Porsche 917-20 "The Pig"

[FIRE]

Porsche 917-20 "The Pig"

The nickname "The Pig" of this car is clear. Why did Porsche use this livery? (Where they sponsored by the Union of German Butchers? )

[Cadete]

Weren't the first 917 already nicknamed as pig by some drivers due to its difficult handling?

But still the Pink Pig is one of those cars that is hideous in a way it becomes likeable.

[MulsanneMike]

First 917s were called "The Ulcer". Pink Pig took this name given the livery and its "piggish" shape. The livery is done to reflect cuts of pork. The story goes that there was a competition between Porsche's aerodynamacists and the French consultant aero. at SERA inthe development of the 917/20. The SERA guys "won" and the German graphic designers took some offense and hence alot of liberty with the car's graphics...

[FIRE]

Originally posted by Cadete
Weren't the first 917 already nicknamed as pig by some drivers due to its difficult handling?

Don't know about the nickname, but early 917s were not easy to handle.

Originally posted by Cadete
But still the Pink Pig is one of those cars that is hideous in a way it becomes likeable.

Indeed

[jj2728]

for any of you collectors out there, MINICHAMPS did both a 1/43 and 1/18th version of the car. they occasionally show up on ebay....

[pirenzo]

Didn't the early 917s break in half a lot?
Or is that some other car I'm thinking of...

[SL]

Don't think they broke in half !!!

Thought they were had to handle because of the very high speed they could do and dubious aerodynamic's that caused high speed lift.

Nobody really understood to lift/ground effect's then and it was a steep learning curve, one driver (Jo Bonnier or Rolf Stommlen ???) was called to test the car's. He was amazed he was called but latter found out that none of the works driver's would touch the thing because of the erratic handling.......I think

S

[pounetbf]

Originally posted by MulsanneMike
First 917s were called "The Ulcer". Pink Pig took this name given the livery and its "piggish" shape. The livery is done to reflect cuts of pork. The story goes that there was a competition between Porsche's aerodynamacists and the French consultant aero. at SERA inthe development of the 917/20. The SERA guys "won" and the German graphic designers took some offense and hence alot of liberty with the car's graphics...

when student in 80/81, I meet the SERA chief engineer, (I think his name was Mr Choulet). He had done the aerodynamic analysis after the accident of Pescarolo's Matra, and proposed a solution to Matra, but the manufacturer had choosen to go to open cars. All this study was the basis of the later 917 design by SERA

[model1op43]

The story i know is that the 917/20 was a compromise between the well handling 917K and the 917L which was much quicker in a straight line but very hard to handle.
The result was a very wide and stubbish car which looked "like a pig"....

[josvandeperre]

Check out the 917 site :http://www.cknet.org.uk/forum/default.asp and everywhere else that takes you - bound to be answer there

[Aysedasi]

I think its a magnificent looking car! Knocks the spots (pink one's probably) off an R8 any day...

[MulsanneMike]

The 917/20 is one of the best looking sports cars ever built in my mind...

[Adam43]

Originally posted by pirenzo
Didn't the early 917s break in half a lot?

Not quite break in half, but they used to fill the chassis with gas as a way to tell if the chassis was in tip top condition! Here is frank Gardner's view (related to Nigel Roebuck):

This was one of the very first 917s, with an alloy chassis, which was gas-filled. There was a big gauge in the cockpit, which measured the gas pressure, and that was there to keep you informed of the chassis's condition. If it zeroed, they said, that meant that the chassis was broken, and I should drive mit care back to the pits.

"Once I knew what the gauge was for, I also knew that if it zeroed I wasn't going to drive it mit care anywhere. I was going to park the ******* there and then, pick up my Deutschmarks and get home to Mum...

[Aysedasi]

lol - nice one Adam.

[skycafe]

The Woolfe accident, fatal, at White House in 69-the car did break in half, but that was after a huge accident.

Porche built new chassis for each race. They did the same with the 908 and 907.

That is a great quote. Drive mit care!

[dretceterini]

A similar looking car, the one-off Matra 640 coupe, flipped in testing.

[MulsanneMike]

Originally posted by dretceterini
A similar looking car, the one-off Matra 640 coupe...

Would make sense as I beleive the SERA boys did the Matra as well.

[KA]

Originally posted by AdamAshmore
Not quite break in half, but they used to fill the chassis with gas as a way to tell if the chassis was in tip top condition! Here is frank Gardner's view (related to Nigel Roebuck):

Gardner drove the 917 at the Nurburgring 1000km in '69, which was something like it's second ever race. If I remember the story correctly, he and David Piper were called in because none of the regular factory drivers fancied the idea of driving it at the 'Ring....

[Javi]

that story, according to most porsche books, is true. Factory drivers were not very keen about testing and racing the 917 in the begining of its development because its fearsome behaviour and power. Brian Redman was called from weissach to test, and himself called Jo Siffert to ask why, and was answered jokingly that: "we let the others find out what breaks first..." (Redman himself refused after hearing that...)
Most intriguing is the fact that, as David Piper said, if I remember correctly, the short tail aerodynamics that cured that problem was "inspired" by that of Piper´s Lola T 70...