Porsche 908 at Nurburgring 1971

XenMedio PRO © Jason Axelrod from 8WAYRUN.COM

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Jun 2, 2020 at 4:32 AM
Posted By John vd Geest

The Gulf Porsche 908/3 Flunder was raced to victory in the Nurburgring 1000 km of 1971 by Derek Bell - Jo Siffert.

The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906/Porsche 910/Porsche 907 series of models designed under Ferdinand Piech.
As the FIA had announced rule changes for Group 6 Prototype-Sports Cars limiting engine displacement to 3000 cc, as in Formula One, Porsche designed the 908 as the first Porsche sports car to have an engine with the maximum size allowed. The previous Porsche 907 only had a 2200 cc flat-8 engine with 270 hp. The new 3-litre Flat-8 engine produced initially 257 kW (350 hp) at 8400 rpm, as well as some teething problems. Also, being traditionally air-cooled and with only 2 valves per cylinder, it was still down on power compared to more modern F1 designs which delivered over 400 hp (300 kW), but were not suited to endurance racing.
The 908 originally was a closed coupe to provide low drag at fast tracks, but from 1969 on was mainly raced as the 908/2, a lighter open spyder. A more compact 908/3 was introduced in 1970 to complement the heavy Porsche 917 on twisty tracks that favored nimble cars, like Targa Florio and Nürburgring. Sold off to privateers for 1972, various 908s were entered until the early 1980s, often retro-fitted with Porsche 934-based 2.1-litre turbocharged flat 6 engines.

Despite the more powerful 917 improving towards the end of 1969, the career of the 908 would continue. On rather twisty and slow tracks like Nürburgring and Targa Florio, the 917 was not suited well even after being modified to the "917K". So rather than trying to make "one size fit all", Porsche built dedicated cars for each type of racing track. Based upon the lightweight and short Porsche 909 which was used in hillclimbing, the new open cockpit version, the 908/3, was even shorter than the 908/2. This version was successful in the 1970 Nurburgring 1000 km and the Targa Florio, where typical speeds were only about half of the 240 mph (390 km/h) which the 917LH long tails could achieve at Le Mans. The 908/02 in which Steve McQueen finished second at the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring was also used as a camera car for the Le Mans (film) in the race itself. Steve McQueen originally intended to drive a Porsche 917 in the race, though this was vetoed by the studio funding the film.

In 1971, vertical fins were added to the rear of the 908s which were outpaced at the Targa by two Alfa Romeo Tipo 33s. All entered 908s crashed, but Vic Elford had managed to set fastest lap. The next race at the Nurburgring saw a 1-2-3 finish for the 908 in front of two Alfas Romeos, but with Alfa scoring wins at Brands Hatch and Watkins Glen, it was proven that these prototypes could even beat the 917s.

With the combination of the powerful 917 and the lightweight 908, Porsche dominated the International Championship for Makes each year from 1969 through to 1971.

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Porsche 908 at Nurburgring 1971