VIN: the works Porsche 917 chassis 008
History of chassis 008
In order for the Porsche 917 to be homologated, a batch of 25 completed cars were lined up for the FIA to inspect on April 21st 1969. Even though secretly only a handful were fully functional, homologation was duly approved.
Porsche retained chassis 001 for promotional duty while 002 through 010 appeared at various races during the rest of the season. The remaining 15 cars were disassembled to be properly rebuilt at a later date.
Chassis 008 was one of three 917 Langhecks raced at the 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours. Two of these were works cars while the third was delivered to privateer, John Woolfe.
Driven by Vic Elford and Richard Attwood, chassis 008 was painted white with a blue nose and ran a 560bhp engine. The sister car of Kurt Ahrens Jr. / Rolf Stommelen had a 585bhp engine and started from pole.
008 qualified second.
After Stommelen led the early stages, the works Porsche 908 of Jo Siffert / Brian Redman took over at the head of the field. At the four hour mark, an oil leak for Siffert / Redman promoted chassis 008 to the lead ahead of three works 908s.
By 2am, Elford and Attwood had a four lap advantage over the second placed 908 of Schutz / Mitter.
With barely three hours left to run, 008 came in for an unscheduled pit stop. The 917 limped on for another half hour before a cracked weld in its gearbox stopped it for good.
Problems for the second place 908 around the same time meant the Gulf Racing Ford GT40 of Jacky Ickx / Jackie Oliver cruised home to victory.
After the disappointment of Le Mans, chassis 008 was returned to the factory.
In October of that year it was wheeled out for what turned out to be a key test at Zeltweg; John Wyer’s team (who had been brought on board to manage the 917’s 1970 and 1971 campaign on Porsche’s behalf) ran 008 back-to-back with a Group 7 Spyder which they found to be four seconds per lap faster.
Wyer’s men immediately set about modifying the 008’s rear end. They cut away the tail section and improvised a rudimentary upswept tail using aluminium sheets.
This dramatically improved stability and the new short tail design was then perfected back in Germany.
008 was retained for test duty during 1970. The following year it was kept at the factory in a dismantled state as a potential spare.
In December 1971, Porsche sold the car to Manfred Freisinger who passed it on to Claude Haldi in 1972.
Between 1988 and 1992, Freisinger carried out a complete restoration. Midway through this process 008 was purchased by Gerard Dantan-Merlin who retained it until 2018.
Notable History
Porsche System Engineering
21/04/1969 Factory homologation presentation
15/06/1969 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (V. Elford / R. Attwood) DNF gearbox (#12)
14/10/1969 IND Zeltweg tests
12/1971 sold to Manfred Freisinger, Germany
1972 sold to Claude Haldi, France
1990 sold to Gerard Dantan-Merlin, France
2018 sold again
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
