This Porsche 917 Has Become The Ultimate Happy Hour Car!

28 June 2018 Redazione News, Racing Cars, Supercars Lounge

CLAUDIO RODDARO REGISTERED A PORSCHE 917 FOR ROAD USE, THE BEAST WHO GIVES PORSCHE THE FIRST WIN AT LE MANS.

Words by Carlo Brema

Imagine being blissfully at the wheel of your supercar and driving a few inches from the celestial sea that kisses the French Riviera, maybe just around the Principality of Monaco, where extraordinary cars live in abundance. For the occasion, however, you have pulled out of the garage your tough boy, a limited edition that attracts the glances of passersby and other drivers, but at some point something goes wrong. And I do not mean to say that the unexpected failure has come, but you suddenly feel incredibly diminished and everyone turn their backs, attracted by a deafening noise, a noise not even comparable to that of a racing car. Here is a Porsche 917. Yes, you read that correctly, a Porsche 917 which is also regularly registered for road use. It is reasonable to think, stunned by that absurd shape which comes accompanied by an authentic acoustic apocalypse, that something like this cannot be true, but even after insisting with pinches your skin, you realize that you are not in front of a mirage. Claudio Roddaro has just passed by.

This gentleman driver had an exceptional intuition and took advantage of a precedent created several years ago, to make sure that he could have a drink with his wife, parking one of the most legendary and iconic cars of all time. It is already a rare event to see a replica of this model, but an original one is a proper chimera; needless to say that this is the only license plated in existence in Europe. The 917 is not only a symbol of speed, but it was also the first Porsche to win the toughest race of them all, the 24 hours of Le Mans. All this goes to make the bond that a fortunate enthusiast like Mr. Roddaro can nurture towards his own 917 even more special; what made possible the registration of a similar car is the fact that in history there had been a precedent and for this we must take a trip back, up to the 70s – 1974 to be precise – when Count Gregorio Rossi Montelera bought his own 917. If this name is not new to you, it is precisely due to the fact that Count Rossi was one of the main figures of Martini, historic brand that shares an illustrious history with Porsche, protracted from motorsport to road cars, until today where you can order your brand new 911 with official Martini livery.

Count Rossi who by means of a handful of minor interventions to the mechanics of his 917 – such as the use of a couple of mufflers – submitted the matriculation request to the state of Alabama, which without even thinking so much, made the thing possible. It’s been a few decades and we are on the opposite side of the globe, but this single case has made sure that Claudio Roddaro tried to repeat Count Rossi’s adventure and so, after buying his 917 in 2016, his crusade for the registration has started. Obviously, the strictest contemporary regulations have meant that the trail was much more difficult, but after two years, Roddaro came home with a Monaco number plate ready to be applied to the violent tail of the Porsche 917, which not surprisingly wears a Martini livery.

Beyond the historical value of this monster on four wheels, and despite being almost half a century ago, the 917 is a lethal weapon capable of giving incredibly strong emotions. Fortunately, Claudio is perfectly capable of handling the animalistic power of the 4.9 naturally aspirated 12-cylinder, which here delivers something like 600 horsepower. And if math is not an opinion and taking into account that the entire car weighs no more than 600kg, you get a crazy power/weight ratio of 1000hp per tonne – something to say the least incredible. No electronic devices, no devilry, just a sort of switch between the deep anxiety that pervades your body just feeling the engine idling and that vortex of emotions that are unleashed by putting down your right foot on the throttle. He is the king of the jungle, a sort of a new millennium Mr. Cool, a title deserved only for being able to accomplish something out of this world with such an eternal car. Who would not want a friend like him !?