1500+ hp Porsche 917/30 -- /GOING RACING WITH ADAM CAROLLA 

1.580hp at the Porsche test bench only, in race trim "just" 1.100hp, but with lock differential, 400 liters petrol, a flammable magnesium space frame -> 0-300kph in 11,3 seconds, I think Marc Donohue never felt more alive.

An insane car, 0-124mph in 5.2sec and 0-200mph in just under 11sec. Those are totally insane figures, even for today.

Legend has it that Porsche had horrendous drivability problems with the 917 turbo motor, until they contracted Mark Donohue as driver. The thing would only run cleanly at certain throttle and load positions. So, Donohue was talking to the factory engineers after a test session in an effort to work out the problem. He asked how they controlled fuel'ing in relation to engine speed, airflow and load. To his amazement they said they only had control for engine speed and airflow!!! Bear in mind this was before electronic engine management, the 917-30 had a mechanical fuel injection. So he politely advised them to get some sort of load control which allegedly caused some face palming amongst the engineers! Within days they had designed and manufactured a 3D cam for the fuel pump. Once this system was dialled in, the car then became the utter beast weapon that made it legendary. Donohue was the only driver that could get anywhere near the maximum capability of the 917-30.

"So is it like this C-F or Z-F gearbox?" "No, this is a Porsche Gearbox" xDDDD

This is where Jay Leno is better - asks a few questions when needed, but lets the EXPERT do 90% of the talking

Adam Carolla is the man. He's living the dream,s tarted out broke and poor and now gets to have all the race cars he wants and he shares all of it with us regular folk because he is one of us. I love how genuinely enthusiastic he is about this stuff. It amazes me this thing is air cooled. Just crazy neat.

You got Johannes Wuest, pretty much a living encyclopedia when it comes to Porsche's ... and this nitwit does most of the talking? What a missed chance.

I was fortunate enough as a kid to live at Ft. Ord in the early 70's. Our family went to Laguna Seca several times and watched Mark Donahue race these cars. The sound was unbelievable! All those Can-Am cars were great to look at. What a time

1500 whp through a 4 speed and a spool...Racing has come such a long way but I wish rules today were less restrictive so we could see more innovations and competitive competition.

I still have my old Aurora HO scale slot cars with the Can Am 917 bodies. One in the Sunoco livery, one in L&M. I have no idea what they're worth, but I've had em since about 1975. Wont sell em.

Adam looks like a slightly newer model of Jeremy Clarkson

You can have formula one, you can have GTP ( or whatever they're calling it this year), but Can Am cars will always be the fastest, baddest race cars ever raced!

You are not even going to start it up?! Come on now!

The one thing he hits on the head is the fact that the 917/30 speeds and technology was amazing compared to what other things were around such as dial up phones. And I occasionally talk to my brother about that such as Porsches and the SR-71's that were made with slide rulers and still hold some amazing speed records. Amazing!!!

One of the most memorable racing experiences of my life was watching Mark Donohue drive this insanely powerful car around the track at Watkins Glen. He was so far ahead of the competition it was ludicrous.

I was a corner marshal at Edmonton International Raceway when Mark Donahue drove that car. I used to have a photo of two of them in the pit paddock, one with the bodywork on and the other removed side by side. Jody Shechter practised Saturday with a 5.0L engine. That evening they swapped out engines to a 5.4L engine. It was hilarious watching as the mechanics jabbered in German but swore in english.

This car is the primary reason why the 70s is my favorite era of racing (apart from Group 5)

"...is it a ZF gearbox?"...what? " then embarassment coming because he's not able to explain what it is

I've always (since the age of 11) liked the 917 and specifically the 917/30. That's when I read "The Unfair Advantage" and it literally changed my life and started my passion for Porsche and the Porsche way of doing everything. Having said all that, Adam Carolla does a great video. Great job. Liked and Subscribed!

AC: "Not good for a frontal collision" Porsche guy: "You shouldn't do zis, yes" AC: "You could turn this thing up to like 1600 horsepower, couldn't you?" Porsche guy: "Yah dis happened sometimes"

Adam what a great host you are, great stuff. Went to Goodwood in 2012, talked to the drivers and the mechanics and the owners of some spectacular cars. What an amazing event.

Still my favorite race car ever.

LOVE these Carolla vintage race car videos. Went to Goodwood FOS in 2014, blew my world apart.

