David v Goliath, Porsche 914 & 917 at Le Mans in 1970

Rick Barnett - Chairman for The Concours at Pasadera

Contact: Rick Barnett at rick@montereymotorsports.com | 8317470112 | Visit Online!

          

[00:00:00] We always have a blast chatting with our guests about all sorts of different topics, but sometimes we go off the rails and dig deeper into their automotive and motorsports pasts. As a bonus, let’s go behind the scenes with this pit stop mini sode for some extra content that didn’t quite fit in the main episode.

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So I’ve got a, I’ve got a 914 two liter. I’ve got a Bentley Arnage. I’ve got, you know, I’ve got a variety of cars. MGB GT. Those were all cars that were important to me as I was 16 years old and thinking someday I’m going to end up with a cool car. From that point forward, I started collecting the cars that I really like to drive.

And so, uh, those are the cars that I have in my collection. You can’t see over my shoulder. There you go. There’s a cool nine 14 wide body. That’s been in the family since 86. Is that an authentic GT? No, that was a 1. 8 SC out of [00:01:00] Florida with air condition and much of the stuff. It’s in the nine 14 registry, but it’s a full on wide body car is a former pro solo nationally recognized winning car belong to my dad.

He passed away. It was in storage. I have it, it had a six in it at several sixes in it at one point, and now I’m converting it back to a four cylinder. I’m going to put it that way. The car is still in the family. It’s at the point of it can’t be turned back original. So I’m tastefully restomodding it is what I’m, what I’m saying.

So that’s one of many in our collection. It’s been around forever, but yeah, it’s sitting in my garage right now waiting for me. So we’re, we’re kindred spirits in 914. How about that? Yeah, no, I I’m like a big, big fan of the 914. I think what’s what a lot of people don’t know. And as long as we’re talking about the 914, there really is a David and Goliath story that goes back to Lamar in 1970.

So here we are, if we can close our eyes for a moment and remember the first time we saw the Steve McQueen [00:02:00] movie and what an impact that movie had on us. In 1970, the 917 comes in and absolutely is a behemoth. On the racetrack dethroning Ferrari’s 512, which, you know, if you remember the history of it, Enzo was absolutely committed to make sure that Porsche did not win the 1970 race and he pulled out all the stops on the 512 s and brought in a great racing team.

Sam Posey was racing 512. It was just unbelievable. The 512 was like this major monster and Porsche comes in with a 917 with very little, what should I say that, you know, they didn’t have an awful lot of time to build this car. They come in with a 917. And so, as we know, based on the movie Le Mans by Steve McQueen, the 917 and the 512 battle out to the very brutal end.

But what most people don’t know is that. In that same race, the 24 hours, the most grueling automobile race [00:03:00] ever in the history of automobiles, I believe, in 1970, the Porsche 914 6 finished sixth overall, ahead of the 908s, ahead of the Ferrari 312s, ahead of the 911 S’s, the 914 6 GT finished sixth overall, so it was amazing That the car finished the race at all 24 hours, that’s a group.

I mean, there were a number of cars. If you go down the list, a number of cars and a number of manufacturers that couldn’t finish the race, but the nine 14 six finished sixth overall, absolutely unbelievable. So a real David and Goliath story. So yeah, I’m a, I’m a huge nine 14 fan. And I believe they repeated that with a triple podium at the Nurburgring 24 in that same year.

Maybe then it was the next year, 71. Oh, I don’t know that. Yeah. Yeah. The poster’s on my wall. Uh, 22nd of August, 1970. It looks like they took the top three spots in class with 914 sixes. So there you [00:04:00] go. Yeah. I have to read it in German. It’s halfway across the room. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah, 914 is an underappreciated, ugly duckling, call it whatever you want, but it’s actually a great car and it’s always been the big battle between the 911 right?

They had to, I hate to say, neuter that car, handicap it, to keep it from beating the 911, because as a platform, it’s a… Better handling vehicle, but you know, you got the flagship, you got the 911 and the same is true today, right? They introduced the Boxster as the, let’s say the heritage 550, the evolution, and then the Cayman, it’s not too far off.

They’re basically 914s, right? I mean, come on, you put the right guts in the Cayman and it is going to give the 911 a real run. That’s right. But they’re always, they always want to keep it just slightly shy of the 911, right? That’s why there’ll never be a Cayman Turbo, not from the factory. You know what I mean?

No, that’s for sure. So we talked earlier about your posters and you [00:05:00] mentioned the war, the rivalry between manufacturers and drivers and the spirit of competition and all that that’s exemplified in those posters. I want to ask you this pit stop question, which we’ve asked many guests, but I’m going to frame it appropriate to our discussion.

There is one rivalry outside of the many driver rivalries that we know, you know, Hunt versus Lauda, Senna versus Prost, things like that. There’s another one that’s in the modern times, and it’s probably one of the most epic rivalries still between Porsche and Ferrari. Let’s say you’re deciding on the next year’s theme for the concourse, and it comes between choosing between exhibiting in center court.

The Porsche 959 or the Ferrari F40, which do you choose?

Well, yeah, it’s going to be, that’ll be a challenge because next year’s center court is Corvette and it will be, you know, erasing Corvettes that have an incredible pedigree in history. And of course the history of Corvettes, again, dating back to C1’s [00:06:00] all the way through the 2022 Z06. It’s hard for me to put myself into that.

Thought process for next year. However, when we think about the rivalry between Porsche and Ferrari, I will tell you that the history of automobile racing between those two marks is such that they are for me, a bloodbath. Rivalry, there’s no love lost between the two. There is anger and focus between those two marks.

As soon as you see those cars get on the track, whether it’s the driver or whether it’s the manufacturer, whether it’s the supplier, the vendor of the parts that are in the car, the teams that support it, pit crew, there is an anger that exists between those two manufacturers. And when you think about that intensity.

showing up within the same proximity of each other. I don’t know. I [00:07:00] don’t know. I don’t know how, I don’t know how you point to one or the other. It is just such an amazing competition, a war between two, you know, it’s, it’s core. I mean, if you were an Oregon football player, it’d be like the difference between the ducks and the beavers, you know, it’s just like, they’re just going to come after it.

So if you had to pick up the keys. off the table and drive one home. Which would you choose? Well, you know, I, gosh, I, if I could only have one car and it was mine personally, I think probably tipping my hat to this year’s mark, it would probably be the Ferrari. You are in good company with that answer. Let me tell you.

Porsche is not winning this battle in the long run. Well, and I don’t have a Ferrari. I mean, I’ve got a 914 down in my garage, which I absolutely love. And I just sold my 2012 Spider back to the dealer. They wanted it so bad, but I’ve got to tell you that, that I think [00:08:00] tipping my hat to this year’s market would have to be Ferrari.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and, you know, the, the arguments we get are fantastic. A lot of people will agree. The nine 59 was technologically more advanced. It was the super car of, of, of super cars at that time. But there’s something about the F 40 that everybody just gravitates towards. It’s amazing.

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