The porsche 917k is my favourite all time race car I love the sound of that flat 12 cylinder engine screaming down the mulsanne straight absolutely music to my ears
I was Today's Days Old when I learned that Flat-12 was air cooled and not liquid cooled Imagine how much more powerful it could have been if it was, incredible engineering on Porsche's part to make it work under such incredible pressure.
When your dream car happens to be a Porsche 917, chances are you won't own one. So, you just have to build one. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1ClC7bde7ls.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M2UpM5r5j2A.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bBsSs8bPrO8.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bkAhDB_1vZ0.html
Derek Bell was in the customs serpentine queue at Gatwick Nov 2017. I literally faced him at various points as we shuffled along, he had no idea that his Le Mans exploits in the 70s and 80s made my childhood bearable. Nobody else knew who that a sports car legend was amidst! was so awestruck that I wanted to say a big Thanks but didn’t know how to. I was practically crippled through an immense fog of shyness that descended upon me. A big thanks to you Derek, one of my inspiring heros who kept this stuttering misfit from the cliffs edge and onto dreaming, wishing and hoping that toil, selflessness, and self-belief can drive achievement beyond the wooden spoon that I was expected to stir throughout my life, many thanks.
I met Derek Bell in the pits at the Camel Gt race in Charlotte. I asked him which car he liked better,the 917 or the 962? He said the 962, because it was more like a really fast street car,had de-misters that actually worked and the windshield would stay clear in the rain,was reasonably comfortable,and was pretty honest in its handling. The 917 was a beast that took all your attention all the time. Would dart about at speed on the Mulsanne Straight and dart about under breaking. Superbly torquey motor that only needed a 4 speed gear box. In my opinion they were both the best of their eras, but the 917kis the most beautiful to me.
The 246 mph claim is based solely on gearing and makes no allowance for tyre slip: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip_(vehicle_dynamics) Without tyre slip a tyre will travel 10 times its circumference for 10 rotations. Tyre slip means that under power, a tyre will require roughly 11 rotations to travel 10 times its circumference and this explains the discrepancy between the claimed speed of 246 mph and the top speed of 224.4 mph recorded by the ACO speed trap: 224.4 + 22.44 = 246.84 Claim explained. The ACO was right and 246 didn't happen.
TheThirdMan I found you comment very interesting. Challenger Deep needs to chill out! If 224 was what they clocked down the Mulsane straight the I guess that was, or was very close to it's true top speed, there is no way it could have another 20MPH left in reserve. And if it could do 246 then they had the gearing wrong, and I very much doubt they would make a mistake like that.
Harvey Willmott Thanks mate. I guess we're all entitled to our opinions and mine is still an opinion and a bit of guess work. I'm not under any illusions that I'm going to change everyone's minds. If people want to believe the 246 figure, it's their right and there's nothing I can do to change that. I was probably a hard on some people when I was working on this but they, in turn were hard on me. It's also pretty easy to be wise with hindsight and at a range of 40+ years, sitting behind a keyboard instead of behind the wheel. Discussions with a fellow poster called Quadrant helped with some of the thinking but in the end, I almost stumbled on it by accident.
If one can buy (with enough money) a street car with A/C and GPS and Stereo and thick comfy power adjustable leather seats that will do well over 260 mph, why is it so impossible for a full on purpose built race car with less than half the weight/size to do 247 mph on a 5+ km straightaway (mulsanne)?
Max Speedster Because it didn't have enough power and the aero package was too primitive. What road car does "well over 260 mph"? There isn't one. Incidentally, is "247" a typo or is this another bid?
gjledo Christoffski The aerodynamics of the 917 were primitive, even on the LH. And it's not a matter of turning up the wick in qualifying either. Downforce (as it's incorrectly known) is not a factor here because a Toyota GT-One would have a better drag coefficient, regardless. It's L/D ratio would be better too. 246 did not happen.
TheBarrett1971 257 is an outright lie (not by you; by your source). I know that site and don't trust it. 1971 aerodynamics could not have achieved that with 620 hp. It just wasn't on. Even Porsche quote a figure of 360 km/h (224 mph) and no more. www.porsche.com/uk/motorsportandevents/motorsport/philosophy/history/racingcars/1971-917kurzheckcoupe/ An error of 53 km/h - about 12% - is statistically ridiculous.
Well, the sources i checked said 250mph. On top of that, in can am they tuned and turbo charged it apparently. 1000hp for race and up to 1500hp for qualify
Apzalar I don't suppose you'd care to reference those sources so I can see for myself? The power output figure - which are wrong for _any_ version of the 917 by the way - are probably for the 917/30 CanAm car (actually 1100 hp in race trim and 1400 maximum in practice). An extra 50 mph is not a matter of winding up the wick and doing a few hot laps or sinking the boot into it a bit harder or getting a good exit from Tertre Rouge and a tow on the Mulsanne. Drag increases as as a square to the velocity. To get an extra 50 mph out of it is going to take much, much more power. If 580 hp got them to 200, I would estimate, without actually doing the calculations, that it would take at least 800 hp to do 250. That was simply beyond the technology of 1971.
Thwere's at least one which has been made street legal and is driven on public roads here in southern Germany. It's plain white now, has a usable half-size passenger seat fittet and it has the longest of all originally available gears meaning it will top out at over 360 km/h (225 mph) and even closer to 400km/h on a good day. A truly amazing little beast!
You are not a true motoring enthusiast unless you've shed manly tears when Steve McQueen's smashed up that 917 -a replica, but my point still stands- near the end of the film.