How about hearing the car and seeing it run?

The 917/30 doesn't go down the track, it stays in one spot and rotates the planet underneath it, when it did the Talladega run the day got longer by by .00046 seconds as the car went West...true story

Can't tolerate Adam Corolla's voice for periods in excess of 15 seconds.

Ya just talk the whole time

I saw the 917 Spyder here in Finland/Keimola driven by LEO KINNUNEN. The acceleration was like a slotcar: 0-120km/h in maybe 2 seconds to 300 km/h five seconds...

hollow titanium bolts throughout...lordy...850kg omg

Couldn't edit any footage of the 917 going up the hill so we could hear that glorious flat 12 without any obnoxious music?

Adam Carolla is lame.

The rear wheels! OMG! Look at those rear wheels!

Assetto Corsa ;)

They call it "Turbopanzer" because it turns like a Tank in slow corners with its spool differential

Every time I see that car, it reminds me of being a kid running my Tyco slot car track; the smell of the electrical components, the sound, the soft, foam rubber like tires. I loved the color scheme too. I will always have that smell whenever I see this car!

Man I saw these cars run at Mid-Ohio when I was a kid......wow. Great to see them again.

One of the all time greatest competition cars!

I'm surprised neither mentioned how hard this little buggy is to drive. There's a vid with Derek Bell putting the coupe through it's paces,and I think at one point he remarks with surprise that not all were wrecked. A real testament to the skills of the brave men who climbed into one of these.

Excellent! more of this please. Never forgot Carolla and Leno and the beautiful Islero.

I wish Can-Am and Group B would come back...

Hollow titanium bolts, now that's attention to weight loss

Nice with 1500hp and always one wheel slipping in the curves... Suicide machine.

I enjoyed this greatly.

"it's a flat, V-12 cylinder engine..." *desire to smack intensifies*

Sooo, Adam, your a car guy that's into vintage racing, and you knew about the 917, but not the 917-30? And the boost was not turned down for endurance racing, the 917-30 never went endurance racing. It was built exclusively for the Can-Am series.

Adam...Interesting you'd mention the state of technology when the Turbo Panzer was designed. Probably one of the last remaining 'slide rule' cars in existence. Fortunate to have seen Donahue at Mid-Ohio absolutely whoop the competitors. Viewed from the outside of turn 1 and back straight, could see the rear tires overrunning the front rotational speed, ie: black tracking, wheel spin as he turned up boost exiting turn 1. An article long ago in Autoweek, Leo Mehl, former comp director for Goodyear tire said Mark was the ONLY driver he'd seen that could utilize the full capability of tires w/o abusing them. Says much about Mark's sense of mechanical empathy, mechanical understanding.

Brilliant engineering. Porsche at its finest.

Probably the most insane car ever made 917/30.

When I was racing years ago, mostly in California, I saw this car at Riverside and Laguna Seca. Mark Donahue was a very smooth fast driver and I thought the match up of this car and Donahue was perfect. It's a shame that the Porsche expert had to endure such a clown interviewer. Just the Porsche expert speaking would have been much better.

Saw it at Watkins Glen with Mark Donohue in the seat. George Follmer drove the L&M 917/30.

Absolute incredible monster of a car

*917-30* *THE HOLY GRAIL*

I literally found Adam so funny I had to put my phone down, go take a poop, come back and skip the video. The guy had me in stitches.

This is what sportcar racing should be like today. What is this over emphasis with rules that these sanctioning bodies are fixated on? Bring Can-Am back with little or no rules and it would be a huge hit!

After all these year's, the CanAm powered flat 12 Porsche 917/30, is still the most powerful race car, ever produced. 100mph in 1st gear, WOOOOOW!!!! The later, Le Man winning 956 cars, driven by Stuck, Bell, Ickx, only needed around 700hp, to dominate the Endurance car championship. Amazing, the earlier 917/30 developed, at certain races, over twice the horsepower of the legendary 956/962 cars. No wonder they were so dominant in the CanAm race series.

1500+hp, why not

I saw Donahue smoke the whole CanAm field at Road America in 1973...unbelievable...one of my favorite race cars.

What a beast!

"ZF gearbox? What is this ZF?" "Zee Eff? Zed Eff?" If Adam had said Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, I'm sure the Porsche guy would have understood immediately.

just read Mark Donohue's book "The Unfair Advantage"......he covers in great detail the development of this car. you're welcome.

