Porsche test driver and sportscar racer Willi Kauhsen campaigned this striking yellow Bosch sponsored 917/10K in the 1973 Interserie championship. The Interserie was the European equivalent of the North American Can-Am series, in that it ran to Group 7 rules which was as close to an unlimited racing series as has ever been seen in the history of motorsport. Initially the only rules concerned the layout of the car, in that it had to have two seats, be an open design (not a closed coupe), have all the wheels covered by the bodywork and gas turbine engines were prohibited. In 1970 moving aerodynamic aids and surfaces were banned, as were cars with suction devices to remove air from under the car in order to increase downforce. What remained unlimited was the size and design of the engine, turbocharging and/or supercharging was allowed and there was no minimum weight requirement to be met. Large fixed aerodynamic wings were also legal.
The Interserie began in 1970 and until the 1976 season placed few limitations on what cars were allowed compete. In 1973 the Porsche 917/10K (developed in 1971-72 by Porsche in conjunction with Roger Penske and Mark Donohue for Can-Am racing) was definitely the car to beat, winning all seven rounds of the series. Overall champion was Finnish driver Leo Kinnunen with four wins out of seven in the series. British driver Vic Elford won one race that year while runner up in the championship was Willi Kauhsen with two wins. Kauhsen was Kinnunens main rival in 1973 and usually finished in second place close behind the Finn. He used this Bosch sponsored 917/10K to win the first race of the season, the Nurburgring 300km. Kauhsen started the race from pole position (with a qualifying time of 7 mins 31.5 seconds) and also set the fastest lap of the race which actually beat his qualifying time at 7 mins 31.4 seconds. The race was split into two heats of 7 laps each, both of which were won by Kauhsen with Kinnunen in second place.
Willi Kauhsen was very much involved in the development of the turbocharged engine in this car, doing much of the initial test driving of the car in the later half of 1971. He found the first prototype turbo cars extremely difficult to drive thanks to the all or nothing nature of their power delivery coupled with tremendous turbo lag. The turbocharged 5 litre flat 12 would not be sorted out into a working race car engine until later in 1972 when thanks to the efforts of driver/engineer Mark Donohue and Porsche Can-Am project manager Helmut Flegl, major breakthroughs in the management and tuning of turbocharged engines in conjunction with Bosch resulted in an engine that was both powerful and drivable. For more information on the development of the 917/10K click on this link to the 1972 Can-Am version of the car driven by George Follmer.
Kauhsen also raced the classic coupe versions of the 917, notably at Le Mans where he finished in 2nd place overall in 1970 driving a 917L co-driven by Gérard Larrousse. He co-drove the infamous 917/20 "Pink Pig" with Reinhold Joest at Le Mans in 1971, but unfortunately Joest crashed the car while in 5th place thanks to brake failure.
Minichamps released this version of the 917/10K in 2004. It is a nicely made model with a better than average level of detailing. The 5.0 litre turbocharged flat 12 engine can be seen by lifting up the rear bodywork as on the real thing and both doors also open. Unfortunately at the time of writing this review (late August 2006) all my models are in storage pending a house move so I'm not able to add a proper ratings scale to this write up. Rest assured however that once my models are out of storage (hopefully within the next 2-3 months anyway!) I'll properly examine this model to give it an accurate overall rating. Interestingly, Minichamps plan to release Leo Kinnunens 1973 Interserie championship winning 917/10K which will make for a nice model to display alongside this one driven by his main rival.
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