The
Porsche 917 in Can-Am - a
magic period now being modelled |
by
Bill Oursler
 For all the
interest in Porsche competition cars, particularly the turbocharged
monsters of the 1970’s North American Canadian American
Challenge, better known as the Can-Am, there was for a long
time a paucity of output from the kit and handbuilt model community
in these cars. Indeed, in 1/43rd scale. Only Starter and one
small outfit had until comparatively recently produced replicas
of the 917/10’s and 917/30’s which so
dominated the series In 1972 and again In 1973. Now, a new voice
has been heard, that of Marsh Models’ John Simons. and
it is both loud and worthy of recognition.
The story of the
917, which exploited a rules loophole that - as usual - the
FIA had overlooked when it revamped its prototype formula in
the latter part of the 1960’s, has been reviewed enough
that it need not be gone into here
again. However, less understood is how a 600 horsepower. 12-cylinder
endurance coupe was transformed into 1200 HP, turbocharged,
open-topped sprint racer.
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That
transformation can be laid at the feet of Josef Hoppen who in
1969, as head of Volkswagen of America’s newly formed Special
Vehicles Department was looking for a way to publicise VOA’s
just formed Porsche-Audi division. For Hoppen, his instrument
was the 917, a vehicle which he saw as being capable of taking
on the
then dominant McLarens with only "slight" modifications.
What Hoppen had in mind was a three-year program that would
reduce the 917’s weight and raise it’s engine output.
Although the first example, the 917 PA (for Porsche-Audi) appeared
as a spider In the fall of 1969 for Jo Siffert, turning Hoppen’s
dream into reality proved somewhat more difficult than he had
Imagined, Porsche not
taking any serious interest In the North American championship
until 1971 - after the FIA had banned the 917 for the World
Manufacturer’s tour starting with the 1972
season.
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This version
of the 917-30 Can Am Porsche was said to be one of the most
powerful race cars ever built. It was rated - for press and
public consumption - at over 1,000 horse power but we know
that privately on the dynomometer a reading of 1,645 b.h.p.
was seen! Raced by Mark Donohue the car not only astounded
Can-Am fields but also took the world’s closed circuit
speed record at Talladega with a lap at around 221 m.p.h.
which for the early 1970s was an astounding speed. Fisher
model it as an excellent 1:24th scale kit as their reference
FIS2418.
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The car that
started the Porsche Can-Am revolution was the da-glo red STP-sponsored
917/10 of Jo Siffert. Marsh Models make it asa very fine kit
(and hand built alternative) ref MM032 - kit or MM032M –
built
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Mark Donohue's
Can-Am Porsche 917/10 of 1972 is modelled by Marsh Models
as their ref MM064 - the kit also offers the decal option
to make George Follmer's car.
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By Midsummer of 1971, Siffert arrived at Watkins Glen with the first version of the car on which Porsche had pinned its hopes for its assault on the Can-Am crown in 1972.
This was the 917/10 spider, which featured a revised frame and radical new bodywork based in large measure on the rather ugly lightweight 908/3 roadster used by Porsche for the Targa Florio and Nurburgring rounds of the FIA Makes tour.
About the only thing the Siffert car, which was to run in the Day-glo red colours of the STP Corporation, lacked was the turbo engine, the Swiss being forced to use the
inadequate five-litre non-boosted unit found In the coupe. Nevertheless. as he did in 1969, Siffert made he most of what he had at his disposal to finish fourth in the final standings, this despite his tragic death in a Formula One accident prior to the end of
the Can-Am campaign.
For 1972, what was basically the definitive version of the 917/10 appeared in the hands of Roger Penske's team, where In the hands of George Follmer it took Porsche
to the season honours the German manufacturer had been so anxious to get. That Follmer had gotten the drive had been due to the bad luck of Penske star Mark Donohue, who with Porsche's engineers had been responsible for the development
of the L&M Cigarettes-backed car.
Donohue had taken himself out of action in a massive early July Road Atlanta testing accident that saw him injure his knee after his spider flipped at high speed when its tail came off. Although Donohue would return to action (and win the Edmonton Can-Am) in September, the year was Follmer's.
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For 1973 however, things were to be different. Now equipped with the blue-painted, Sunoco Oil-sponsored, long wheelbase 917/30,
Donohue wiped out his opposition, so much so that for 1974, the Sports Car Club of America, the series' organisers, rewrote the rules to cripple the Porsche, bringing the
program to a premature end.
It was a brief, but memorable period in the history of Porsche racing, and Marsh Models have
captured it beautifully in a series of spectacular models that cover not only the Can-Am, but its German-based Interserie counterpart as well.
Included in Marsh's previously
released roster are both Siffert's 917PA and his STP 917/10 - both replicas of which to be proud. Marsh's latest release is perhaps even better - the late season Donohue L&M car. This is 917/10-005, a new chassis procured from the factory by the Penske
organization and built into a running vehicle using most of the team's spare parts. It is accurate down to the correctly-placed nose NACA duct (which In 005 goes below the number roundel - as opposed to above it in Donohue's original mount). As far as I'm
concerned this is a "must have" for any serious (or even casual) Porsche collector, representing as It does a high point in Porsche's motorsport history.
Simons says he intends to make other versions as well, not to mention the unique 917/30. Given what I've seen so far, my bank account could become somewhat
depleted before everything is said and done. But, then what's all that to a happy individual? And, truly that's what l am as an owner of what Marsh has created.
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Porsche 917/10s
also ran in Europe in the underpublicised Interserie races.
This is one of them - Willy Kauhsen’s Bosch sponsored
machine of 1972 - Marsh model it as ref MM053 (kit) and MM053M
- built
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