Few competition cars carry as much weight in the history of endurance racing as the Porsche 917K that crossed the line first at Le Mans in June 1970. This Norev 1:18 die-cast reproduces chassis 023, race number 23, in every detail that made it famous: the short-tail Kurzheck bodywork, the Porsche Salzburg white-and-red livery, and the number that announced a new era for Porsche at La Sarthe.
The 917K: Kurzheck and the Flat-Twelve
The 917K — 'K' standing for Kurzheck, or short-tail — was developed alongside the long-tail 917L as Porsche's answer to the five-litre prototype regulations introduced in 1968. The car's 4.9-litre air-cooled flat-12, a bored-out version of the standard 4.5-litre unit, produced approximately 580 bhp at 8,300 rpm. The short-tail configuration traded peak straight-line speed for greater stability through the faster corners of the Sarthe circuit, a trade-off that proved decisive across 24 hours of racing in 1970 and 1971.
Le Mans 1970: A First Win and a Final Bow
The 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans delivered Porsche its first overall victory as a constructor. Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood completed 343 laps — approximately 4,607 km — in the Porsche Salzburg No. 23 entry, finishing ahead of the Porsche Salzburg No. 3 917K of Gérard Larrousse and Willi Kauhsen. For Herrmann, a veteran of Le Mans since the 1950s, the victory was both a career pinnacle and a farewell: he retired from racing the same evening. Attwood himself was no stranger to Le Mans podiums, having finished second overall in 1968 sharing a Porsche 907. Porsche Salzburg GmbH, wholly owned by the Porsche and Piëch families, served as the de-facto works entry.
The Norev 1:18 Scale Model Car
Norev, the French die-cast manufacturer with a long-standing motorsport range, reproduces the No. 23 car in die-cast metal at 1:18 scale. The model replicates the Porsche Salzburg white bodywork with the red 'Salzburg' script lettering — one of the most reproduced and recognised liveries in scale modelling. Norev's placement of this 917K in their prestige motorsport range reflects the car's status: chassis 023 is not a replica but the actual race winner, preserved today at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.
In the Display Cabinet
The No. 23 917K pairs naturally with other landmarks of Porsche's Le Mans dynasty: the 917K No. 22 Martini Racing entry of Elford and van Lennep from 1971, or the Gulf-liveried No. 20 JW Automotive car associated with the Steve McQueen film. For collectors focused on the 1970 race, the Porsche Salzburg No. 3 sister car of Larrousse and Kauhsen provides an immediate pairing. Those building a broader Porsche endurance narrative will find natural companions in the 956 and 962C that carried on the tradition at La Sarthe through the 1980s.
