Porsche 917 Spy Photos

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Highlight of my week was this........

In the middle of a factory move something historically very special was found long forgotten in a cupboard. It was a box full of photos of various F1 and sports racing cars from the 60's. 70's and 80's. You name a race car from this era, there were photos of it.

There must have been at least a couple thousand photo's, slides and negatives all showing incredible detail of how these cars were built and of mechanics working on them in the pits. Pictures of areas hidden under the bodywork, engines and gearboxes being worked on, brakes, suspension, chassis etc. Views of the cars you don't normally see.

I don't want to go into details of where they were found so please don't ask or speculate where they were hidden so just enjoy them as I would hate to ask a mod. to delete this thread.

As the people I work with know I'm a Porsche nut someone passed over an envelope with '1973 Interseries Imola' hand written on it. I got special permission to scan them as I thought they were too good not to share and here they are. I need to tidy up the scans so here one to start off with, I'll post the rest over the weekend.

[GWN7]

Nice,

[yetibone]

Ho. Lee. Crap!

Whata find Cap'n.

I look forward to seeing more of them. Thanks for sharing.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Looking through the Porsche entry list for the race it wasn't just Porsche 917's entered, there was also a 908 and 910

This looks like the 908/03 and from what I can find is chassis #8 driven by Reinhold Jost who qualified in 9th place and finished 5th

[masraum]

wow, I love the old stuff. Thanks

[HardDrive]

Wow, a HUGE thank you for posting them!

[herr_oberst]

Book worthy.

The two you posted are beautiful!

(I love film images! Digital images still ain't there yet!)

[Flieger]

Looks more like a KMW (but probably something else) than a 908/3 to me. Transmission doesn't look like the 909 box and the engine is a flat 6. 908/3 didn't use inboard rear brakes (surprisingly).

Thanks for posting!




I don't see a Turbo but it could be a "908/4" though the transaxle doesn't look quite Porsche and the inboard brakes are not common for Porsche.

[sand_man]

WOW! This is pretty cool stuff! Can't wait to see whatever you can post!

[Captain Ahab Jr]

the lower picture is not a 908 or KMW but a home made special based on I think a Lola chassis built in the UK by a guy on DDK and used on UK hillclimbs

Think you are right on it being a KMW as cars #12 and #19 were entered and both used a Porsche engine,

Could be chassis #8

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Think this is a picture of #19 KMW SP30 chassis #8 as driven by Gerd Biechteler

Roll cage looks the same as in the photo in POST #4, other KMW SP30 pictures I've found have just one diagonal not the triangle diagonals as in this picture

[kevin993]

Oh my. Great pics. More please. Thanks much for sharing.

[Jon B]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

The transmission in this car is not Porsche, but a version of the Hewland FT/FG series.
Photo below is a Hewland FT200 gear carrier, recently in my shop for shift adjustments.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

^^thanks for that^^ another piece of the jigsaw, so much info. to be found in every picture

this picture is easy, Porsche 917 TC (TC=turbo charged), driven by Ernst Kraus for the Boeri Helmets Racing Team

Ernst drove to a 6th place in the first race, a 5th place in the second race and over all 4th place race result

[Captain Ahab Jr]

think this is one of the 917/10 TC cars but no idea which one

steel fire bottle as a deformable crash structure, thats going to sting a bit in a front end impact

[Jon B]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

think this is one of the 917/10 TC cars but no idea which one... steel fire bottle as a deformable crash structure, thats going to sting a bit in a front end impact

This car appears to have an aluminum monocoque chassis, not a tubular frame as a 917 would.
Based on the gear lever and cables around it, I think it is a front view of the same 6-cylinder car pictured earlier.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Right gain Joe, thanks

This is 917

The rear wing has a cantilevered mounting , is it connected to the suspenison so as the right height changes the changes too? If it is active aerodynamic very cool!
Love the lightening holes in the oil catch tank mounting tray


917/10 TC car #1 driven by Leo Kinnunen, he finished 2nd overall, not a bd a weekend then


The 911 has pre-74 bodywork but has Cookie Cutter wheels in May 73??

[Flieger]

There were two KMW entered in this race. I haven't seen any pictures of one with inboard brakes. Could be distinctive enough to nail down the chassis?

Interserie Imola 1973 - Entry List - Racing Sports Cars

[Flieger]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Right gain Joe, thanks

This is 917

The rear wing has a cantilevered mounting , is it connected to the suspenison so as the right height changes the changes too? If it is active aerodynamic very cool!
Love the lightening holes in the oil catch tank mounting tray


917/10 TC car #1 driven by Leo Kinnunen, he finished 2nd overall, not a bd a weekend then


The 911 has pre-74 bodywork but has Cookie Cutter wheels in May 73??

As far as I know Porsche gave up on the movable aero after the 1969 ban at Le Mans. I think that beautiful mechanism is simply for adjusting the flap angle. With 1000 hp and no Le Mans style straights I don't think they worried about reducing drag.

[911Freak]

Delicious stuff gents! Thanks much!!!