Porsche 917 – Racing Liveries

There are things that undoubtedly belong together. Sun and heat, rain and wet, day and night. For car fans, motorsport and speed, engine sounds and emotions, as well as racing cars and colorful designs, all join in. Since the invention of the automobile, enthusiastic and courageous drivers have been competing in races and rallies with these four-wheeled vehicles. Initially, they used the colors of their home country or the country of origin of their respective cars. The German race color was white, British cars wore green, Italian cars red and French cars blue. Shortly before World War 2, the German color changed to silver. From the 1960s onwards, the national colors finally made way for the sponsor paintworks that are still familiar today. In addition to various short-term color schemes, some of these advertising colors have remained in the collective memory to this day. A few of them can be found on classic Porsche racing cars, especially on the 917.

In Porsche’s popular ‘Top 5’ video series, the sports car manufacturer from Zuffenhausen, Germany, took a look at the five most beautiful liveries on the 917s shortly before the end of last year. It all began, of course, with the very first example of this racing car, which debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in 1969. The Porsche racing department completed the corresponding vehicle just two days before the premiere and painted it in glossy white with green accents. Similar color schemes were used for various Porsche racing cars in the 1960s. For 1970, the philosophy was changed and the cars were no longer raced by the factory team, but instead by factory supported private teams. One of them was Porsche Salzburg from Austria, who achieved the very first overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with their red and white striped 917 K. In 1971, the most famous racing livery was finally also applied to a Porsche: Gulf Oil sponsored the team of John Wyer Automotive Engineering Ltd. The 917s, painted in light blue and orange, became world famous especially through Steve McQueen and his film ‘Le Mans’.

Also in 1971 Porsche used the newly developed long-tail version (Langheck = LH) and had some of them painted in the colors of the Italian spirits manufacturer Martini, which could also be found on some short-tail versions and other Porsche racing cars. For example the 1971 Le Mans winning 917 K also was painted in Martini livery. They also redeveloped the car into the 917/20 with a fiberglass bodywork widened by more than 24 centimeters for the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans. They hoped for some aerodynamic advantages and higher speeds with this modification. Since no new main sponsor could be found until shortly before the race, the design team under Anatole Lapin painted the car pink and stickered it with lines showing the meat parts of a pig. Despite the fact that this car failed to finish the race due to technical issues, ‘die Sau’ (the sow) is still very well known today – sometimes also mentioned as ‘die dicke Berta’ (fat Berta) or ‘truffle hunter’.

Unfortunately, the Top 5 listing is missing some other nice 917 liveries like the red and yellow dress of Shell, the Sunoco colors on the late 917/30 Can-Am cars or the psychedelic hippie patterns on some 917s, which were also sponsored by Martini. The five paint finishes shown, on the other hand, are undoubtedly known worldwide and have been rightly included in the Porsche video. They also make a very good impression in our picture gallery and also give a nice overview of the colorful variety of racing.

Images: Porsche