Vehicle Description
1969 Porsche 917K
Chassis: 917 004
A special era in the history of the Porsche 917 stems from a
private conversation held between Porsche team manager Rico
Steinemann and the legendary John Wyer the night before the running
of the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1969. Steinemann had been authorized
by Porsche management to offer J.W. Automotive Engineering the
Porsche factory racing program for 1970 and 1971. Now there were
several reasons behind the invitation, foremost was the ability of
the Slough based U.K. team to consistently win against newer cars
backed by better funded teams. Case in point being that the Gulf
Oil backed J.W.A.E. outfit was using what many considered an
obsolete car in their Ford GT40 against current competition, and
beating them. Wyer replied that he would take the matter up with
Gulf Oil who were more circumspect as to what could be gained by
joining Porsche. When the 917 was shown at the Geneva Salon a week
earlier John Wyer had clearly seen the future of sports car racing.
In Wyer's own words, "Porsche had, typically, done it first, and at
a stroke every other car was out of date". In addition, he pointed
out, in the direct Wyer manner, that he could offer no prospect
that would be able to beat it.
All of this took place in April of 1969, and while there was a
basic agreement and understanding between Wyer and Porsche, there
was still a full season of racing ahead. The high points for both
organizations were J.W.A.E. once again claiming the 24 Hours of Le
Mans with their "obsolete" Gulf GT40, and Porsche winning the World
Championship of Makes using a combination of 908s and early model
917s. The final contracts were signed in August.
The agreement called for Porsche to supply J.W.A.E. with seven
complete 917s over the 1970 season. The first of those was chassis
917-004. 917-004 first raced in 1969 at the Nurburgring 1000KM in
its original 917 bodywork. David Piper and co-driver Frank Gardner
took 8th place, and thanks to this finish 004 would be the first
917 to finish a race in its entirety.
A proforma invoice dated December 5, 1969 confirms the offer of 004
to Wyer, with the actual delivery to Slough three days later.
917-009 was to later join 004 in January, while 013, 014 and 015
were prepared and collected from Porsche for shipping to Daytona.
Chassis 917-016 was shipped to J.W.A.E. in March of 1970 with
chassis 017 being held in reserve at Zuffenhausen with the
possibility of being built up as a new car for Le Mans.
Serious preparation on 917-004 and 917-016 was well underway at
Slough in March, with the upcoming 1000KM race at Brands Hatch to
be held on April 12th. A letter from J.W.A.E., received at Porsche
on April 2, 1970, requested a number of new parts to bring 004 up
to date, which were promptly shipped out to Slough in time for the
car to be ready to race. It was during this time that 004 was
updated to the now iconic Kurzheck bodywork.
The BOAC 1000KM race at Brands Hatch featured the best of
competitors, along with some of the worst of English weather in the
form of wind and rain. Qualifying for 004 and 016 showed mixed
results, but all that changed for the actual race. The driver
pairings were Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Kinnunen in 016, and the
great Jo Siffert and Brian Redman aboard 004. Both 917s started on
narrower wheels with Firestone rain tires, and ran 4-speed
transmissions. Rodriguez had a phenomenal race in the heavy English
rain, and 016 went on to the overall victory. 004 had a troublesome
start with Siffert suffering a flat left rear on the circuit and
losing valuable time attempting to get back to the pits. He
rejoined in third place and according to J.W.A.E. chief engineer,
John Horsman, "the car had been alternating between second and
third place and ready to win if Pedro faltered." However it all
came to an end on lap 177. Brian Redman was at the wheel of 004
when he was hit from behind by Chris Amon's Ferrari 512S,
effectively ending his race.
Upon returning to the J.W.A.E. workshops after the race, it was
determined that although the damage to the chassis of 004 was not
significant, due to the immediacy of the upcoming race schedule it
would be advantageous to return the damaged chassis to Porsche and
replace 004 with 017. This replacement chassis was picked up by
J.W.A.E. from Zuffenhausen on April 26, 1970 and delivered to the
workshops at Slough for immediate assembly.
In order to maintain the validity of the Carnet (an international
customs document) that had been issued for 917-004, the chassis tag
from 004 was removed and welded on the replacement chassis 017.
This way it would appear that 004 continued in service. The damaged
004, now with the badge of 017, was returned to Porsche and
eventually repaired later that fall.
In 1975, Porsche sold 004, now badged as 017, to Alan Hamilton of
Hamiltons of Australia, the official importer of Porsche vehicles
for the land down under. The man was not only a racer but also a
collector of Porsche racecars, having owned several 908s, and
having purchased 917/30-004 directly from the factory. The purchase
of an original 917K was almost an afterthought.
In 2004, the car was being offered by Fiskens of Kensington, and a
deal was made by principal Gregor Fisken with Stephane Ratel of the
SRO Motorsports Group. Ratel has impeccable credentials having been
one of the founders of the BPR Series, which later became the FIA
GT Championship. Ratel had his friend and former partner in the
BPR, Jurgen Barth, visit Fiskens and inspect 017 prior to purchase.
Ratel had planned to run the 917 in historic events but simply did
not have the time to participate, and the car then found its way to
Miguel Amaral of Portugal. Amaral had his own impressive stable of
current and vintage race cars, and raced 017 on the great circuits
of Europe on numerous occasions.
In 2008, Amaral decided to send the car to California for
restoration under the guidance of noted Porsche historian Kerry
Morse. The car was delivered to Porsche Motorsport North America
for disassembly of the drivetrain and electrics. Unfortunately the
project suffered a series of delays and setbacks, not an unusual
occurrence with a difficult, high-end restoration.
In 2011, at Rennsport IV, the subject of 017 came up between Kerry
Morse and Bruce Canepa. Having pursued this specific 917 in the
past, and still interested in purchasing it, Canepa and Morse
worked out a deal.
In December of 2011, 017 was delivered to the Canepa facility in
Scotts Valley. Canepa's goal was to restore the car to its Gulf
liveried, Brands Hatch configuration. Once the scope of the project
was fully understood it was decided to bring together a team of the
finest experts to complete the car. Normally all the work would
have been executed in-house at Canepa, but with a dozen high level
restorations already underway, including another 917, Bruce decided
to send the body and chassis of 017 to Kevin Jeannette of Gunnar
Racing in West Palm Beach, Florida. Gunnar, like Canepa, is well
known for their extensive and thorough restorations of Porsche
competition vehicles. Having owned and raced one of Gunnar's 917
restorations Bruce knew that they had the experience, expertise and
quality that would meet his standards for a world-class
restoration.
While the craftsmen at Gunnar began the two year process of
completely restoring every aspect of the 917 body and chassis. The
4.5 liter flat twelve cylinder was rebuilt and increased to 5.0
liters, the most potent of 917K engine specifications, which was
typical of all 917 engines in period...for more information please
contact the seller.
