disappointed by the 917 "fast demo" during 77 member's meeti

disappointed by the 917 "fast demo" during 77 member's meeti

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frenchie TVR

Original Poster:

294 posts

182 months

Thursday 11th April 2019
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Does anyone feel disappointed by the 917 "fast demo" during 77 member's meeting?

I was at the end of the pit straight and saw the passing at what I would call a really, really low speed for such fast cars and find it really, really disappointing.

I did my 2nd ever track day at Goodwood (in my TVR Chimaera 500) and I am pretty sure I would have lapped the track quicker than they did on Saturday in their 917s…

Are they not supposed to be extremely fast cars, driven on a racing track by professional racing driver?

Is there something I am not getting here?

What was preventing them to going any faster, except the value of the cars?

Poor show, really poor.

richebets

268 posts

205 months

Thursday 11th April 2019
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The cars on show , are all porsche museum prized cars .. so thank yourself lucky to even see them on track ! ... if anything was a disappointment , it was the ‘big gathering ‘ of m1 pro cars ... only 5 in the end and the so called ‘train ‘ of nascars thundering around Goodwood ...
not to mention the Lola Aston lmp1 stuck in the paddock shelter all weekend ?! ..
was great to see the lmp cars run at night though, speeding down the pit straight !

Ian Wegg

681 posts

147 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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From the online schedule: "Porsche 917s (Out lap to grid, then 1 lap + in-lap)"

The NASCARs, LMPs and BMW M1s were all billed as either "Demo" or "Fast Demo" but the 917s are listed in the programme as "Special Display".


34053

51 posts

116 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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I too thought the 917s we're a bit lacklustre on the Saturday. However on the Sunday they put their foot down a lot more. Chris Harris was in the 917K which may have helped

DeejRC

6,453 posts

89 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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The stuffing of one of the M1s into the wall along the pit straight didn’t do the Procar high speed runs any good...

AllezWasps

570 posts

173 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Have to say I agree with the OP. Was really looking forward to hearing that flat 12 being given even just a little more on the loud pedal. Was left disappointed by what was in essence a slow drive around the track not helped by the course car leading them around I would imagine.
When the 917’s were out with the 512 Ferrari’s and Lola’s 3(?) years ago for a similar demo they went around the track a lot quicker and the sound of these legendary (my favourite ale Mans era) cars was just epic.

Edited by AllezWasps on Friday 12th April 18:33

34053

51 posts

116 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Actually I noticed this year that they had pace cars for the demos for the first time on some years. For the 72MM they had Ferrari F40 pace cars which meant the turbo F1 cars were just pootling about. They ditched them after that and it was much better. Even though the McLarens were very fast indeed I don't think they're necessary. Either they have been reintroduced because of a safety concern or it was part of the deal with McLaren for them to supply lots of cars to show off

ecsrobin

17,818 posts

172 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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34053 said:
Actually I noticed this year that they had pace cars for the demos for the first time on some years. For the 72MM they had Ferrari F40 pace cars which meant the turbo F1 cars were just pootling about. They ditched them after that and it was much better. Even though the McLarens were very fast indeed I don't think they're necessary. Either they have been reintroduced because of a safety concern or it was part of the deal with McLaren for them to supply lots of cars to show off
I suspect it was because the demo cars this year could travel at speeds that the circuit safety setup probably wasn’t sufficient. The mclarens were shifting though so I was quite happy.

ukaskew

10,642 posts

228 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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I don't think the McLaren course cars were the issue for the most part, they almost always had a comfortable gap ahead of the lead demo car.

thegreenhell

17,201 posts

226 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
They seemed to be much quicker on Sunday, with Mark Webber in the '69 car leading Chris Harris round in the Gulf K. Harris was whooping and fist-pumping in the cockpit as he pulled back into the paddock. I hope he had a camera in the car and shares the footage.

