1971 Porsche 917K Coupe

In 1971, Porsche built three 917s with their chassis tubes made from magnesium rather than aluminum. This continued Porsche's pursuit of minimizing weight through the use of exotic materials in their prototype-style racing cars. Chassis 051 and 052 were scrapped after testing. Chassis 053 was the third magnesium chassis car and was entered in Martini colors at the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans. The drivers were Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep, who were famously not told about the composition of the chassis until after the race.

This 917K short-tail with starting number 22 crossed the finish line as the winner of the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1971. It averaged 222.3 km/h and covered a distance of 5,335.16 kilometers and set two records that would remain intact for 39 years. Flying the Martini Racing colors, their Porsche featured new 'shark fins' at the rear, seen for the first time at pre-race tests in April of that year. These gave the 600 horsepower race car more directional stability and reduced drag. In true Porsche style, it won the 'Index of Performance', an award for the most economical ratio of fuel consumption to displacement.

This 917 is so light that the engineers fit a 55-liter oil tank and only then did reach the 800 kilogram minimum weight. The car's race career was brief and meteoric. Completed on June 5, it ran 552 practice kilometers at Le Mans. Victory marked the end of its race life. This car is powered by a 4907 cc 12-cylinder engine developing 600 horsepower.

Chassis 053 was retained in Porsche's Museum collection, and prior to its appearance at Pebble Beach in 2021, it has only traveled to the United States twice in the past 50 years.