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Tres semanas después en los [[1000 km de Nürburgring]], todos los conductores prefirieron el [[Porsche 908|908]] comparado con el 917, el cual a pesar de algunas modificaciones, no resultaba adecuado para esta pista con tantas curvas. Como era necesario promocionar el auto para vender los que se habían fabricado, Porsche le pidió a BMW le facilitara los servicios de los pilotos de prueba de la fábrica [[Hubert Hahne]] y [[Dieter Quester]]. Ellos practicaron, pero desde Múnich negaron el permiso para la carrera, por lo que el inglés [[David Piper]] y el australiano [[Frank Gardner]] fueron contratados en un contrato corto. Condujeron el 917 alcanzando el octavo puesto detrás de un Ford y un Alfa, mientras que el ejército de seis automóviles 908/02 spyders de la fábrica lograron las posiciones del 1 al 5 después de que su único competidor de calibre, que era una Ferrari 312P, fallara.
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At the [[1969 24 Hours of Le Mans]], the 917s were quickest in practice. Soon after the start the poor handling of the 917 and the inexperience of one of the drivers resulted in a drama: the death of British gentleman-driver [[John Woolfe]] on lap 1 Porsche 917 crashed at Maison Blanche. Woolfe was the first privateer to race a 917. The works 917s lead the race for hours, but did not make it through the night. At the end, Hans Herrmann's 908 remained as the only Porsche that could challenge for the win, but Ickx' more powerful Ford won once again, by a mere 120 meters.
During June 1969, [[Enzo Ferrari]] had sold half of his stock to [[FIAT]], and used some of that money to build 25 cars powered by a 5 litre V12 in order to compete with the Porsche 917: the [[Ferrari 512]] would be introduced for the [[1970]] season.
At that time, the 917 already had several races under its belt, yet no success. The first win came only in the last race of the championship season, the [[500 km Zeltweg]]. Jo Siffert and Kurt Ahrens succeeded in the privately entered Porsche 917 of German Freiherr von Wendt. At that time, the factory had started to focus on development, leaving the time-consuming trips to races to customer teams.
=== 1970 ===
[[Image:Porsche 917 - H Kelleners 1970-05-31.jpg|thumb|345px|Porsche 917 K at the Nürburgring.]]
Disappointed by the poor results of the 917 in 1969, and facing a new competition, Porsche concluded an agreement with [[John Wyer]] and the Gulf Team, which became the official Porsche team, and also the official development partner. During tests at [[Zeltweg]], where the car had won its only race at that time, Wyer's engineer John Horsmann had the idea to increase downforce at the expense of drag. A new wedge-shaped tail was molded with aluminium sheets taped together. This new short tail gave the 917 much needed stability. The plastic engine intake cover had already been removed. The new version was called 917K (Kurzheck).
Wyer was surprised to discover that another team was carefully preparing Le Mans with close support from Porsche. As in 1969, the Porsche-Salzburg team was a ''de facto'' second works team under control of members of the Porsche family. The [[Martini Racing]] team also gained some support from Porsche AG; obviously Porsche had made major efforts to win the race with competing teams.
Also, a new low drag version of the 917 was developed for Le Mans with support from the external consultant [[Robert Choulet]]. The 917LH (Langheck) featured a spectacular new "Long Tail" body including partially covered rear wheel arches which had very low drag, yet better stability than the 1969 version. A few 4.9 litre engines were available for some cars, but these proved to put too much strain on the gearboxes.
Two 917 LH were entered in Le Mans, one by Porsche-Salzburg, the other by Martini Racing. The spectacular livery of this car was an elaborate whirls and swoops of light green on a dark blue background. The car gained the nickname of the ''Hippie Car'' or the ''Psychedelic Porsche'' from the team and media. The Porsche-Salzburg's LH was powered by a new 4.9L engine that Porsche had introduced at [[Autodromo Nazionale Monza|Monza]].
Wyer lined up three 917Ks, two with the 4.9L engine and one with the 4.5L unit. Porsche-Salzburg also entered a 917 K with the standard 4.5L engine for [[Hans Herrmann]] and [[Richard Attwood]].
Early in the race, most of the Ferrari entrants eliminated each other in a shunt. The two Porsche factory teams, Gulf-Wyer and Porsche Salzburg, continued to battle each other. At the end it was the red and white #23 917K of Porsche Salzburg, with the standard 4.5 litre engine, safely driven by [[Stuttgart]]'s own [[Hans Herrmann]] and Englishman [[Richard Attwood]] through the pouring rain, that finally scored the first overall win at Le Mans, in a wet race that saw only 7 ranked finishers. Martini's blue 917LH with a green "[[psychedelic]] [[Hippie]]" design came in 2nd.
