Five reasons the Porsche 908/3 – the 917's understudy – shouldn't be forgotten
Think of 1970s sportscar racers from Porsche, and you'll immediately jump to one car – the legendary 917. Yet while that car was making headlines in the 5.0-litre class, there was another Stuttgart racer that was having plenty of success in the 3.0-litre category. The 908/3 is a multi-championship winning machine that deserves attention. Here are five things you need to know about it.
It wasn't really given the right name
Aside from the 3.0-litre engine that it shared with previous iterations of the 908, the 908/3 had more in common with the 909 Bergspyder, a hillclimb racer from 1968. That car was best known tipping the scales at a super-flyweight sub-400kg. While the 908/3 was never going to be that light – it needed to be reliable for hours, whereas the hillclimb car did not – it was still a meagre 545kg, so it was hardly portly. To put that into perspective, that's a quarter of a tonne lighter than its big brother, the 917.
It was from the purer era of 3.0-litre sports cars
Where later cars in the 3.0-litre sports car class sprouted high air boxes and other addenda that come with longer development periods, the 908/3 is a very pure shape. It looks elegant – its abbreviated form making the most of its light weight and high power.
It was a winner straight out the box
The Gulf liveried car got off to a great start, winning the 1970 Targa-Florio in the hands of Brian Redman and Jo Siffert. Meanwhile, a sister 908/3 took victory in the Nürburgring 1000Kms thanks to the efforts of Vic Elford and Kurt Ahrens. The model also took two constructors' championship victories.
It had an unusual layout
The most notable thing about the 908/3 is its cab-forward stance. In fact, from the knee down, the driver's legs are ahead of the front wheels. That's not all. The differential is on the back of the gearbox, and the fuel tank, driver and battery are all on the right-hand-side of the car. This is so that it favours anti-clockwise circuits.
It was a specialist design
It's no coincidence that the 908/3 had victories at its Targa-Florio and Nürburgring debuts – it was designed specifically for those venues. In fact, Porsche calculated that the 908/3 could lap the Nordschleife almost as quickly as the 917 while being much more forgiving in the process.
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