Porsche 909
Encyclopedia
Roadster
A roadster is a two-seat open car with emphasis on sporty handling and without a fixed roof or side weather protection. Strictly speaking a roadster with wind-up windows is a convertible but as true roadsters are no longer made the distinction is now irrelevant...
sports car
Sports car
A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....
designed and built by Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
in 1968 specifically for competing in hillclimbing
Hillclimbing
Hillclimbing is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course....
competitions. It was a short lived model, but its basic design went on to become the successful 908/3
Porsche 908
The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906/Porsche 910/Porsche 907 series of models designed under Ferdinand Piech....
.
History
Porsche had great success with earlier models, the 910Porsche 910
The Porsche 910 or Carrera 10 was a race car from Porsche, based upon the Porsche 906. 15 were produced and entered in 1966 and 1967. The factory name for the 910 was the 906/10. The 910 was considered the next sequence in the 906 line...
, 907
Porsche 907
The Porsche 907 was a sportscar racing prototype built by Porsche in 1967 and 1968.- 1967 :The 907 was introduced at the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans...
, and 908
Porsche 908
The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906/Porsche 910/Porsche 907 series of models designed under Ferdinand Piech....
, they had won hillclimbing championships in 1966 and 1967, but in 1968 Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
announced that they had an all new lightweight car for competition. Ferdinand Piëch
Ferdinand Piëch
Ferdinand Karl Piëch is an Austrian business magnate, engineer and executive who is currently the chairman of the supervisory board of Volkswagen Group....
immediately set out to develop a new model designed specifically to outdo Ferrari's new car. This focus resulted in the 909, sometimes called the "plastic Porsche". It was given a 2.0L, 275 hp, flat-8 engine, and a lightweight chassis and body that resulted in the car only weighing in at 385 kg (849 lb).
Unfortunately Porsche's drivers preferred the 910, which was a year older but still in use. On June 8, 1968 Ludovico Scarfiotti
Ludovico Scarfiotti
Ludovico Scarfiotti was a Formula One and sports car driver from Italy. Just prior to entering Formula One, he won the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ferrari. He later participated in 12 World Championship Formula One grands prix, and many non-championship races. He won one World Championship...
was killed when the 909 he was driving in Rossfeld, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, went out of control, flew off the road, and slammed into some trees. A stuck throttle was blamed. For the year though, between the 910 and the 909, Porsche dominated the hillclimbing competitions, and the previously announced Ferrari did not even compete, being plagued with technical issues.