919 program has gone on to win the 84th running of Le Mans in a 919 driven by Neel Jani, Romain Dumas. In the 1960s, Porsche grew into a competitor in sports car racing. In CanAm, Porsche cooperated with Penske, while in Deutsche Rennsportmeisterschaft, customers like Kremer Racing, Georg Loos, after appearing as Martini Porsche in the mid-1970s, the factory entered as Rothmans Porsche in the mid-1980s
4.
1967 World Sportscar Championship
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The 1967 World Sportscar Championship season were the 15th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing. It featured the International Championship for Sports-Prototypes and the International Championship for Sports Cars, the former was open to Group 6 Sports-Prototypes and the latter to Group 4 Sports Cars. The season ran from 4 February 1967 to 3 September 1967 and this was the last championship season to include a hill climb event, due to safety concerns. Also, growing speed at Le Mans caused a controversial CSI decision to limit the capacity of Group 6 Sports-Prototypes to 3 litres. Although the season was composed of 14 races, not all races counted as rounds for both championships and each class did not compete in all events, some events also included classes for GT cars and Touring Cars although these cars were not eligible to score championship points. All championships scored points to the top six competitors in each class, only the best five finishes counted towards the championship, with skipped points marked in parentheses. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car, and this championship was for all Prototype class cars over 2000 cc. Controversy arose about the Mirage of John Wyer, which had won at Spa. As it was a modified Ford GT40 with Ford engines, Ford argued that it should count towards Fords tally, as the CSI declined and Ford had no remaining chances to defend the championship prior to the final round at Brands Hatch, Ford did not send its prototypes. Only the highest placed car from each manufacturer in each division was eligible to score points for its manufacturer, not all race results could be counted towards the championship totals and discarded points are shown within brackets in the table below. 1967 Championship race results at wspr-racing. com 1967 Championship images and race programs at www. racingsportscars. com
5.
Dan Gurney
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Daniel Sexton Gurney is a retired American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racings highest levels starting in 1958. The son of a Metropolitan Opera star, he was born in Port Jefferson, New York, Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, and Trans-Am Series. Gurney is the first of three drivers to have won races in Sports Cars, Formula One, NASCAR, and Indy Car, in 1967, after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with A. J. Foyt, he spontaneously sprayed champagne while celebrating on the podium, apart from starting this tradition, he also was the first to put a simple right-angle extension on the upper trailing edge of the rear wing. This device, called a Gurney flap, increases downforce and, if well designed, at the 1968 German Grand Prix he became the first driver ever to use a full face helmet in Grand Prix racing. Dan Gurneys father, Jack Gurney, was a graduate of Harvard Business school with a masters degree, dans three uncles were each MIT engineers. His grandfather was F. W. Gurney who was responsible for the invention of the Gurney Ball Bearing, after moving to California, young Dan quickly became caught up in the California hot rod culture. At age 19, he built and raced a car that went 138 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats and he then became an amateur drag racer and sports car racer. He served in the United States Army as a mechanic during the Korean War. Gurneys first major break occurred in the fall of 1957, when he was invited to test Frank Arcieros Arciero Special and it was powered by a 4. 2-litre reworked Maserati engine with Ferrari running gear, and a Sports Car Engineering Mistral body. This ill-handling brute of a car was very fast, but even top drivers like Carroll Shelby and he finished second in the inaugural Riverside Grand Prix, beating established stars like Masten Gregory, Walt Hansgen and Phil Hill. This attracted the attention of famed Ferrari North American importer Luigi Chinetti, Gurney, teamed with fellow Californian Bruce Kessler, had worked the car up to fifth overall and handed over to Kessler, who was then caught up in an accident. This performance, and others, earned him a test run in a works Ferrari, in just four races that first year, he earned two podium finishes, but the teams strict management style did not suit him. In 1960 he had six non-finishes in seven races behind the wheel of a factory-prepared BRM, Gurney was known to give the brake pedal a reassuring tap just before hard application — a habit Gurney himself jokingly referred to as the chicken-shit school of braking. Gurney was particularly noted for an exceptionally fluid driving style, on rare occasions, as when his car fell behind with minor mechanical troubles and he felt he had nothing to lose, he would abandon his classic technique and adopt a more aggressive style. He produced an effort, made up the deficit and won the race with a dramatic last-lap pass of runner-up Bobby Unser. After rules changes came in effect in 1961, he teamed with Jo Bonnier for the first full season of the factory Porsche team, scoring three second places. He came very close to scoring a victory at Reims, France in 1961
6.
