Ferdinand and the Bergspyder

[ulrichd]

Pretty cool story from auto, motor und sport, even if you can't read German. There are 11 pics lower down on the page.

It's hard to judge the size of the car from the pics, tiny for sure. I'd like to a see a Boxster parked next to it to judge the size.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/magazin/magazin/autoleben/hxcms_article_503420_14194.hbs

[fbarrett]

Ulrich:

The 909 is one of the coolest Porsches ever. See story in current (or recent) Christophorus. They built only two, for hillclimbing, and Piech went mad to save weight. Would you believe a spherical pressurized fuel tank (to avoid a the wieght of a pump)?

Unusually, Richard von Frankenberg set a drag race record (I forget the ET and speed) in a 909. Only one factory poster shows the 909 (three show the 904, three show the 914, and only one shows Steve McQueen).

Frank

[URY914]

There are very few pictures of the 909. here is one...

[fbarrett]

An article in Christophorus a couple of years ago described the factory-restored version. One of Porsche's most amazing but least-known race (OK, actually hillclimb) cars ever.

[Mr9146]

Originally Posted by fbarrett

Ulrich:

The 909 is one of the coolest Porsches ever. See story in current (or recent) Christophorus. They built only two, for hillclimbing, and Piech went mad to save weight. Would you believe a spherical pressurized fuel tank (to avoid a the wieght of a pump)?

Unusually, Richard von Frankenberg set a drag race record (I forget the ET and speed) in a 909. Only one factory poster shows the 909 (three show the 904, three show the 914, and only one shows Steve McQueen).

Frank

That fuel tank was made out of Titanium to boot.

[kevin993]

Isn't the second car presumed lost?

[m110]

850lbs dry, beryllium of course

[weseeeee]

Wow, great pics. Anyone know the weight and hp of the car?

[Nine17]

According to Barth and Busing the 909 weighed 430 kg (948 lbs) and was powered by the 2.0-liter version of the Typ 771 flat-8 which put out 275 bhp at 9000 rpm; however the novel pressurized fuel accumulator didn't let the engine produce full power.

[911jettat]

Is this the car that they created the round, pressurized gas tank for?

From my museum visit a couple years ago.

[Paulporsche]

That's one cool little car! Thanks.

[bike2ride95]

I believe that this is the car that was "misplaced" by the factory and was
only discovered after the new Porsche Museum was built to relocate
their factory owned cars. I'd like to be in that dilemma

[m110]

0-100 km/h in 2.4 seconds
No steel fasteners in the car
Rotors were $1000 a piece, in 1969
Run time of 10 minutes

extreme to say the least, there is an interview where they said it had to coast all the way downhill to the pits after the race because the pressurized fuel tank couldn't be "recharged" once they were at the top.