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Car of the Day: July 24, 2015; Safir Champion '70 Porsche 917L
Topic Started: Jul 24 2015, 01:03 AM (553 Views)
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Today's car of the day is Safir Champion's 1970 Porsche 917L

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Wikipedia
 
The Porsche 917 is a race car that gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. Powered by the Type 912 flat-12 engine of 4.5, 4.9, or 5 litres, the 917/30 Can Am variant was capable of a 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time of 2.3 seconds, 0–124 mph (200 km/h) in 5.3 seconds, and a top speed of up to 240 mph (390 km/h). This is not, however, representative of the majority of 917s. The highest official speed ever clocked for a 917 at Le Mans is 362 km/h or 224.4 mph.

There are at least eleven variants of the 917. The original version had a removable long tail/medium tail with active rear wing flaps, but had considerable handling problems at high speed because of significant rear lift. The handling problems were investigated at a joint test at the Österreichring by the factory engineers and their new race team partners John Wyer Engineering and after exhaustive experimentation by both groups, a shorter, more upswept tail was found to give the car more aerodynamic stability at speed. The changes were quickly adopted into a new version of the 917, called the Kurzheck, or short-tail, with the new version being called the 917K. The 917K, and the special Le Mans long-tail version (called the 917 Langheck, or 917L), dominated the 1970 and 1971 World Sportscar Championships. In 1971, a variant of the 917K appeared with a less upswept tail and vertical fins, and featured the concave rear deck that had proved so effective on the 1970 version of the 917L (see below). The fins kept the clean downforce inducing air on the top of the tail and allowed the angle of the deck to be reduced, reducing the drag in direct proportion. The result was a more attractive looking car that maintained down force for less drag and higher top speed. By this time the original 4.5-litre engine, which had produced around 520 bhp in 1969, had been enlarged through 4.9-litres (600 bhp) to 5-litres and produced a maximum of 630 bhp. The 917K models were generally used for the shorter road courses such as Sebring, Brands Hatch, Monza and Spa-Francorchamps. The big prize for Porsche however, was Le Mans. For the French circuit's long, high speed straights, the factory developed special long tail bodywork that was designed for minimum drag and thus highest maximum speed. On the car's debut in 1969, these long-tail (917L) models proved to be nearly uncontrollable as there was so little down force. In fact, they generated aerodynamic lift at the highest speeds. For 1970, an improved version was raced by the factory (although the John Wyer team still preferred the security of the 917K) and for 1971, after very significant development in the wind tunnel, the definitive 917L was raced by both factory and JW. These cars were so stable that the drivers could take their hands off the steering wheel at speeds which reached 246 mph. In 1971 Jo Siffert raced an open-top 917PA Spyder (normally aspirated) in the 1971 CanAm series.[5] There is also the "Pink Pig" aerodynamic research version (917/20), and the turbocharged 917/10 and 917/30 CanAm Spyders. Porsche 917s also raced in the European Interseries in various configurations. In the 1973 Can-Am series, the turbocharged version Porsche 917/30 developed 1,100 bhp (820 kW).

The 917 is one of the most iconic sports racing cars of all time, largely for its high speeds and high power outputs, and was made into a movie star by Steve McQueen in his 1971 film Le Mans.


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For more information and pictures on the real car, please visit: Porsche 917

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This is the second Porsche 917 I've featured from Safir Champion. The first which can be seen here is a 917K or short tail:
http://swiftysgarage.net/topic/7348928/1
This version is the 917L or long tail. It's not as pretty as the 917K but it sure looks mean, and along with fitting well into my collection of 917's it also fits well with my collection of Martini cars. Safir Champion's are fun to collect in that they come up for sale often enough to have hope of finding them, but seldom enough to keep it interesting with bidding all over the map. This one for instance I think I paid $12 for, but have seen it as high as $70, so it makes bidding fun trying to get a deal, that is if you're patient and enjoy that sort of thing. Also, as a side note, they are plastic so don't drop them like I did mine or you'll end up with a chipped fin like you can see in the pictures.

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Wikipedia
 
1970 917L (Langheck, German for "long tail"): This longtail, low drag version of the 1969 917L was purpose-built for the 1970 Le Mans 24 Hours. Le Mans in 1970 was almost entirely made up of long straights and this version was designed to maximise the speed capability resulting from the increased power developed by the flat-12 engine over the previous Porsche types. The 1970 917L was significantly developed from the initial 1969 car. Nevertheless, factory driver Vic Elford had found the car's ultimate speed an advantage enough over its still questionable handling in the braking and cornering sections of Le Mans. It was 25 mph faster down the straights than the 917K and the Ferrari 512Ss.[3] Two were raced in the 1970 Le Mans race, one was entered by Porsche Salzburg (SER#917L 042) (White/Red Shell livery) and another was entered by Martini International, (SER#917L 043) painted in psychedelic colors. The Porsche Salzburg 917L was qualified in pole position by Vic Elford, but this car retired with engine failure after 18 hours and the Martini 917L finished 2nd, 5 laps behind the winning Salzburg 917K of Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood. Le Mans was the only race in which the 917Ls competed in that year. Of the two, only the Martini car (917L-043)is known to exist outside the factory collection: it is on display at the Simeone museum in Philadelphia. There were two major longtail crashes during testing in 1970, both occurring at the VW test track near Wolfsburg, one involving Kurt Ahrens in chassis 917L-006/040, which wrote off the chassis and again another crash involving Willi Kauhsen in chassis 917L-041. Both drivers escaped being injured but 044 was known to be scrapped and 040 was used as parts for other chassis. A total of six 917L models were built and used between the 1970 and 1971 season(040-041-042-043-044*-045) with three surviving.


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juantoo3
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nice model from an under represented vintage maker.
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toyotageek
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Japanese Minicar Maniac
Neat little model. I like the oddball stuff.

Did the chipped fin piece go missing when it broke? Otherwise maybe you could you have glued it back in place?
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toyotageek
Jul 24 2015, 01:48 PM
Neat little model. I like the oddball stuff.

Did the chipped fin piece go missing when it broke? Otherwise maybe you could you have glued it back in place?
Yup, I looked for it for a good bit but it bounced off the tile into the carpet and I suspect the piece got lost in the piles of carpet and has since been vacuumed up.
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Sirentoys
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This is a great model. Probably one of the better long tails made.

As for the lost part. Next time put a piece of panty hose (or cloth if you don't have panty hose) over the end of the vacuum. It will catch the little bugger. Also I have learned when i drop small parts to look down and freeze. Often I can see the part flying around and know where to look.

Jeff
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pjedsel
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Muscle Car
It is to bad more collector's do not know, or have not seen, the many nice models that Safir made in small scale. They made quite a few very nice race cars as well as other models. Interesting that back then they had plastic bodies and it didn't bother any of us like it does now with Matchbox and Hot Wheels. :huh:
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Hobie-wan
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SUV
Cool 917, even with a little race damage.
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corvairjim
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Nice model. I've been a 917 fan since the early 1970's... Not because I was into International Sports Car racing, but because of my Hot Wheels 917! I really like this little guy, but I have to agree with you; I clicked on the link to the other 917 featured and I like the other one better too.

Also, I believe the actual 917K #3 was blue with green graphics, not yellow with orange. I guess the manufacturer took some liberties.
Edited by corvairjim, Jul 26 2015, 12:12 AM.
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Dean-o-mite
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Nice Martini addition! I've added substantially to my Safir Champion collection over the last year or so, since learning of the brand.
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