Gerhard Mitter
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Gerhard Karl Mitter was a German Formula One and sportscar driver. Mitter was born in Schönlinde in Czechoslovakia, but his family was expelled from there, after racing motorbikes, he switched to Formula Junior, becoming the best German driver with 40 victories. In addition, he sold two-stroke engines for FJ, in 1963, Mitter won the Formula Junior Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring. Mitter also participated in seven Grands Prix, debuting on 23 June 1963 and he scored a total of three championship points in his home 1963 German Grand Prix with an old Porsche 718 from 1961. Impressed by this, Team Lotus gave him a chance in the following years, due to the long Nürburgring track, it was possible to take part in the German Grand Prix with Formula 2 cars that were classified in their own contest. Mitter was killed there at Schwedenkreuz while practising for the 1969 German Grand Prix with BMWs 269 F2 project. As a suspension or steering failure was suspected, the BMW team with Hubert Hahne and Dieter Quester withdrew from the race, as did Mitters teammate at Porsche, Hans Herrmann
7.
Alfa Romeo Tipo 33
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The Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 was a sports racing prototype raced by the Alfa Romeo factory-backed team between 1967 and 1977. These cars took part for Sport Cars World Championship, Nordic Challenge Cup, Interserie, a small number of road going cars were derived from it in 1967, called Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. With the 33TT12 Alfa Romeo won the 1975 World Championship for Makes, Alfa Romeo started development of the Tipo 33 in the early 1960s, with the first car being built in 1965. It was sent to Autodelta to be completed and for changes to be made. It used an Alfa Romeo TZ2 straight-4 engine, but Autodelta produced its 2.0 litre V8 soon after, the 2000 cc Tipo 33 mid-engined prototype debuted on 12 March 1967 at the Belgian hillclimbing event at Fléron, with Teodoro Zeccoli winning. The first version was named as “periscope” because it had very characteristic air inlet and it was powered by a 1995 cc 90° V8 of 270 hp, with a large-diameter tube frame. The original T33 proved unreliable and uncompetitive in the 1967 World Sportscar Championship season, its best result a 5th at the Nürburgring 1000, co-driven by Zeccoli, in 1968, Alfas subsidiary, Autodelta, created an evolution model called 33/2. A road version, dubbed Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, was also introduced, win was repeated at the Targa Florio, where Nanni Galli and Ignazio Giunti also took second place overall, followed by teammates Lucien Bianchi and Mario Casoni. Galli and Giunti then won the class at the Nürburgring 1000 km, however, in most races, the Alfa drivers were outclassed by their Porsche rivals which used bigger engines. In 1968, the car was used mainly by privateers, winning its class in the 1000km Monza, Targa Florio, at the end of season Alfa Romeo had finished third in the 1968 International Championship for Makes. A total of 28 cars were built during 1968, allowing the 33/2 to be homologated as a Group 4 Sports Car for 1969, the Alfa Romeo 33/3 made its debut in 1969 at the 12 Hours of Sebring. The engine was enlarged to 2998 cc with 400 hp, which put the 33/3 in the class as the Porsche 908. The chassis was now a monocoque, the new car did poorly at Sebring and Alfa did not take part in Le Mans after Lucien Bianchis death in a practice session. The car took a couple of wins in smaller competitions but overall the 1969 season was not a successful one, also in 1970, an Alfa T 33/3 was one of the actors of Steve McQueens movie Le Mans, released in 1971. In 1971 the Alfa Romeo racing effort was finally successful, rolf Stommelen and Nanni Galli won their class at the 1000km Buenos Aires, before taking another class win at Sebring. De Adamich and Pescarolo later won outright at the 1000km Brands Hatch and they then took a class win at Monza and another one at Spa. At the Targa Florio, Vaccarella and Hezemans won outright, followed by teammates De Adamich, Hezemans and Vaccarella won their class at Zeltweg, and De Adamich and Ronnie Peterson won overall at Watkins Glen. Alfa Romeo finished the second place in the championship
8.