Lynchie999

3,469 posts

160 months

Sunday 14th April 2019
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ecsrobin said:
34053 said:
Actually I noticed this year that they had pace cars for the demos for the first time on some years. For the 72MM they had Ferrari F40 pace cars which meant the turbo F1 cars were just pootling about. They ditched them after that and it was much better. Even though the McLarens were very fast indeed I don't think they're necessary. Either they have been reintroduced because of a safety concern or it was part of the deal with McLaren for them to supply lots of cars to show off
I suspect it was because the demo cars this year could travel at speeds that the circuit safety setup probably wasn’t sufficient.
Because MSA ...



coppice

8,897 posts

151 months

Wednesday 17th April 2019
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I'd love to see them at full noise but as these are not race prepared cars, but mainly , and literally, museum pieces the speed is never going to be comparable with period cars . And possibly drivers . That said . I was out at Fordwater and the body language of Chris Harris ' car was saying to the 720(or whatever ,every McLaren looks and sounds the same ) - 'FFS speed up'.

My favourite car of the 917 era is the Ferrari 512M/S , and a few years ago one was running at Silverstone Classic and dominating its race . That NOISE ....sweet baby Jesus ....

T3LLIOTT

370 posts

172 months

Friday 26th April 2019
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frenchie TVR said:
Does anyone feel disappointed by the 917 "fast demo" during 77 member's meeting?

I was at the end of the pit straight and saw the passing at what I would call a really, really low speed for such fast cars and find it really, really disappointing.

I did my 2nd ever track day at Goodwood (in my TVR Chimaera 500) and I am pretty sure I would have lapped the track quicker than they did on Saturday in their 917s…

Are they not supposed to be extremely fast cars, driven on a racing track by professional racing driver?

Is there something I am not getting here?

What was preventing them to going any faster, except the value of the cars?

Poor show, really poor.
If you want to see a 917 go full chat (or as close as possible given the value), book on to the Le Mans Classic 2020. There was a couple racing last year with Derek Bell behind the wheel of one. To give you an idea, have a look at the grid list here (Porsche 917's in grid 5) - https://www.lemansclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2...

m4tti

5,466 posts

162 months

Friday 26th April 2019
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coppice said:
I'd love to see them at full noise but as these are not race prepared cars, but mainly , and literally, museum pieces the speed is never going to be comparable with period cars . And possibly drivers . That said . I was out at Fordwater and the body language of Chris Harris ' car was saying to the 720(or whatever ,every McLaren looks and sounds the same ) - 'FFS speed up'.

My favourite car of the 917 era is the Ferrari 512M/S , and a few years ago one was running at Silverstone Classic and dominating its race . That NOISE ....sweet baby Jesus ....
The main point of concern here is the engine . With the world of 3D scanning and CNC just about all engine components are re-creatable.

In fact Porsche should share the Engine blue prints to ensure the longevity of models.

Edited by m4tti on Friday 26th April 23:31

freedman

5,905 posts

214 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
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T3LLIOTT said:
If you want to see a 917 go full chat (or as close as possible given the value), book on to the Le Mans Classic 2020. There was a couple racing last year with Derek Bell behind the wheel of one. To give you an idea, have a look at the grid list here (Porsche 917's in grid 5) - https://www.lemansclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2...
Late response to this, but

Bell didn't drive a 917 last year, he decided against it, and withdrew before then event

Also, None of the 917s at CLM were driven very quickly. The Car Bell was to have driven crashed badly in practice and was never seen again.

The other short tail 69 car driven by Romain Dumas barely did two laps at the back of the field and went back to the pits

Only the Zitro racing car showed any kind of moderate pace, and then only for a lap or so either side of trundling around in the midfield

They al still looked and sounded epic though

T3LLIOTT

370 posts

172 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
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freedman said:
Late response to this, but

Bell didn't drive a 917 last year, he decided against it, and withdrew before then event

Also, None of the 917s at CLM were driven very quickly. The Car Bell was to have driven crashed badly in practice and was never seen again.

The other short tail 69 car driven by Romain Dumas barely did two laps at the back of the field and went back to the pits

Only the Zitro racing car showed any kind of moderate pace, and then only for a lap or so either side of trundling around in the midfield

They al still looked and sounded epic though
Well observed. It's a long weekend and looking back, maybe the majority of 917's I saw on track was in practice only.

The remaining 917 finished 8th on race 2, which shows a moderate level of pace. Certainly much faster than the MM demonstration would've been!

When you consider you can go to France for the LeMans Classic for a similar cost to Goodwood (including tickets, accomodation and travel), it's definitely worth considering if you want to see the 917's a similar cars of the era.

thecremeegg

2,017 posts

210 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
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Today's Harry's Garage has a good bit on the 917s, worth a watch!