I had the supreme privilege of seeing Mark drive that 917/30 on more than one occasion, including the penultimate race at Riverside in 1973 when he won the race, the championship AND announced his retirement the same day-and through sheer good luck I had dinner with him and the Porsche crew that evening. In fact, we consumed copious amounts of wine with a steak dinner to celebrate. I was able to ask him why he was retiring without tackling F1 seriously, and he said he was 36 years old and “too old” to try F1 in earnest. I wish to God he’d stayed retired!

100 mph in 1st gear :D

Mark Donohue was the true master of the 917/30.

Porsche there is no substitute !

I have a picture of me sitting in that car from 1998 during the 50th anniversary celebration at the Monterey Historic pre race test weekend. Morespeed was running that car with a guy named Olaf Lang driving. look the the video "The Mighty 917-30". You'll see how close that car came to being no more...several times.

/Standing Around With Adam Carolla

I like Adam Carolla when he's like this - not trying to be all funny and entertaining. I wasn't a fan of his, at all, before this (especially when he was on Top gear USA). He actually seems like a cool car-dude - and he's actually way more knowledgeable than I thought - which is not the impression I got from him on other shows. Nice vid!

I saw one these at Road Atlanta in 1972. Of course it won!!

I got to see Donohue race this car at Laguna Seca back in the golden days VS the McLarens. Gives me goosebumps seeing it again. Legendary drivers in legendary cars.

AMAZING CAN-AM!! GO ADAM!!

Spectacular vehicle, from an era gone.

"I asked him what it was really like to race." “I can’t really tell you I’m afraid. It was never in the plan to actually race it. The plan was to start in front and stay in front. No racing required. And that’s exactly what we did...... Vic Elford

Awesome insight on a legendary motorcar. Thanks for posting.

Long live Can-Am....

who let Kramer out of the Seinfeld cage

Penske/Donahue knew how to win.

I saw this car about 20 years ago at the Monterey Historics. Love the sound of it at speed.

Up to 100 mph in 1 Gear. That's insane...

the 917/30 is cool!

I still remember watching this car at Riverside race way in California, in the 1970"s. Carroll Shelby was never associated with Porsche, but when He was asked what He thought would happen In a 48 hour race, like Le mans, he said..."No doubt Porsche would win, and probability be the only cars running at the end!!!!

I had a poster of that car with Mark Donahue driving it on my wall for 15 years. Until the poster rotted away.

BEST car ever made. 1955 Mercedes 3.0 SLR a close second ..

I remember watching the car fire up the hill this year! The turbo cars were remarkably quiet for having over 1000 horsepower, because of the waste gas energy being harnessed

Great video! Keep them coming! Thank you!

Nice car. Thumbs up. I would rather see the car drive than a tabletop review.

Ya gotta quit calling the 917 a car.... this was a weapon.

Front collision? what the heck if there is no one in front of you ;-)

If he says "yeah" one more time Imma be pissed

I have always wanted one of these cars after reading about them when I was a kid 0 to 100 kph in 2.1 seconds 0 to 200 kph in 5.6 seconds 0 to 300 kph in 11.6 seconds, and 383kph at Lemans. Just jaw dropping, not almost 50 years old. WOW

Mr Carolla , I have new respect for you , not that you didn't before but damn you are a gear head too !!? awesome

the drivers of this thing must have had balls of steel ...

Adam... Make a Can Am movie!!!

Porsche always knew what they were doing & how to win. An insane car !

I don't know why, but I read the title as "/GOING RACING WITH ADAM's COROLLA"

Adam Corolla is like a 50/50 mix of Jeremy Clarkson and Seth McFarlane. I like that.

My ALL TIME FAVORITE CAR!!!!!!!

I would love to drive this beast! And I wouldn't get out of first gear. Sunoco, Martini & Rossi and Gulf are my favorite liveries.

A historic car with such a pedigree is a beautiful thing. Yet WHO do they get to cover it? A guy named Carolla!

Can-Am. It could only have happened when it did, but it made the world a better place simply because it existed. If only there were a way to describe a universal safety standard that would then allow a second-gen Can Am (as in build it, bring it, run it) "rules" package and races.

Nice interview. Would love to have seen video of it at speed or in-car with good audio