1969 World Sportscar Championship
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The 1969 World Sportscar Championship season was the 17th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. The season ran from 1 February 1969 to 10 August 1969, porsche won both the International Championship for Makes and the International Cup for GT Cars. † - Sportscars & Sports Prototypes only, GT category did not participate, points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis. Manufacturers were only given points for their highest finishing car in race with no points awarded for positions gained by any other cars from that manufacturer. Sports, Sports Prototype and GT cars were eligible to score points for their manufacturer in the overall championship, Cars that were not included in the Sports, Sports Prototype or GT categories in a race were not eligible to score points for the overall championship. Only the best five finishes counted towards a manufacturers total. Discarded points are shown within brackets in the tables below, the GT class did not participate in Round 3
9.
Targa Florio
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The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, after 1973, it was a national sports car event until it was discontinued in 1977 due to safety concerns. It has since run as a rallying event, and is part of the Italian Rally Championship. The race was created in 1906 by the wealthy pioneer race driver and automobile enthusiast, Vincenzo Florio, alessandro Cagno won the inaugural 1906 race in nine hours, averaging 30 miles per hour. By the mid-1920s, the Targa Florio had become one of Europes most important races, Grand Prix races were still isolated events, not a series like todays F1. The wins of Mercedes in the 1920s made a big impression in Germany, especially that of German Christian Werner in 1924, rudolf Caracciola repeated a similar upset win at the Mille Miglia a couple of years later. In 1926, Eliska Junkova, one of the female drivers in Grand Prix motor racing history. In 1953, the FIA World Sportscar Championship was introduced, the Targa became part of it in 1955, when Mercedes had to win 1-2 with the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR in order to beat Ferrari for the title. They had missed the first two of the 6 events, Buenos Aires and the 12 Hours of Sebring, where Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati and Porsche scored. Mercedes appeared at and won in the Mille Miglia, then pulled out of Le Mans as a sign of respect for the victims of the 1955 Le Mans disaster, stirling Moss/Peter Collins and Juan Manuel Fangio/Karl Kling finished minutes ahead of the best Ferrari and secured the title. Several versions of the track were used and it started with a single lap of a 148 km circuit from 1906-1911 and 1931. From 1912 to 1914 a tour around the perimeter of Sicily was used, with a lap of 975 kilometres. The 148 km Grande circuit was shortened twice, the first time to 108 km, the version used from 1919-1930. From 1951-1958, the coastal island tour variant was used for a separate event called the Giro di Sicilia. The start and finish took place at Cerda, the second version of the track also went south through Caltavuturo and took a shortcut starting right before Castellana to Collesano via the town of Polizzi Generosa. There was a circuit called Favorita Park used from 1937-1940. To put that in perspective, most purpose built circuits have between 12 and 18 corners, and the longest purpose built circuit in the world, the 13-mile Nurburgring, has about 180 corners. Like a rally event, the cars were started one by one every 15 seconds for a time trial, as a start from a full grid was not possible on the tight
10.
