VIN: the Porsche Salzburg Porsche 917 / 917 K chassis 011
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HISTORY OF CHASSIS 011
When John Wyer signed up to run Porsche’s factory racing programme for the 1970 and 1971 seasons, he thought his Gulf-backed operation had an exclusive arrangement to do so.
However, Ferdinand Piech (Ferdinand Porsche’s grandson and a high ranking member of the Porsche competition department) was not happy at the prospect.
Piech was a key player behind the 917 project and made plans to race quasi works machinery through his mother’s Austrian import distributorship: Porsche Konstruktionen Salzburg.
Factory drivers Kurt Ahrens Jr., Vic Elford, Rudi Lins and Hans Herrmann were employed. The first John Wyer knew of the Salzburg operation was when they turned up for the season opener at Daytona.
Chassis 011 was one of four 917s destined for the Porsche Salzburg squad in 1970.
Painted white with red flashes, 011 was the sole Salzburg entry present at Daytona.
Like the Gulf Racing entries, it ran a four-speed gearbox in place of the usual five-speed unit.
The Ferrari 512 S of Mario Andretti and Arturo Merzario sprang a surprise in qualifying to secure pole. Jo Siffert / Brian Redman started second for Gulf Racing with Pedro Rodriguez / Leo Kinnunen third in the sister car.
The white and red Salzburg entry of Kurt Ahrens Jr. and Vic Elford qualified fourth.
Unfortunately, the race ended in disappointment. At 2:10am, 011 came in for a pit stop that lasted 42 minutes; the car’s petrol tank was leaking after it had incurred damage when a shock absorber failed earlier in the race.
022 did go out for a couple more laps, but returned to the pits and was retired.
A few weeks later, the car was destroyed when a mechanic crashed it into a lorry while testing for the Targa Florio.
Notable History
21/04/1969 Factory homologation presentation
Porsche Konstruktionen Salzburg KG
01/02/1970 WSC Daytona 24 Hours (K. Ahrens Jr. / V. Elford) DNF (#3)
Destroyed while testing for the Targa Florio in Sicily
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
