1:18 Porsche 917/20 – ‘Pink Pig’ – Kauhsen/Joest – 24H Le Mans 1971

Description

This particular car is an extremely rare, one-off experimental research and development car. It was manufactured as an intermediate car, combining the low drag of the 917/LH and the stability of the 917/K. It also served as a test-bed for future Can-Am parts and aerodynamic low-drag concepts.

It was only ever raced once, in 1971 at Le Mans. The Martini International team entered it, and it was driven by Reinhold Joest and Willi Kauhsen, two German drivers.

The variant itself was known as the ‘Pink Pig’ due to its broad proportions, and it sported a striking pink livery accompanied by stripy red lines, or ‘meat cuts,’ which ran all over the bodywork. With its extremely wide body and rounded wheel cut-outs, the comparisons with pigs really started to take hold. The track width remained unchanged, the nose was equally low and flat, and so Porsche designer Anatole Lapine decided on the pink colour. He even went as far as naming the body parts after the parts of a pig, in place of mechanical terms.

Regardless of the 917/20 qualifying seventh and reached as high as third during the race, it was forced to retire from Le Mans after a brake failure caused an accident.

The car still exists to this day, and after extensive restoration, it can be viewed at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.