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The Porsche 917K '70 is a race car produced by Porsche. It first appears in Gran Turismo 7.

The model depicted in the game is the #2 John Wyer Automotive Engineering entry that raced in the 1970 24 Hours of Daytona, driven by Pedro Rodriguez, Leo Kinnunen and Brian Redman, and achieved an overall 1st place.

Description[]

Car Index[]

"This prototype race car that gave Porsche its first victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans."

The Porsche 917K, a prototype race car developed by Porsche to compete in Group 4 sports-car racing, was essentially the 917 with a shortened body. After the debut of the 917 in 1969, Porsche introduced the shorter model, calling it the 917K (the "K" stood for "Kurz", which means "short" in German). The standard, longer car was then called the 917LH.

The car's space-frame chassis was composed of aluminum alloy pipes that weighed just under 110 lbs. A carbon-fiber body covered a mid-mounted 4490 cc flat-12 engine that produced 591.7 HP. And with a curb weight of about 1764 lbs and enhanced aerodynamics - downforce was increased by sloping up the rear edge of the short tail body, while the front tip was squared off - the 917K was a monster on the straights.

In 1970, it dominated the international manufacturer's championship winning 7 out of 10 races, and also brought Porsche its first victory in the Le Mans 24 Hour race.

Legend Cars[]

The 917K is one of the most important race cars in Porsche's history. It was developed from the long-tailed 917LH which made its debut in 1969. Under its hood was a few engines depending on the car, from a 4.5-liter, 4.9-liter, and a 5.0-liter air-cooled flat-12. Fast and ferocious on the track, the 917K delivered Porsche its first overall victory at Le Mans. Although Porsche didn't have a works team, the 917K still won 7 of 10 races in the International Championship for Makes. Even better, it would also go on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year, and again in 1971. Porsche's golden era began with the 917K, making it one of the significant models in the motorsports history.

Café (GT7)[]

Jeremy[]

Want to know why gearheads give Porsche so much love? One reason is that they don't keep their race cars all to themselves. This is true not only of their production cars but also their top-tier prototypes. Take the once-retired 908 and 917 models, for example. Porsche later sold them to private teams. And when the buyers brought the cars to competition... Porsche was there to offer support worthy of its own works team. After all, when a retired Porsche wins with a private team... It's still a win for Porsche, wouldn't you agree? Beginning with John Wyer Automotive... The Porsche 917 has been driven by several Austrian and American teams. And who can forget the[1] 917K's appearance in the 1971 film 'Le Mans', where it was raced by Steve McQueen!

Hideo Kodama[]

There is a particular story associated with the 917 in my mind. It takes me back to 1968. While testing our latest project at the Eifel Tower's aeronautical test laboratory in Paris... The 917 was undergoing tests one room over. Imagine, a state-of-the-art racing machine in a laboratory from the previous century! What a mash-up! The 917 debuted at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show. In place of the flat-eight of its predecessor, the 908, it ran on a[2] beastly flat-twelve air-cooled engine. Sporting a long tail for high-speed tracks, and a short-tail for twisty tracks, like that of the Targa Florio... It could be easy configured for different types of races.

Acquisition[]

Game Purchase location Credits Other methods
Gran Turismo 7 Legend Cars 18,000,000[4] Hagerty livery: Available from Hagerty Drivers Club membership for 2023.
1970 Le Mans Winner livery: Participate in the first round of the 2023 Porsche Esports Challenge USA qualifiers, available between July 10-16, 2023 (US only).[3]

Trivia[]

  • It appears prominently in early promotional materials for the game, as well for the PlayStation 5's "Play Has No Limits" launch campaign.
  • Its (and the McLaren F1 '94) high price (along with reduced payouts for several World Circuits events) has been a source of controversy surrounding the game's economy.
  • Despite being a classic prototype that raced in Le Mans, it doesn't have the "Le Mans" car type tag, likely because the model depicted in the game won the 24 Hours of Daytona; the same year where it won Le Mans.
  • On September 12, 2023, the special livery given to participants of the first round of the 2023 Porsche Esports Challenge USA was made available for download to all players regardless of country/region through the Sagittarius account (login required), but it was removed some time later. The version shared through the Sagittarius account has a different car number (#75 instead of #23) and differently placed Porsche decals due to the different car number decals.
    • The shared livery still has the #23 car number as a hidden decal.

Gallery[]

Notes[]

  1. Sentence in-game is missing "the" just before "917K's".
  2. Sentence in-game is missing "a" before "beastly".
  3. Online Qualifiers of 2023 'Porsche Esports Challenge USA' to Commence 10 July in Gran Turismo 7! Get in the Driving Seat and Win a Place at the Grand Final! - gran-turismo.com
  4. Price as of June 2024.

See Also[]

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