Miguel Sánchez
Running into which cars is not easy at all. That is why we are legion fans who approach concentrations and competitions of all kinds with the hope of being able to see some of our dream cars live. In fact, some are so special that we will never be able to see them on the road even no matter how lucky we are.
However, if one day you notice a harsh sound, with a mixture of explosions and roars that approaches you as if the gates of hell had been opened ... Porsche 917. And beware, we are not talking about replicas with a virtuous sound. Not at all, but a completely original one: specifically the one mounted on the chassis 917037.
One of the two units that, after administrative battles that would delight the most stubborn manager, have managed to legally roll off the circuits. One of the wildest sports cars of all time that, although designed to dominate on the track Le Mans, now travels the roads of Monaco passing under the toll barriers and generating disbelief in more than one urban guard.
PORSCHE 917 REGISTERED: INFARCTION FIGURES
If we made a list of the most iconic racing cars of all time, the Porsche 917 would enter the first selection in its own right. Not surprisingly, he is one of the Le Mans legends; there the German brand was victorious in 1970 y 1971, seeing his legend further reinforced when Steve McQueen drove a 917 at key moments of his spectacular Le Mans film.
A track record that not only rests on an aerodynamic aesthetic that captivates as much as its incredible sound, but also on chilling technical data. And it is precisely that word, "chilling”, The only one we can think of to summarize what it can be like to drive a car that throws some 600 hp with a weight of approximately 630 kilos! A weight / power ratio worthy of the wildest projects for hill races but… On an endurance circuit.
All this thanks to a ultralight chassis with 42 kilos on scale, on which is mounted simply what is essential to manage the power of the first boxer engine with 12 opposed cylinders developed by Porsche. A wit of 4 liters air cooled that occupies so much on a chassis so small that the rider is far enough forward to operate the pedals almost on the same front axle.
A LEGAL BATTLE WITH MARTINI, PRINCIPALS AND THE STATE OF ALABAMA
With the figures that we have just read ... Imagine what it must be like to go talk to the vehicle approval authorities so that they let you go buy bread in a Porsche 917. An almost impossible mission for the owner of this 917 -Claudio roddaro-, he insisted on winning after acquiring the car last 2016 thanks to an auction where the deck dropped by 22 million dollars.
However ... How is it possible to have achieved such approval? Well, based on a previous one made in the 70s when Conde Rossi -owner of Martini and then sponsor of Porsche racing- managed to legalize a 917 after incorporating some mufflers and mirrors.
Of course, he had to go to Alabama! And it is that only in the wild south of the United States managed to convince an official body to give him license plates. Once legalized there, he managed to bring it back to Europe where officials had no choice but, by international agreement, to let this 917 approved already in the United States of America circulate freely. An entire administrative spectacle that has served Claudio Roddaro as a precedent on which to rely to get the license plates in the Principality of Monaco.
However, despite being born to devour circuits, Unit 037 has never competed -more than in current classic meetings- since in the 70s the German bodybuilder Baur bought the chassis but did not finish assembling it. From there the pieces traveled to the United States where a private collector was, at last, responsible for assembling the set which, once the splendor years of the 917 at Le Mans ended, became a collector's gem rather than a car. thrown to the risk of the asphalt.
Anyway, finally this 917037 chassis can taste the asphalt thanks to the conviction of an owner who, far from guarding the car as an investment in a bank's safe deposit box… He knows that any car, no matter how valuable, was born to be enjoyed on the asphalt.