[[Image:2006FOS 1970Porsche917L.jpg|thumb|left|345px|The [[Martini Racing]] blue and green "''psychedelic''" livery on a 1970 917K. This car raced at Watkins Glen in 1970.]]
Towards the end of the 1970 season, [[Ferrari]] entered some races with a new version of the 512, the 512M (Modificata). The 512M had a new bodywork built on the same aerodynamic doctrine as the Porsche 917K. At the end of 1970 the 512M was faster than the 917s, at least on some tracks.
During the 1970 season the [[Federación Internacional del Automóvil|FIA]] decided to eliminate the loop-hole ''Sport'' category at the end of the 1971 season, when the rules expired, so the big 917s and 512s would have to retire at the end of the year. Surprisingly, Ferrari decided to give up any official effort with the 512 in order to prepare for the 1972 season. A new prototype, the [[Ferrari P|312 PB]], was presented and entered by the factory in several races. But many 512s were still raced by private teams, most of them converted to M specification. The Gr.5 category, would temporally disappear until 1975, when it was reamended for production cars.
Being cheaper than the 917K, the 512M appeared a bargain for customers at the end of 1970 - a consolation that was hardly imaginable only two years previously. Porsche, an underdog for 20 years, had turned itself into the new superpower of [[sports car racing]] with the 917. In addition, the lightweight and compact [[Porsche 908]]/3 were available for the slow and twisty tracks of [[Nürburgring]] and [[Targa Florio]].
=== 1971 ===
[[Image:Porsche917PinkPig.jpg|thumb|350px|Porsche 917/20 "Pink Pig", in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen Museum.]]
The domination of Gulf-Wyer and Martini Porsches in 1971 was overwhelming. The only potential challenger to the 917 appeared early in the season: [[Roger Penske]] had bought a used 512S chassis that was totally dismantled and rebuilt beyond M specification. The car was specially tuned for long races, receiving many unique features among which were a large rear wing and an aviation-inspired quick refueling system. The engine was tuned by [[CanAm]] V8 specialist Traco and able to deliver more than 600 hp (450 kW). Penske's initiative was not backed by Ferrari works. This 512M, painted in a blue and yellow livery, was sponsored by [[Sunoco]] and the Philadelphia Ferrari dealer Kirk F. White. Driven by Penske's lead driver [[Mark Donohue]], it made the pole position for the [[24 Hours of Daytona]] and finished second despite an accident that required almost an hour in the pits. For the [[12 Hours of Sebring]] the "Sunoco" made the pole but finished the race at the sixth position after making contact with [[Pedro Rodríguez (racing driver)|Pedro Rodríguez]]'s 917. Despite being fastest on track on a few ocassions, the 512M was not a serious contender.
[[Image:1971 Porsche 917-4.9 LH Coupé.jpg|thumb|345px|left|The 1971 917LH.]]
The presence of the 512M "Sunoco", as well as the [[Alfa Romeo Tipo 33|Alfa Romeo T33/3]] which won [[Brands Hatch]] and the [[Targa Florio]], forced Porsche to pursue their efforts in research and development: tails of the 917K and the 908/3 were modified with vertical fins, and the 917 LH aerodynamics received further improvements. New chassis made of magnesium were developed, even though this material could burn vigorously in the instance of a fire.
A heavily modified car, the 917/20, was built as test-bed for future CanAm parts and aerodynamic "low-drag" concepts. The 917/20 which had won the test race at Le Mans was painted in pink for the 24 hours race, with names of cuts of meat written in German across it in a similar fashion to a butcher's carcass diagram, earning it the nickname "Der Truffeljäger von Zuffenhausen"(The Truffelhunter of Zuffenhausen) or just plain "Pink Pig".
Yet at Le Mans, once again it was not the new machinery that won. The white #22 Martini-entered 917K of [[Helmut Marko]] and [[Gijs van Lennep]], equipped with a magnesium frame, set an overall distance record that still stands.
=== 1972 & 1973 CanAm ===
[[Image:Porsche917-30.jpg|thumb|350px|Porsche 917/30, in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen Museum.]]
As the new rules for the 3-litre prototypes were not favourable to their existing low-weight, low-power [[Porsche 908]], Porsche decided against developing a new high power engine that could keep up with the F1 designs of the competition's - at least in naturally-aspirated form. In 1976 they would return to sport-prototype racing with the turbocharged [[Porsche 936]] racecars after the engines were tested in [[Porsche 911]] versions.
