This year, Porsche is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary 917 race car. Exactly five decades ago, in Geneva, the German sports car maker introduced the first-ever example of the series, dubbed the 917-001. To mark the occasion, Porsche has a couple of surprises for its fans for 2019, the most interesting of which appears to be a modern 917 concept which will be displayed at the Porsche Museum later this year.

The company explains the red-and-white show car you see in the attached image at the top has been designed by “a small team of designers and engineers.” Unfortunately, Porsche makes it clear it will remain “purely a concept study.”

No other details are available at the moment (aside from the single image) and we expect the automaker to release more information closer to the concept’s appearance date at the Porsche Museum. The special exhibition will be held between May 14 and September 15 this year and will also include no less than ten 917 restored models with a combined power output of 7,795 horsepower.

“Our approach to the authentic handling of classic cars has changed considerably over the past ten years,” Achim Stejskal, Director of the Porsche Museum, explains, also pointing out the restoration process of the first produced 917 places great importance on “retaining original material and taking into account the relevant history of its exhibits.” Porsche says the project was challenging because of the multiple transformations this particular car had undergone through the years.

In 1970, just a year after its debut, the 917 won in Le Mans marking the greatest motorsport success the brand had ever achieved until that point. It was repeated again next year with Dr. Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep behind the wheel. With the modified 917/10 and 917/30 turbo versions, Porsche continued to dominate different championships around the world in the next few years.


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