VIN: the Racing Team AAW / Joachim Grossman Porsche 917 chassis 012
History of chassis 012
Having started life as one of the loosely assembled 917s presented to the FIA inspectors on April 21st 1969, chassis 012 was dismantled to be properly rebuilt at a later date.
It was called to action in June 1970 after Racing Team AAW’s 917 (chassis 021) was damaged at the Le Mans 24 Hours. With just a few weeks until AAW’s next outing, Porsche opted to fit 021’s mechanical components into a new chassis: 012.
The newly assembled chassis 012 subsequently appeared under the identity of 021 for carnet reasons.
Racing Team AAW was run by Finnish industrialist, Antii Aarnio-Wihuri.
Aarnio-Wihuri came from a family of influential industrialists. One of the Wihuri Group’s holding was the Finnish importer for Volkswagen and Porsche cars: Wihuri Yhtyma-Oy.
Antii Aarnio-Wihuri was an enthusiastic racing and rally driver. He started out with Volkswagen Beetles and quickly moved up to Porsches. His most notable result was victory on the 1969 Arctic Rally in a 911 S.
Later in 1969, Aarnio-Wihuri established Racing Team AAW to support promising Finnish drivers like Hans Laine, Leo Kinnunen, Pauli Toivonen and Sten Axelsson. An ex-works Porsche 908/02 was purchased (chassis 011) which, for 1970, was joined by the team’s original 917 (chassis 021) and a pair of 911 STs.
Following its hasty assembly, chassis 012 arrived at the Norisring Interserie race with a yellow tail and unpainted panels elsewhere. Gijs van Lennep qualified and finished second while Jurgen Neuhaus won from sixth on the grid in his Gesipa 917.
A week later, chassis 012 arrived at the Hockenheim Intseries race having been repainted a similar purple and psychedelic green livery to the 917 L that finished second at Le Mans; its new colour scheme was done ahead of the car’s forthcoming appearances at Watkins Glen where it was to appear as a Martini entry.
Van Lennep started fourth at Hockenheim and finished second behind Vic Elford in the Paul Watson McLaren M6B.
At the Watkins Glen 6 Hour World Championship race, van Lennep was joined in chassis 012 by Gerard Larrousse. They qualified fifth but had dropped to ninth at the chequered flag.
Van Lennep then placed sixth in the following day’s Can-Am event.
Back in Europe, the Swedish Grand Prix at Karlskoga was run under a cloud after five spectators had been killed and 27 were injured when a saloon car barrel rolled into the crowd. Van Lennep finished the race in fourth.
For its next five races, chassis 012 ran with a yellow and red version of the Martini-style psychedelic colour scheme.
Gijs van Lennep won the Interserie race at Keimoloa and followed it up with victory at the non-championship Zandvoort Dunes Trophy. He then took third at the Hockenheim Interserie event.
Chassis 012’s final two outings were under Martini entries.
Van Lennep / Larrousse retired from the Paris 1000km at Montlhery with a bent valve 30 laps from the finish. At the Kyalami 9 Hours, factory drivers Jo Siffert and Kurt Ahrens Jr. drove chassis 012. They started and finished second behind Ferrari’s new works 512 M.
In April 1971, chassis 012 was sent back to the Porsche factory where it was stripped of its mechanical parts. These were then used to assemble AAW’s original chassis, 021, which had been revamped to Spyder trim and renumbered 01-021.
The bare chassis and bodywork from 012 remained at the factory until 1972 when they were acquired by Manfred Freisinger of Karlsruhe.
In 1976, Freisinger sold 012’s chassis and body to restaurateur, Joachim Grossman, who owned a Porsche 930. Grossman initially had the chassis inspected by Porsche’s Jurgen Barth then sold his 930 to help fund the 917’s 20,000DM price.
Afterwards, Grossman rebuilt the 917 for road use from his garage.
A five-litre 600bhp engine was installed and, one year later, the car had been approved by the TuV.
Now white with a white leather interior, Grossman had also installed a handbrake, modified exhaust and heated window.
Chassis 012 was registered CW K 917 and, in April 1977, the finished car was featured in Auto Motor Sport number 14.
Grossman kept 012 until 1983 when it was sold to American, Don Marsh. Marsh subsequently converted the car to race trim and re-instated its purple and green Martini livery. He retained 012 until 2002 at which point it was sold to professional racing driver, Bobby Rahal.
Notable History
Porsche System Engineering
21/04/1969 factory homologation presentation
06/1970 asssembled using the mechanical components from 021 and re-numbered 021 to match AAW’s original car for carnet reasons
AAW Racing Team
Primer nose / cockpit / doors with Yellow tail section
28/06/1970 INT Norisring (G. van Lennep) 2nd oa (#8)
Purple, Green & White psychedelic livery
05/07/1970 INT Hockenheim (G. van Lennep) 2nd oa (#12)
Campaigned in the USA as a Martini entry
11/07/1970 WSC Watkins Glen 6 Hours (G. van Lennep / G. Larrousse) 9th oa, 8th S5.0 class (#35)
12/07/1970 CAM Watkins Glen (G. van Lennep) 6th oa, 5th S5.0 class (#35)
09/08/1970 IND Swedish GP, Karlskoga (G. van Lennep) 4th oa (#10)
Yellow & Red psychedelic livery
23/08/1970 INT Keimola (G. van Lennep) 1st oa (#3)
20/09/1970 IND Zandvoort Dunes Trophy (G. van Lennep) 1st oa, 1st SRP2.0+ (#44)
11/10/1970 INT Hockenheim (G. van Lennep) 3rd oa, 2nd S2.0+ class (#63)
Martini entry
18/10/1970 IND Paris 1000km, Montlhery (G. van Lennep / G. Larrousse) DNF engine (#2)
07/11/1970 SPR Kyalami 9 Hours (J. Siffert / K. Ahrens Jr.) 2nd oa, 2nd E class(#2)
Engine, gearbox, suspension and other mechanical parts removed and used in the assembly of 01-021
1972 chassis and body sold to Manfred Freisinger, Germany
1975/6 sold to Joachim Grossmann, Germany
Rebuilt, painted white with white leather interior and road registered CK W 917
1983 sold to Don Marsh, USA
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com & Auto Motor Sport - https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/
