Tag Archives: 917K

The First of Many

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It’s 1970, and northern France is being pounded by heavy rain. Of the dozens of starters at that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, only seven remain. The leading three are built by a manufacturer that has never won the race before. Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann’s Porsche Salzburg 917K crosses the finish line five laps ahead of the rest, beginning a run that to date includes nineteen outright wins, making Porsche the most successful manufacturer in Le Mans history.

This fantastic Speed Champions homage to that first victory comes from SFH_Bricks of Flickr, whose Porsche Salzburg 917K includes a tremendous replica livery courtesy of Brickstickershop. Building instructions are available and you can head to a soaking Circuit de la Sarthe fifty-six years ago via the link above.

Le Mans ’71

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It might be Ferrari and Toyota at the top of endurance racing right now, but there’s one manufacturer that has dominated Le Mans more than any other; Porsche.

Winning the Le Mans 24 Hours on nineteen occasions, the first of Porsche’s victories came in 1970 thanks to this; the magnificent 917K.

Powered by a wild flat-12, the 917 debuted in 1969, where it was… rubbish. Dodgy aerodynamics (which were still largely experimental at the time) made the car terrifying to drive at high speed, but Porsche refined the car, chopping the tail off and later fitting it with two stabilising fins and a magnesium chassis.

The result was the most dominant one-two in Le Mans history, when in 1971 both 917Ks finished some thirty laps ahead of the third place Ferrari.

This spectacular Speed Champions recreation of the ’71 race winning car, complete with its iconic Martini Racing livery, comes from previous bloggee SFH_Bricks of Flickr, who has captured the 917K absolutely beautifully in brick form.

Building instructions are available and there are more stunning images to view at SFH’s photostream. Click the link above to take a look, and wait thirty laps for the Ferrari to catch up.

Petite Porsche

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This is a Porsche 917K, one of the most successful endurance racing car designs of all time, and it’s been recreated to near perfection in miniature by Flickr’s K MP. Wearing the 1970 Le Mans winning livery K MP’s 917 captures the real car brilliantly and there’s more to see at his photostream via the link above.

Glorious Gulf

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Lego Porsche 917K Gulf Racing

Is there a cooler racing livery than Gulf? Probably not, and thanks to the fact that LEGO’s colour palette is ever expanding (just like your Mom), it’s one that is now buildable from our favourite Danish bricks.

Previous bloggee Greg998 has done just that, with this gorgeous 1970 Gulf-Racing Porsche 917K, resplendent in the oil company’s famous blue and orange livery (with a few custom decals too), under which is a wonderfully detailed flat-12 engine.

The Gulf Racing Porsche 917Ks didn’t actually win Le Mans in 1970 (that honour went to the sister Porsche-Salzburg team), but we know which car looked the coolest…

See more of Greg’s brilliant Porsche 917K on Flickr via the link above.

1970 Porsche 917K | Picture Special

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Lego Technic Porsche 917K Le Mans 1970

The year is 1970, and Porsche need to win some races. Their new 917 endurance racer proved hugely unstable in 1969, with downforce still a relatively new phenomenon harnessing it was still largely experimental.

Cue chief engineer John Horsman, and an unlikely revelation caused by the splattering of bugs on the Porsche’s bodywork. John noticed that the 917’s tail was clean from insects, meaning that air wasn’t reaching it. A hasty modification with some aluminium sheets was made to the cars, and the 917 was transformed.

Lego Porsche 917 Gulf Racing

The newly modified 917K won all but one race in the 1970 endurance championship, taking first and second at Le Mans and, along with the Porcshe 908, relegating Ferrari to fourth place.

The 917 was run by serval works and part-works teams in the early 1970s, and it dominated sports car racing. The most famous of these are perhaps the Gulf Racing cars, thanks largely to Steve McQueen and his 1971 film ‘Le Mans’.

It’s this car that Technic building legend Sariel has chosen to recreate in Lego form, and he’s done so brilliantly.

Lego Porsche 917 Gulf Racing

Underneath the incredible bodywork (which includes wonderful period-correct decals) are no less than four LEGO RC Buggy Motors, with two third-party BuWizz 2.0 bricks controlling a pair each. This gives Sariel’s Porsche 917K both amazing speed and the ability to be controlled remotely via a bluetooth device.

Sariel’s 917 also features fully-independent double-wishbone suspension both front and rear, dihedral opening doors, and remote control steering that turns the steering wheel in the authentically detailed cockpit too.

Lego Porsche 917K Gulf Racing

It’s one of the finest Technic supercars of 2018 and one that is definitely worth a closer look. An extensive gallery of images is available to view at Sariel’s Porsche 917K Flickr album and you watch a video of the model in action and join the discussion courtesy of the Eurobricks forum.

See more of Sariel’s astonishing Technic recreation of the greatest endurance racer of the 1970s via the links above, and you can watch the original trailer for the 1971 movie ‘Le Mans’ by clicking here.

Lego Porsche 917 Sariel