24h Le Mans
Forty years ago, the Porsche 936 became the first prototype with a turbocharged engine to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 936’s design heritage draws on a number of the marque’s emblematic racing cars, from the 911 to the 917. In this first episode, we go back to 1971 when the 917 reigned supreme.
After becoming the very first Porsche to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971, the 917 was banished from the World Championship for Makes by the regulation overhaul for the 1972 season. The next chapter in its story unfolded in Canada and the United States, where the 917 went on to race in the CanAm Challenge Cup. The German manufacturer had already taken steps to prepare for the move across the Atlantic with the 1971 Le Mans-winning Porsche 917/20 – a car that would become known for posterity as the Pink Pig.
At the time, CanAm was dominated by McLaren chassis powered by hefty 7-litre naturally-aspirated V8 engines. In terms of pure output, the Porsche 917’s 5-litre flat-12 engine could not rival these American powerhouses, primarily built by Chevrolet. To overturn the situation, Porsche added a turbocharger to boost power, notably by recovering energy from the exhaust gases.
For the 1972 CanAm season, the 917/10 (redesigned as an open-cockpit model) generated 850 hp and proved to be more than a match for its American rivals, taking the title. The following year, Porsche went even further with the 917/30. With a turbocharged 5.4-litre engine producing 1100 hp, the car dominated the 1973 CanAm campaign before being outlawed once again, this time by the SCCA (SportsCar Club of America), organisers of the competition.
However the features introduced for the CanAm versions of the 917 resurfaced three years later: the 936 had the same front hood shape and a huge rear wing supported by two large side fins. The 936 also owes a lot to the 911, but that’s another story... coming soon!
Photo: The 1971 Porsche 917/20, the first stage in the inception of the 936.
