A works car, chassis 008 was entered at Le Mans in 1969 for Vic Elford and Richard Attwood. The British pairing led for 18 hours and by six laps in 917-008 until clutch issues signalled the beginning of the end for the final surviving 917 in the race.
Later that year, it was part of the famous test at Zeltweg that helped fix the aerodynamic issues and as a result 008 became the first 917 K. It continued to be tested extensively and was also raced at the Nürburgring early in 1970. Not raced again, the car then served as a spare for the JWA Gulf team through to 1971. It was then dismantled and not much later sold to Manfred Freisinger. The car was rebuilt and sold on to Swiss collector Claude Haldi.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was restored once more by Freisinger for its new longtime owner Gerard-Dantin Martin. He kept the car hidden in his collection for over 25 years to avoid having to pay capital gains tax. Since 2018, the car is in the hands of a Monégasque private collection. Wearing Gulf colours but the #12 used by Elford and Attwood in 1969, it was reunited with Attwood at the 2018 Le Mans Classic. The car finally returned to racing at the 2018 Imola Classic.
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Report by Wouter Melissen for ultimatecarpage.com
Photos by rs65photos.com
