1:18 Porsche 917/20 – Kauhsen/Joest – 24h Le Mans 1971 – 1st Practice

Description

About the Car

Built as a sports race car prototype the Porsche 917 was developed by German manufacturer Porsche, giving Porsche its first overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971.  The 1971 car was featured in the film Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen.  The car was sold at auction in 2017 for $14 million.  The 917/20 was a heavily modified R&D car built for future Can-Am parts and aerodynamic low drag concepts.  The car won the test race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1971 and was painted in pink with the names of cuts of meat written on it in German like a butcher’s carcass diagram.  This car “The Pink Pig” qualified 7^th for the 1971 Le Mans 24 Hours, however, it did not finish the race due to an accident twelve hours in.

Willibert Kauhsen, born in 1939, is a former German race car driver.  He started his racing career in the 1960’s, regularly partaking in touring and sports car races from 1963-1974.  He and Reinhold Joest drove the 1971 Porsche 917/20 “Pink Pig” in the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Reinhold Joest, born in 1937, is a former German race car driver.  He started his career in 1962 in the Odenward Mountains. He never won at Le Mans but did end his driving career winning the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche 935 in 1980.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the oldest active endurance racing event, with the first race in 1923.  It is held annually near the town of Le Mans, France.  It is one leg of the Triple Crown of Motorsport with the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix as the other two legs.  The 39^th Grand Prix of Endurance was held on June 12-13, 1971; the ninth round of the 1971 International Championship for Makes.

About the Brand

Porsche, specializing in high-performance sport cars, SUVs, and sedans, is a German automobile manufacturer headquartered in Stuttgart.  The company is owned by Volkswagen AG.  The company was founded by Ferdinand Porsche along with Adolf Rosenberger and Anton Piech in 1931.  They started out being a vehicle development and consulting company. One of its first assignments was from the German government to design the Volkswagen Beetle, a car for the people.  Using many of the components from the Beetle, the Porsche 64 was developed in 1939.  The Porsche logo is fashioned after the coat of arms of the Free People’s State of Wurttemberg Germany of 1918-1933.

About the Manufacturer

Minichamps was founded in 1990 as a die-cast car producer in Aachen, Germany under the name of Paul’s Model Art GmbH.   The original company was the Danhausen, a trade company that made 1:43 scale models and sold them over the counter and mail order.  From 1971 to 1993 the company published the famous Danhausen World Model Car Book.  Danhausen was owned by the grandsons of Emma Danhausen – Hans Peter and Paul Gunter Lang.  There was a dispute between the brothers in the late 1980’s.  That is when Paul formed the Paul’s Model Art.  Diecast models were made more for the adult clientele and holding their value was a big question that needed to be answered.  Minichamps’ excellent quality has been noticed by Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Opel, and BMW.