Legalising race and track cars for the road is all the rage nowadays, with Lanzante Limited of McLaren F1 GTR Le Mans-winning fame in particular currently specialising in adapting everything from P1 GTRs to Porsche 935/19s and even Pagani Huayra Rs for their owners in the pursuit of ultimate open road driving pleasures. Over 50 years ago now, on 28th April 1975 however, it was Stuttgart that first broke new ground into this territory with a one-off Porsche 917 racer which departed Weissach’s development center without heading to the track, taking instead to public roads for the very first time.
It was audaciously commissioned by a certain, passionate private owner with a taste for adventure, fortunately met by the Porsche team’s commitment to fulfil its customers’ wishes as outlandish or otherworldly as they may seem. He was none other than Italian businessman Gregorio Rossi di Montelera, more colloquially known as “Count Rossi”, renowned Porsche enthusiast and heir to the Martini legacy whose iconic racing stripes have graced well known competition cars from rally Lancias to the 1971 Le Mans winning 917LH chassis 053 itself.
The road conversion’s subject was another 917, chassis 030 that had also previously raced with Martini colours at the 1971 Zeltweg 1000 km. Fittingly for a man of his stature, Count Rossi’s first exploratory drive wasn’t a gentle cruise around local roads either – instead he set out on an adventurous jaunt at speed bound for Paris a few hundred miles away, a feat that would end up inspiring many similar adventures in the coming decades from both himself and other individuals who shared his bold spirit.
Chassis 917-30 was enhanced for its new life with an array of changes, some being requested by Count Rossi while others were mandated by the era’s roadworthiness regulations for automobiles. It was painted in a classically elegant shade of Martini Silver, and featured additional rear view mirrors, side indicator lights and rudimentary exhaust mufflers to quieten its raucous, flame spitting flat-12 soundtrack just enough to be ‘polite’ on public streets. A spare tire required by the law was mounted beneath its rear clamshell – no small feat considering that most of the space there was originally dedicated to the engine and its iconic top-mounted cooling fan.
Interior concessions for comfort comprised the 917’s two seats being re-finished in Hermes tan leather, complimented with suede surfaces on the roof lining, doors and dashboard. The race version’s lightweight wood finished gear shifter was retained – a key tactile touchpoint that would also later reappear in the 980 Carrera GT supercar – along with its drilled key in the interest of lightness. The story goes that European authorities still refused to certify it for the street, and so Count Rossi did what only someone like him could: he obtained a set of Alabama registration plates for it, on an agreement with the US state’s government that the silver beast would never actually set a wheel on their roads. In the end that didn’t really matter as he intended to drive it mainly in Europe anyway, and now there was no stopping him.
Now U.K. registered and having been recently restored to prepare it for the next 50 years of life while preserving the original paintwork and interior, today 917-030 is still enthusiastically driven by its current owner around southern French open roads near its place of residence. What an incredible experience it would be to have it come blasting past you on the highway, with that flat-12 fully lit and howling away into the distance. To put it in a modern context, it would be like someone convincing Porsche to make a road-going evolution of their current 963 LMDh prototype racer and then using it for spirited morning drives, with coffee stops and grocery runs thrown in for good measure.
Sounds crazy? This scenario has turned out not to be that impossible after all, as the spirit and desire that led to the road legal 917’s creation all those decades ago still remains very much alive at Porsche. At the official tribute video’s conclusion, we even get glimpses of not only what looks like a hybrid system control dial, but also the teasingly silhouetted outline of a 963-styled hypercar, with an official unveiling tipped to take place in June around Le Mans season. A successor to the previous 918 Spyder flagship is now due, and a 963 Strassenversion really would be something rather special indeed.
