16cyl 917 Prototype

[AUS911SC3]

I know this vehicle exists but does anybody know if they actually tested this vehicle when it was being considered as opposed to the 12cyl. Is there any articles on this beast or archived footage available ???

[Schumi]

Mark Donohue talked about it in his autobiography "The Unfair Advantage". I can't remember specifically what was said as it has been several years since I read the book.

[sezme]

The car was at the 2007 Rennsport reunion. Link - - http://www.supercars.net/cars/2858.html

[pozee]

aus911sc3,

The Feb '08 Panorama had an 8+page spread on it.

Check it out.

[Cornpanzer]

I spoke with Willi Kauhsen, factory test driver in the 60s/70s, when we were at Rennsport. He told me that the early development of the 917 turbo parrelleled the development of the 16 cylinder car. After early testing of the 16 cyl, they determined that it was too heavy and not powerful enough to proceed with more development since they were seeing such good potential from the turbo project.

Obviously a good decision, but it would have been cool to see the big 16 cyl compete at LeMans!