HISTORY |
1971 SEASON (Part VI)
THE DECISION
In
1971, by midyear, Engineer Pieter Falk - right arm of Engineer Hensler,
who was Director of Porsche’s Experimental Division of Structures in
1971- announced the retirement of the German house of the World Championship
of Makes for 1972, resigning to defend the 1971 title that was almost safe
by that time of the year, given the spectacular campaign until that moment.
This
is what Falk had to say to the press (Parabrisas
Corsa magazine
Nº264 May/71):
"Porsche
will not do anything in 1972 concerning the World Championship of Makes. The 917´s
will be outside regulation as of January 1st, 1972 and as far as the 908/03, we
are going to abandon the development process. We are no longer interested in
three-litre cars. The 908/03 won the two races in which they appeared in 1970,
the Targa and the 1000 of Nürburgring, and will participate - we think that
with great chance- this year in the same two races. Those four performances
justify the fact, and although the development stops, with the obtained results
much can be done in benefit of the street cars of the marque, with which the
experiment can be taken as good ".
"The
908/03 was studied, projected, tested, reformed and put finally in race in a
lapse of five years in which a whole team worked in the model with total
dedication and without thinking about no other car that that one. I do not know
how much did it cost in money, but I’m sure that what leaves in knowledge,
experience and advances, plus the obtained triumphs, they have been worth the
spend. It was conceived to run in mixed circuits and I believe that still today
(May 1971) there isn’t a rival who can beat it ".
"Regarding
the contracts that bind us with John Wyer who handles our strongest team, and
with International Martini, these expire at the end of the year and they will
obviously not be renewed. There in more, if any team wants to continue running
with cars of the marque, we will offer some support to them, but this will not
mean that these teams can be considered not even as semi-official. On the other
hand, if somebody wants to have the existing 908/03 I do not believe that there
is a problem that prevents us from negotiating them, but the existing
units are very few and there is no intention to continue producing them in total
or partial manner, so that I can’t imagine who could be interested in that
sort of operation ".
"Of course, all this does not mean that Porsche retires totally of the sport, but simply that we will not follow in the Championship. We will prepare a car with all the pepper for Can-Am, that seems very interesting, for the next season; but regarding Sport Prototypes it is possible to be said from now, that at the end of the year, Porsche closes its doors".
THE CAUSES
( Parabrisas Corsa Magazine Nº269 - Editorial- June/71)
Porsche’s
decision to retire of the competitions was the logical result of the panorama
offered to the German signature by the new regulation that would govern the World
Championship of Makes in 1972.
650
kilos of minimum weight, and only three litres of piston displacement,
thus said the new rule.
This
rule gave Porsche only one alternative:
if it wanted to stay competitive, they were to design and build a much
more powerful motor that the one they had at the moment for the 908/03.To
improve the power/weight ratio. That was the problem.
And
it was a problem because the technical parameter that bonded Porsche with
Volkswagen’s financing, was the use of air cooling exclusively, and in
this case its construction did not allow the use cylinder heads with four valves
each (matter of space and heat transfer). Not being able to use this layout in
the heads, it was not possible to reach high specific power (same situation
happened in the 12 cylinder, 5-litre engine).
The
eventual rivals of Porsche, fundamentally Ferrari and Alfa
Romeo, could afford to put their designers and engineers to adopt any design
that maximized their powerplants and besides, as until that moment their chassis
had not managed to be competitive as far as weight concerns, they could also
work in that aspect, whereas Porsche had been racing within the
prescribed weight limits and it did not have way to improve in that particular
aspect.
As
this cocktail turned out, Porsche’s possibilities of being competitive
in the 1972 World Championship of Makes were remote and therefore it
decided to move away, to compete in the Can-Am Series.
SO, WHY DID THE CAN AM SERIES WAS THE NEXT STEP?
(Parabrisas Corsa Magazine Nº247 page 37)
Away
from the possibility to compete in the Sport Prototypes category in the World
Championship of Makes, Porsche considered two alternatives of
continuity for its sporting campaign. One was the Formula 1 scene and
other the Can-Am Series.
The
option as it is known, was the last one.
This were
Porsche’s directives thoughts.
Formula
1 cars are machines that change continuously, of continuous evolution but of
reduced technical quality.
The
SP are not like that, these participate in long endurance races that are won
with organization. F1 races can be won even with little organization, but with
good ideas. As far as the Can-Am cars, they are very diverse and more
interesting because the rules do not present problems of weight limits or power
limit, in other words, there is more freedom of technical expression.
With
the Can-Am engines, you can obtain useful experiences in fields that are not
bound closely, thing that is essential for the other two formulas. Formula One
requires extremely high benefits that are only interesting to advertising
effects.
Nevertheless,
other problems -for example the atmospheric contamination- are most interesting
for Porsche and with the Can-Am engines, this can be studied deeply.
As
far as the chassis, the Can-Am machines present the same problems that those of
an F1, and to our understanding, the Can Am cars are more interesting in this
case, because they offer remarkable possibilities of studies in the field of
aerodynamics that do not arise in F1. With the Can-Am series there is much to be
learnt due to the complete freedom that offers.
Our
Porsche 908 were the lightest machines of them all and still we have not broken
a single chassis. Not even in the Targa Florio, with the 908/03, that all we
feared were too fragile. Heavy cars that collapse can be made, as well as
extremely light engines that can’t be broken. This gives us an enormous
pleasure.
Our
chassis are light and they are not more expensive than the steel-made heavier
ones. In its construction we used a light material that soon was optimised. A
material that costs –certainly- more than steel, but when you add it all up,
it does not influence much in the total cost because the assembly and welding
process and work is exactly the same, and this is always ten times more
expensive than the price from the material.
It
is the design, and the technical principle of construction of the chassis the
difficult part; not the material on which is constructed.
To
make a frame, it costs ten thousand marks (1971). To do it with special material
costs approximately 10% more. This percentage is not which will influence in the
total price of the car. We have read the numbers that Enzo Ferrari published
last year (1970) and we agree that costs are the same for us than for him
".
Rico
Steinemann, Public Relations and Racing Division Director of Porsche,
argued that in the factory it is a tradition (as well as a necessity), that when
money is invested in a sport activity, this money must serve so much for the
races, to try to win in them, as well as with advertising intentions, and the
investigation and technical development with projection for the future.
It
was known that in Can-Am much money could be made, but what ultimately
motived Porsche to participate in that category, was the possibility of being
able to deeply study much more in the subjects of aerodynamic development and
engines.
More on
the CanAm Series, Porsche’s campaign and other marques: Here
(under construction)
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