After their successes with the 917 mainly in Europe, Porsche instead decided to focus on the North American markets and the [[CanAm]] Challenge. For that series, larger and more powerful engines were needed. A 16-cylinder with about 750hp was tested, but a turbocharged 12-cylinder had initially the same power, with more to come.
The turbocharged 850hp 917/10 entered by [[Penske Racing]] won the 1972 series with [[George Follmer]], after a testing accident sidelined primary driver [[Mark Donohue]]. This broke the five-year stranglehold [[McLaren]] had on the series. The further evolution of the 917, the 917/30 with revised aerodynamics, a longer wheelbase and an even stronger 5.4 litre engine with up to 1580 horsepower won the 1973 edition winning all races but one with [[Mark Donohue]] driving. Most of the opposition was made of private 917/10 as McLaren, unable to compete against the 917 turbos, had already left the series to concentrate on the [[Indy 500]] and F1.
The 917's domination, the oil crisis and fiery tragedies like [[Roger Williamson]]'s in Zandvoort pushed the SCCA to introduce a 3 miles per US gallon minimum fuel consumption rule for 1974. Due to this, the Penske 917/30 competed in only one race in 1974, and some customers retro-fitted their 917/10 with naturally aspirated engines.
The 917/30 was the most powerful sports car racer ever built and raced. The 5.4 litre 12 cylinder twin-turbocharged engine could produce 1500 bhp with twin turbochargers run up to full boost, a simply astonishing 39 p.s.i, though it usually raced with around 1100bhp to preserve the engine. The 917/30 dominated in the [[CanAm]] series during the 1973 season. The 917/30 could go from 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, 0-100 in 3.9 seconds and 0-200 in 10.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 245 mph+. These staggering levels of performance, the attendant fuel thirst of the engines, and ever increasing risk, has led to the 917/30 sometimes being cited as the car that killed CanAm racing.
===1981===
In 1981, it appeared that new Le Mans regulations will allow a 917 to race again.
The Kremer Racing entered a homebuilt updated 917, the 917 K-81.
The car raced at Le Mans qualifying in the top 10 but retired after 7 hours after a collision with a back marker led to a loss of oil and withdrawal.
The final chapter though was to be at Brands Hatch wher the car ran in the 6 hours at the end of the season. The car was competetive and ran at or near the front, including a spell in the lead until a suspension failure led to retirement.
== Otros usos ==
On [[09 August]] [[1975]], Porsche and Penske would give the Can-Am car its final send off in style, when they took their 917/30 to [[Talladega Superspeedway|Talladega]] to break the [[Federación Internacional del Automóvil|FIA]] speed record on a closed circuit. With [[Mark Donohue]] driving, the average speed reached was 221.160 mph.<ref>[http://8w.forix.com/6thgear/fastestraces-laps.html Fastest races and laps ever] on [http://8w.forix.com/ 8w.forix.com]</ref> As well as being the last official outing for the 917, it was the last major accomplishment for Donohue before his fatal accident in practice for the [[Austrian Grand Prix]] a week later. The record would stand until 1986.
Also, several 917 coupés as well as 917/10 (powered by turbos or NA engines), were run in Europe's [[Interserie]] until the mid-1970s.
Many of the 917 leftover parts, especially chassis, suspension and brake components, would be used to build the [[Porsche 936]] in 1976.
In 1981, German team [[Kremer Racing]] would give the 917 its final farewell, with a coupé especially built for the [[Group 6]] category and mechanicals sourced from the factory. It was competing at the [[1981 24 Hours of Le Mans]] before retiring with mechanicals troubles. This car also entered the Brands Hatach 6 hours and showed well including a spell leading the race when it was retired after suspension failure.
Astonishingly, despite the car's impracticality, at least two 917s were road-registered. One, for [[Count Rossi]] of the [[Martini]] concern, was painted silver and given the [[Alabama]] plate 61-27737 to circumvent red tape in Europe, and the second, for Joachim Grossbad, was painted white and given the German registration CW-K 917.
Besides the [[Le Mans (film)]], another well-known appearance of the 917 in movies was in ''[[Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo]]''. Driven by Bruno von Stickle ([[Eric Braeden]]), and painted in the colors of [[Germany]]'s national flag, it was perhaps the most formidable entry in this fictitious Trans-France Race. The car shown in the movie was obviously not a real 917, though, but a very fine replica, the US produced Laser 917. [http://www.laser917.net/infusions/registry/registry_view_photo.php?A=405&B=121]. As it is based on many components from a [[VW Beetle]] including chassis and engine, it has a stunning ( for a grass roots kit )resemblance to a true 917.
