Porsche 908

The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced for the 1968 World Sportscar Championship as a 3 liter flat-8-cylinder prototype coupé. Raced successfully by the factory teams also in 1969, 1970 and 1971 as open top spyder versions /02 and /03, the 908 helped to win the World Championships of these years, along with the Porsche 917. With higher mandatory minimum weight for 1972, the nimble underpowered 908/03 were retired by the factory. Sold off to privateers, some old chassis had a comeback in 1975 when fitted with flat-6 turbo engines. The model number 908 was still raced with some success in the early 1980s with Porsche 936 bodywork, an unprecedented career in three decades. The 1968 908 continued the 1964 904, 1966 906 and 1967 907 series of "plastic Porsche" models that had fiberglass bodywork rather than aluminium. Like in the 1950s, Porsche mainly competed for wins in the 2 liter classes, and for overall wins on twisty tracks like Targa Florio and Nürburgring. After large engine cars achieved very high speeds in the 1967 Le Mans 24h race, the FIA announced rule changes for Group 6 prototype-sports cars limiting engine displacement to 3,000 cc, same as in Formula One since 1966. Thus, the 908 was designed by Helmuth Bott (chassis) and Hans Mezger (engine) under the leadership of racing chief Ferdinand Piëch as the first Porsche sports car prototype to have an engine with the maximum size allowed; but that was not the case as it turned out. The previous Porsche 907 only had a 2,200 cc Type 771/1 flat-eight engine, derived from the 1962 1500cc F1 car, developing 270 PS (199 kW). The new 3-litre Type 908 flat-eight produced 350 PS (257 kW) at 8,400 rpm, later 370. Porsche still had ties with Volkswagen, thus...