Porsche 917/10 and 917/30
After the success of the 917 in the 1970 and 1971 World Sportscar Championships, Porsche took on a new challenge to develop an open-top version of the 917 – the 917/10 – for the Can-Am series in the US and Canada and the European Interserie racing series. One of the big changes, apart from the body, was the development of the 5 litre race engines with turbochargers delivering 1,000 horsepower. The 917/10’s first race was in June 1972 at the Mosport Park circuit in Canada with the first victory a month later in July at Road Atlanta. The 917/10 went on to win 6 out of 9 races that year with George Follmer winning the championship with twice the points of Denny Hulme in second place.

1973 saw Porsche defend the Can-Am title winning all 8 races. The season started with another 2 wins for the 917/10 before the 917/30 was introduced for the remainder of the season. The Sunoco 917/30, driven by Mark Donohue and run by Roger Penske, won 6 races in a row to dominate the Can-Am championship. Between them, the 917/10 and 917/30 filled 5 of the top 6 positions overall. With a slightly longer wheelbase and an engine upped from 5 litres to 5.4 litres, the 917/30 was now pushing out 1,150 horsepower in race trim and up to 1,500 horsepower in qualifying trim. Leo Kinnunen, driving the 917/10 in the European Interserie racing series in 1972 and 1973, also won the championship in both years.

Mark Donohue best summed up the 917/30 with the quote, “If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower.” Warren Edwards


Warren E.