Spiel

OCTOBER 2017 52 Vic Elford, Nurburgring 1000 KM, 1971. Porsche built one experimental 907 with an aluminum chassis frame. Ever in pursuit of light weight, all 908s were built with aluminum frames from chassis 012 on. For 1968, the 24 Hours of Le Mans was moved to September from its traditional June date due to political unrest in France. The delay was a benefit for Porsche in many ways, allowing time to produce another new gear- box design and to solve other problems on the 908. The project 916 gearbox for the 908 was the basis for the 915 transmission found in 911s from 1972 through 1986. All factory-entered 908s were now running with the lighter, but slightly less rigid aluminum frame. Despite a massive entry of four 908s and three 907s, Porsche lost Le Mans to the reliable Gulf GT40. All of the Porsche proto- types experienced mechanical failures with the 908s particularly impacted by a faulty alternator design, which was unlikely to last in the additional hours of darkness. A 907 finished second, five laps behind the winner, with a 908 in third place. For 1969, Porsche was dealing with more complexity in the race shop than ever. In addition to building and racing 25 917s (for the revised Group 4 rules), Porsche was prepared to race the longtail 908 coupe as well as a new open-cockpit spyder version of the 908, known as the 908/02. Porsche's project numbering for the early versions of the 908 refer to them as the 908/01. The season started very badly for Porsche at Daytona where the 908 longtails all suffered the same engine failure. A new, lightweight aluminum gear driving the intermediate shaft of the camshaft drive could not last the full 24 hours. At Sebring, the race debut for the 908/02, all of the cars cracked their chassis and the best Porsche finish was third place. From then on, however, the 908 really came into its own. Jo Siffert and Brian Redman went on to win five races (Brands Hatch, Nurburgring and Watkins Glen with the 908/02, Monza and Spa with the longtail coupe). Gerhard Mitter and Udo Schutz won the Targa Florio where the 908/02s took first through fourth places. Although these results were good enough to secure Porsche the World Sportscar Championship for the first time, Le Mans was again a disappointment. The Gulf team defeated Porsche with their aging GT40 (the same car that won the 1968 race). This time Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver beat the longtail 908 of Herrmann and Larrousse by less than two seconds after 24 hours of racing. With the 917 set to be the primary weapon for the sports car championship in 1970 and 1971, Porsche was faced with the issue of how to compete at the Nurburgring and the Targa Florio. These two long and twisty circuits were clearly ill-suited to the 917. Porsche's solution was a further development of the 908 to be used in just those four races. The 908/03 was originally planned for production early in 1969 but had to be delayed with so much other work being done. Its design, led by engineer Manfred Bantle, was influenced by the ultra-light 909 'Bergspyder', a car built in 1968 specifically for hill climb events. Like the 909, the 908/03 design brought the transmission forward so that it was in front of the differential. As a result, the engine and driver's seat had to move forward as well. When Brian Redman saw the 908/03 for the first time, it was at the Porsche Christmas party at the end of 1969. He described it this way to me in 1985: "The 908/03 was really completely different to the 908/02. I think the fastest lap that Jo Siffert did at the Nurburgring in a 908/02 was about eight minutes, zero. The following year, in a 908/03, it was something like seven minutes, forty five seconds (7:43.3 pole time – JG). It was a giant increase in speed and it was only from the different design of the car because the engine was the same power. But now, the engine came more to the center of the car. It was followed by the gearbox, then the final drive, so there was no weight overhanging the rear axle. The driver, of course, because of this went even further forward and was really a long way forward. When you're racing you don't think about it, but if you saw the car without its Cameron Healy in his 908/03 at Laguna Seca, 2017.

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