Porsche 917
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The Porsche 917 is a race car that gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. The highest official speed ever clocked for a 917 at Le Mans is 362 km/h or 224.4 mph, there are at least eleven variants of the 917. The original version had a removable long tail/medium tail with rear wing flaps. The changes were adopted into a new version of the 917, called the Kurzheck, or short-tail. The 917K, and the special Le Mans long-tail version, dominated the 1970 and 1971 World Sportscar Championships. In 1971, a variant of the 917K appeared with an upswept tail and vertical fins. The fins kept the clean downforce inducing air on the top of the tail and allowed the angle of the deck to be reduced, the result was a more attractive looking car that maintained down force for less drag and higher top speed. By this time the original 4. 5-litre engine, which had produced around 520 bhp in 1969, had been enlarged through 4. 9-litres to 5-litres, the 917K models were generally used for the shorter road courses such as Sebring, Brands Hatch, Monza and Spa-Francorchamps. The big prize for Porsche however, was Le Mans, for the French circuits long, high speed straights, the factory developed special long tail bodywork that was designed for minimum drag and thus highest maximum speed. On the cars debut in 1969, these models proved to be nearly uncontrollable as there was so little down force. In fact, they generated aerodynamic lift at the highest speeds, for 1970, an improved version was raced by the factory and for 1971, after very significant development in the wind tunnel, the definitive 917L was raced by both factory and JW. These cars were so stable that the drivers could take their hands off the wheel at speeds which reached 246 mph. In 1971 Jo Siffert raced an open-top 917PA Spyder in the 1971 CanAm series, there is also the Pink Pig aerodynamic research version, and the turbocharged 917/10 and 917/30 CanAm Spyders. Porsche 917s also raced in the European Interseries in various configurations, in the 1973 Can-Am series, the turbocharged version Porsche 917/30 developed 1,100 bhp. The 917 is one of the most iconic racing cars of all time, largely for its high speeds and high power outputs. 2009 marked the 40th anniversary of the 917, and Porsche held a celebration at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This capacity reduction would also serve to entice manufacturers who were already building three-litre Formula One engines into endurance racing and this targeted existing cars like the aging Ford GT40 Mk. I and the newer Lola T70 coupe. With Ferrari absent in 1968, mainly Porsche 908s and Ford P68s were entered there, as a result, old 2. 2-litre Porsche 907s often won that category, with John Wyers 4. 7-litre Ford GT40 Mk. I taking wins at faster tracks
11.
Ferrari 512
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Ferrari 512 S is the designation for 25 sports cars built in 1969–70, with five-litre 12-cylinder engines, related to the Ferrari P sports prototypes. The V12-powered cars were entered in the 1970 International Championship for Makes by the factory Scuderia Ferrari, later that year, modified versions resembling their main competitor, the Porsche 917, were called Ferrari 512 M. In the 1971 International Championship for Makes, the focused on the new Ferrari 312 PB. From 1972 onwards, the 512 was withdrawn from the championship following a change in the regulations. The Ferrari 512 is named for its displacement, five litres. Despite having an engine, Ferrari sat out the 1968 season. Selling half of his business to Fiat, Enzo Ferrari raised the funds to match that investment, the engine of the 512 S was a completely new 60° V12 with 560 PS output. Compared to Porsches air-cooled flat-12, it needed a maze of cooling pipes, since the chassis was of sturded steel, reinforced with aluminium sheet, weight was 100 kg more than that of the alloy-framed 917. Notwithstanding the weight difference and higher center of gravity, the Ferrari 512 S, contrary to Porsche, Ferrari did not organise an intramural competition. At Porsche, JWA Gulf, KG Porsche Salzburg and later Martini Racing, thus, at least four cars were real works cars, without putting strain on the factory itself, as personnel and funds were provided by these professional teams. And even the privateers like AAW Shell Racing and David Piper Racing received much better support than Ferraris clients, Ferrari did not adopt this modern scheme, but entered cars themselves in the traditional manner, as Spa Ferrari SEFAC. Having only a few Formula One drivers under contract in the years, with the sports car aces driving for Porsche. Besides the factory cars, there were the cars of Scuderia Filipinetti, NART, Écurie Francorchamps, Scuderia Picchio Rosso, Gelo Racing Team. Those private cars never received the support from the factory. They were considered as field fillers, never as candidates for a win, at the end of the 1970 season, Ferrari had won the 12 hours of Sebring, while the Porsche 917 and 908 took the remaining nine wins of the championship season. At Le Mans, the Ferrari suffered from reliability problems, although it was considered to be equally fast to the 917. For speed tracks such as Le Mans, Spa, Monza and the Osterrichring, the modified 512 M had proven to be fast at the end of the season, and Ickx/Giunti also won the Kyalami non-championship Springbok nine-hours race. As the loop hole for the five litre sports cars became obsolete after 1971, in 1971, Penske entered an improved 512 M in Sunoco livery which was able to challenge the 917, taking pole position several times
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