A racing heart starts beating faster when you see the iconic Gulf Porsche 917 across your screen when you are watching Steve McQueen’s movie: “Le Mans”. There are also numerous photos of Jo Siffert and Pedro Rodriguez battling it out in 1970 and 1971 at the wheel of their Porsche 917. And remember the psychedelic coloured Porsche 917 of Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann winning the 24hours of Le Mans in 1970 and the Martini livery car of Gijs Van Lennep and Helmut Marko winning the 1971 race. After 1971, the FIA changed the rules in endurance racing. Did it stop a 917 after that ? No!
In 1981, ten years after its last proper appearance, Manfred and Erwin Kremer crafted a replica of the 917 and brought it again to Le Mans. The Kremer brothers had considerable success in endurance racing, mostly with Porsche 935. They also worked on historic cars and over the years hatched a plan to build a new ‘917’. The idea remained dormant for many years until 1981. With new rules emerging for 1982, they realized that in 1981 the last time large-capacity Group 6 cars would be eligible for racing.
For two years they collected different parts for the 917. They contacted Porsche and here they liked the idea. The factory gave the original spaceframe chassis drawings and helped in collecting more parts. Porsche build two new engines for Kremer only. Kremer invited the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) officials to Köln and they also liked the idea of this historic car taking the start in their 1981 race. Hugh publicity! The financial support came from Malardeau, a French real estate company. Regular Kremer racer was Bob Wollek. He was joined for the 24h race by Guy Chausseuil and Xavier Lapeyre.
With the original Gulf-sponsored car as a template, the Kremers built a car that was still recognisable as a 917, with updates. Apart from the windscreen and doors, everything was custom-made. They strengthened the aluminium spaceframe, modified the suspension and, most significantly, altered the aerodynamics of this short tail car. This made the car stiffer than the old 917’s. The bodywork was tweaked with slap sides and a deeper nose was added. The car had a larger rear wing and air-jacks, different from the 1971 cars. The size of the tyres was also smaller than in the 70’s. It had a four speed CanAm gearbox and there was the choice of a 4.5( 500 bhp) or 4.9 -litre (550 bhp) engine.
The 917K-81 got a shakedown at the short- Nürburgring on May 26 before Le Mans. Bob Wollek, who had heard the stories of the original 917 being a difficult car to drive was sceptical at first. But in testing, he found the car well balanced and easy to drive.
When they got into the Le Mans race, the car was slow and the lap times were not there. Maybe it was the rear wing on the back and the downforce at the front that was causing it. A change of gear ratios gave some improvement. The car qualified 18th; maximum speed 290 km/h.
But Bob Wollek was not comfortable. Something had to be wrong. He remained worried. At the start, they were still about 15 seconds per lap slower and very fast they were miles behind the leading cars. The first hour of the 1981 race was scary as there were three crashes on the Mulsanne straight. In one, a marshal was killed by debris from Thierry Boutsen’s crashed WM. In another crash, Jean-Louis Lafosse lost his life. Wollek then got up to ninth place after three hours racing, but he remained unhappy. He just wanted to go home; he had the feeling that something would happen to him. At 19h54, after his driver change, he had made his mind up. The car was slow and burned more fuel than expected and he was not happy with the driving skills of his team-mates. He kept the feeling that he would die in the race. He spoke to friends and then to the Kremer brothers, went back to the hotel, packed his bags and drove home.( He would be back two weeks later in the 935).
Few people had noticed that Wollek had left the track, because the car retired in the eight hour after Lapeyre had an off in the Ford chicane. After half an hour repairs, the car was out again. Then there was an oil leak when Lapeyre hit the kerbs rather hard and that made the engine stop.
The 917K-81 raced again in the final round of the world championship in Brands Hatch. It was the last race that the car was eligible. They asked Bob Wollek again and this time, he did not hesitate. This time Wollek had Henri Pescarolo as team-mate. The opposition was the Ford C100 that made his debut. However, the ‘old’ Porsche was in his element. Wollek qualified second and ran near the front from the start. He could easily follow the C100 of Manfred Winkelhock. The car had a good grip, the engine running smoothly. And the pace was good. And then at Dingle Dell, the steering failed in lap 52 Wollek had to park the car and walk to the pits. Pescarolo did not even raced.
Incredibly, Brands Hatch would mark the conclusion of the car’s competitive career. Thereafter, the car remained in Kremer’s possession for several years, prior to its sale to prominent 1960s Porsche 906 and 910 racer Bill Bradley.
Acquired by a consignor in 2011, the 917-K81 has been maintained by renowned Porsche specialists Crubilé Sport of Gazeran, France, ever since. Its use has been restricted to occasional track days and other non-competitive events, a particular highlight being its participation in the Le Mans Heritage Club Concours at the 2014 Le Mans Classic, for which it received the Special Jury Prize. Furthermore, it has recently benefitted from a complete rebuild of its 5.0-litre engine by Crubilé Sport, the invoices for which remain on file. Upon completion, the unit was statically tested in February 2024; its maximum recorded power representing a significant increase on that achieved by factory-built units in period. It is sold during the Monaco historic race for €2,648,750 EUR .
