VIN: the Gulf Racing Porsche 917 chassis 034
History of chassis 034
Chassis 034 was built up for use by the Gulf-backed John Wyer Automotive Engineering crew that Porsche had brought on board to race the 917 on their behalf during 1970 and 1971.
For carnet reasons it was campaigned throughout 1971 under the identity of chassis 013.
The actual chassis 013 had been sold to Solar Productions for the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans. However, it was destroyed during filming in September 1970 following a nasty accident at Maison Blanche. The crash resulted in the driver, David Piper, losing his right leg below the knee.
Chassis 034 was raced five times during the 1971 season. It first appeared for round two of the World Sportscar Championship, the Daytona 24 Hours, where it was allocated to Pedro Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver. They qualified second behind the new Penske Racing Ferrari 512 M of Mark Donohue and David Hobbs.
Like the previous year’s race at Daytona, JWAE had a special banking window let into the roof of their cars. New lightweight body panels meant they were nearly down to the minimum weight limit of 800kg.
Owing to problems with all the other 917s at Daytona, only chassis 034 saw the chequered flag. After 24 hours of racing, Rodriguez / Oliver won by a single lap from the NART Ferrari 512 S of Ronnie Bucknum / Tony Adamowicz who were in turn followed home by the Penske 512 M of Donohue / Hobbs.
034 next appeared at the Monza 1000km on April 25th (round five) where it used a four-speed gearbox and Porsche’s new finned rear bodywork with vertical stabilising fins. Rodriguez / Oliver were once again behind the wheel and on this occasion lined up fifth.
Despite having been eclipsed in qualifying, the race yielded a copybook victory for JWAE. Rodriguez and Oliver took the win and finished three laps ahead of runners up Jo Siffert / Derek Bell in the sister car. Alfa drivers Andrea de Adamich and Henri Pescarolo rounded out the podium.
034’s final World Sportscar Championship outing of the year came in the penultimate round of the series: the Zeltweg 1000km on June 27th. Pedro Rodriguez and Richard Attwood grabbed pole in 034 with a time just over half a second quicker than the works Ferrari 312 P of Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni. Attwood had been drafted into the Gulf squad after Jackie Oliver broke his contract to go Can-Am racing with Shadow.
Despite losing three laps with a flat battery when leading, Rodriguez / Attwood recovered to win by two laps from the Alfa 33/3s of Toine Hezemans / Nino Vaccarella and Rolf Stommelen / Nanni Galli.
JWAE subsequently ran 034 at two end-of-season non-championship events.
Derek Bell and Gijs van Lennep shared the car for the Barcelona 1000km at Montjuich Park on October 12th. Although the tight, twisty and undulating circuit was not ideal for big sports cars, they qualified third.
However, the track proved too much for the big 917’s brakes. Nevertheless, by dropping the pace, Bell and van Lennep eventually finished second, five laps down on the winning ex-JWAE Porsche 908/03 that had been sold to Fernandez brothers Jose and Juan.
Fittingly, after a dominant two years with the 917, JWAE bowed out with a win one week later at their final race for Porsche.
Bell / van Lennep started third and won the Paris 1000km at Montlhery by five laps from the pole-starting 917 Spyder of Gerard Larrousse / Leo Kinnunen.
Chassis 034 was subsequently returned to Porsche. In 1974 it was sold it to British solicitor, Mark Finburgh, who has retained it ever since.
Notable History
John Wyer Automotive Engineering / Gulf Racing
31/01/1971 WSC Daytona 24 Hours (P. Rodriguez / J. Oliver) 1st oa, 1st S class (#2)
25/04/1971 WSC Monza 1000km (P. Rodriguez / J. Oliver) 1st oa, 1st S5.0 class (#2)
27/06/1971 WSC Zeltweg 1000km (P. Rodriguez / R. Attwood) 1st oa, 1st S5.0 class (#16)
12/10/1971 IND Barcelona 1000km, Montjuich Park (Bell / van Lennep) 2nd oa, 2nd S class (#24)
17/10/1971 IND Paris 1000km, Montlhery (D. Bell / G. van Lennep) 1st o, 1st Gr.5 class (#4)
1974 sold to Mark Finburgh, UK
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
