Porsche celebrates “50 years of the 917”

One of the strongest number sequences ever produced by Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year: the Porsche 917. The most famous racing car of all time made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show on 12 March 1969, and the Porsche Museum is celebrating the landmark birthday with plans to restore the first 917 ever made to its original condition, as it was when first unveiled 50 years ago. The 917-001 underwent various changes over time. “Our approach to the authentic handling of classic cars has changed considerably over the past ten years,” explains Achim Stejskal, Director of the Porsche Museum. When restoring vehicles from the company’s historic collection, the museum places great importance on retaining original material and taking into account the relevant history of its exhibits.

The history of the 917-001 as a test and presentation vehicle
The 917-001 marked the beginning of an unparalleled racing car career for the 917. The 917-001 Group 4 sports car, designed to sweep the board at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and win the Brand World Championships, was the first of the 25 vehicles that had to be made to meet the requirement for type approval; the chief designer on the project was Hans Mezger, who was responsible not only for the twelve-cylinder engine, but also for the vehicle as a whole.

The 917-001 was presented for the first time in Geneva in March 1969, with it bodywork in white with a green front section; it had a new look for its appearance at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt the same year, for which the car was repainted in white and orange. When Porsche later announced the transfer of its racing activities to the J.W. Automotive Engineering team, headed by Briton John Wyer, the 917-001 was once again used as a presentation vehicle – and refinished in the brand colours of US oil company and sponsor, Gulf: light blue and orange.

Following its first clean sweep at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 917-001 was then reworked into the short-tail version by Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood in September 1970; when the 917-001 was handed over to Porsche Salzburg in October 1970, it was in the colours of the car that won the Le Mans race and was emblazoned with starting number 23.

Restoration of the 917-001 to its original 1969 condition
For over a year, museum mechanics, former technicians and engineers from Zuffenhausen and Weissach, as well as the Historical Archives and partner companies, worked on the restoration of this original 917. The project was particularly challenging from the outset because of the multiple transformations the car had undergone during its time as a test and presentation vehicle. The top priority throughout was the conservation and reuse of the car’s original materials wherever possible and technically practicable.

The restoration was particularly guided by testing which was able to determine which of the body materials were original and could be reused, using material analysis and comparison with historical design drawings and photographs. It was with this approach that the body parts for the front and rear sections were painstaking reproduced using state-of-the-art 3D technology and with reference to the original design drawings; the rear section of the aluminium space frame was also restored with the aid of original documents. Exactly 50 years on, the 917-001 will be presented in the Porsche Museum, restored to its original condition as in 1969.

Unparalleled dominance in motorsport and a trendsetter for turbo technology
The success story of the 917 is legendary. The car managed to secure an overall victory in its very first year of competing in the 1,000-kilometre race at Zeltweg, Austria in 1969. In 1970, Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood achieved the coveted overall triumph at Le Mans – the greatest motorsport success Porsche had ever achieved until that point, and which would be repeated by Dr Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep in 1971. Following further development of the 917 to the 917/10 and 917/30 turbo versions with over 1,000 PS, George Follmer and Mark Donohue were able to dominate the North American CanAm Series in 1972 and 1973 respectively; these Porsche models also proved unbeatable in the event’s European counterpart, the Interserie. An altered version of the turbo technology was also reused a little later in a Porsche standard vehicle – when the 911 Turbo was born in 1974.

Special exhibition in the Porsche Museum
From 14 May to 15 September 2019, the Porsche Museum will honour the 50th anniversary of the 917 with an extensive special exhibition entitled “Colours of Speed – 50 Years of the 917”. A total of 14 exhibits – including ten 917 models which alone have a combined PS output of 7,795 – will be on display. The Porsche Museum will present a 917 concept study to the public for the first time as homage to the first Le Mans victory of 1970. The red-and-white show car was designed by a small team of designers and engineers, though with the entry of Porsche into the LMP1 category of he FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), this model remained as purely a concept study. A selection of racing posters and small technical exhibits will round off the special exhibition, which features the highest-ever total PS for such an event. To mark the anniversary, the museum shop will also offer a selection of 917 products for sale, including a pink barbecue apron inspired by the unique 1971 917/20, nicknamed the “Pink Pig”. Edition Porsche Museum, the in-house publisher, will also release a book to mark the anniversary of the 917.

More than 20,000 prospective Taycan buyers

The first purely electrically powered sports car from Porsche, the Taycan, is enjoying significant attention worldwide. The vehicle will not be presented to the public until September and its final design is not yet known; nonetheless, there are more than 20,000 people around the world with serious interest in buying one of their own, as the company has confirmed at the Geneva International Motor Show.

The Porsche Taycan will have its debut in September, and market launch is scheduled to take place before the end of the year. The vehicle will be able to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in considerably less than 3.5 seconds. It will have a range of more than 500 kilometres as measured in accordance with the NEDC. Moreover, it will be possible to add sufficient charge for a range of 100 kilometres in just four minutes (measured in accordance with the NEDC).

“The overwhelming interest in the Taycan shows us that our customers and fans are just as excited about the first Porsche electric athlete as we are – and we’ve therefore increased our production capacities,” confirms Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing at Porsche AG. “The Taycan will be the most sporting and most technically advanced vehicle in its segment – a true Porsche.”

 

The next generation of the Porsche Macan will be electric

 Porsche brings electric mobility to its site in Saxony: The Supervisory Board of Porsche AG has decided to manufacture the next generation of the Macan as a fully electric series. This will be the first all-electric compact SUV from Porsche, and is due to roll off the assembly line at the start of the next decade. The development represents an expansion of the Porsche range in the field of electromobility: the Taycan – the first purely electrically driven sports car from Porsche – will be launched to market at the end of 2019, followed shortly thereafter by its derivative, the Taycan Cross Turismo.

“Electromobility and Porsche go together perfectly; not just because they share a high-efficiency approach, but especially because of their sporty character,” comments Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Management of Porsche AG. “By 2022 we will be investing more than six billion euros in electric mobility, and by 2025 50% of all new Porsche vehicles could have an electric drive system. Nevertheless, over the next ten years we will focus on a drive mix consisting of even further optimised petrol engines, plug-in hybrid models, and purely electrically operated sports cars. Our aim is to take a pioneering role in technology, and for this reason we will continue to consistently align the company with the mobility of the future.”

The decision to manufacture the next generation of the Macan at the company’s Leipzig site was taken as early as the beginning of July last year. Making this investment in electromobility at the Leipzig site creates the opportunity to produce fully electric vehicles on the existing production line in future. The next generation of the Macan fires the starting pistol for electrification. This compact SUV features 800-volt technology, and is based on the Porsche PPE architecture (Premium Platform Electric) developed in collaboration with Audi AG – highlighting the future viability of the site and enhancing its flexibility and efficiency even further.

Porsche Leipzig GmbH started series production of the Cayenne SUV in 2002, with 259 employees. Since then, the site has been continually developed to become one of the most advanced and sustainable production facilities in the automotive industry. The Macan model signified a revolution right back in 2011, and is a real success story: when it was launched, the Leipzig plant was expanded into a “full plant”, which included its own body shop and paint shop. When the factory started operations in February 2014, 40,000 units per year of the compact SUV were planned; today it produces more than 90,000 units annually for global markets. What is currently the final expansion stage was put into operation two years ago, making it possible for the Panamera series to now also be fully manufactured in Leipzig, and bringing employee numbers up to today’s figure of more than 4,000. Since the groundbreaking ceremony in February 2000, Porsche has invested more than 1.3 billion euros in development in Leipzig.

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