It may be 50 years old, but the mighty Porsche 917/30 still has a comparable power-to-weight ratio to a modern Formula 1 car. Around 1200bhp from a 5.4-litre flat-12 with two turbochargers in a car weighing just 800kg will do that for you.
Impressive numbers on the page, but what do they feel like in reality? My Ti co-founder Andrew Frankel was lucky enough to find out for himself at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend – albeit on the very tricky Goodwood hillclimb course, on cold tyres, on a narrow, twisting road that had already claimed several cars and drivers that day.
Click here to watch the video, which will give you a very good idea of how ferocious the 917/30 really is. If you want to hear Andrew describe the car in more detail, the latest episode of The Intercooler podcast (#170) is for you. Just search ‘The Intercooler’ wherever you get your podcasts, or find it right here.
The 917/30 wasn’t the only historic Porsche competition car Andrew drove that weekend. Soon we’ll publish his full account of driving a genuine Le Mans winner – one with a fascinating story to tell.