Recently high-quality replicas that use the [[flat-6]] from the [[Porsche 911|911]] have become available. One is built in Australia by Kraftwerkz<ref>[http://www.project917.com/ Original "Project 917" Web Page]</ref><ref>[http://www.kraftwerkz.net/ Kraftwerkz presents The LMK917 Porsche 917 Replica]</ref>, another in the US by Race-Car Replicas<ref>[http://race-car-replicas.com/rcr917.html Race-Car Replicas 917]</ref>.
== Technische Daten ==
Der Porsche 917 wurde von 1968 bis 1971 in folgenden Ausführungen produziert und eingesetzt:
{| class="wikitable"
|----- bgcolor="#DDDDDD"
! width="20%"|Porsche 917:
! width="16%"|917 Langheck (1969)
! width="16%"|917 Kurzheck (1969)
! width="16%"|917 Langheck
! width="16%"|917 Kurzheck
! width="16%"|917/20
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Motor: || colspan="5" align="center" |[[V-Motor|12-Zylinder-V-Motor]] (180°)
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Cilindrada: || colspan="2" align="center" |4494 cm³|| colspan="3" align="center" |4907 cm³
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Bohrung x Hub: || colspan="2" align="center" |85 x 66 mm || colspan="3" align="center" |86,8 x 70,4 mm
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Potencia: || colspan="2" align="center" |383 kW (520 PS)|| colspan="3" align="center" |442 kW (600 PS)
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|bei 1/min: || colspan="2" align="center" |8000 ||colspan="3" align="center" |8400
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|[[Drehmoment|Max. Drehmoment]] bei 1/min: || colspan="2" align="center" |460 Nm bei 6800 || colspan="3" align="center" |600 Nm bei 6500
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Verdichtung: || colspan="2" align="center" | 10,5 : 1|| colspan="3" align="center" | 10,3 : 1
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Ventilsteuerung: || colspan="5" align="center" |zwei obenliegende [[Nockenwelle]]n je Zylinderreihe mit Steuerradantrieb (Zentralzahnrad)
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Refrigeración: || colspan="5" align="center" |Luftkühlung (Gebläse)
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Getriebe: || colspan="5" align="center" |5-Gang-Getriebe, Sperrdifferential, Hinterradantrieb
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Bremsen: || colspan="5" align="center" |Stahlscheibenbremsen (innenbelüftet)
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Radaufhängung vorn: || colspan="5" align="center" |Doppelquerlenker mit Torsionsquerstabilisator
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Radaufhängung hinten: || colspan="5" align="center" |Doppelquerlenker mit Torsionsquerstabilisator
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Federung vorn: || colspan="5" align="center" |Schraubenfeder aus Titan mit Gasdruckstoßdämpfer je Rad
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Federung hinten: || colspan="5" align="center" |Schraubenfeder aus Titan mit Gasdruckstoßdämpfer je Rad
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Karosserie: || colspan="2" align="center" |Glasfaserverstärkte Kunstharzkarosserie,<br />fest mit dem Rahmen verbunden,<br />Türen und Motorhaube durch Alurohre verstärkt ||colspan="3" align="center"|Aluminium-Gitterrohrrahmen mit Kunststoffkarosserie
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|[[Spurweite (Kraftfahrzeugtechnik)|Spurweite]] vorn/hinten: || colspan="2" align="center" |1488/1457 mm ||colspan="3" align="center"|
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|[[Radstand]]: || colspan="5" align="center" |2300 mm
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Reifen: || colspan="5" align="center" |
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Maße L x B x H: || colspan="2" align="center" |4290 x 1880 x 920 mm (Kurzheck)|| colspan="2" align="center" |4140 x 1975 x 920 mm (Kurzheck)|| align="center" |
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|[[Leergewicht]]: || colspan="2" align="center" |800 kg (Kurzheck)|| colspan="2" align="center" |885 kg (Kurzheck)|| align="center" |
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|Höchstgeschwindigkeit: || align="center" |ca. 340 km/h|| align="center" |ca. 320 km/h|| align="center" |ca. 380 km/h|| colspan="2" align="center" |ca. 360 km/h
|----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
|}
-->
=== Videojuegos ===
* [[Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed]] (Sony Playstation 1, 24 de marzo de 2000)
* [[Le Mans 24 (arcade game)]] ([[Sega]] , 1997)
* [[GT Legends (PC game)]] ([[Sinbin]] (Mod Porsche 917K añadido en julio 2009 por RMI grupo de lanzamientos)
== Notas ==
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