1970 Porsche 917/LH makes rare trip from Porsche Museum to New York
Posted Apr 7th 2012 6:00PM
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There have been a number of iconic racing liveries over the course of history – JPS and Gulf spring immediately to mind – and every historic racing fan has his or her favourite. But few are as downright awesome as Martini. The Italian vermouth label has sponsored everything from Lancias to Fords, but many of its very memorable and amazing have been Porsches. Like this bitchin' 917/LH.
This long-tail version (Langheck in German) of the all-conquering 917 racer was fielded twice at Le Mans: once by Porsche Salzburg in 1970, and once by Martini Racing (which gave it its enduring paintjob) in 1971. It qualified first and second at those respective runnings, but proved fragile over the course of the 24-hour race and failed to finish both times.
The overall results don't mean that this isn't a devastatingly beautiful example of motor racing history, or that it's anything less than priceless. Better check it out in our gallery of images from the show floor before it's secreted back off to Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.
