Mountain Spyder print

The late 1960's and early '70's World sportscar championship (or "World championship of makes" as it was officially named) saw some legendary cars competing, with the two heavyweight contenders being Ferrari and Porsche. Ferrari had the 330P series, and then the fearsome 512 series. Porsche had the 908, then the 917. The 908 being superseded by the 917 - still in development. It may not have been known at the time, but the 908 chassis still had a lot to give. Firstly the 908-2 variant had the roof removed to turn it into a 'spyder', and run successfully by a number of teams. Whilst the 917 was beginning to prove itself as a race winner, it was also known as a widow-maker due to its unpredictable handling. Therefore Porsche built the ultra lightweight 908-3, with just two races in mind - the Nürburgring 1000km, and the Targa Florio held around the mountainous public roads of Sicily. Although giving away power and straight line speed to the 917, the nimbler 908-3 would prove to be a better option on the twists and turns of these tight circuits. Pedro Rodriguez is shown behind the wheel, speeding to 2nd place in the Targa Florio. One of the sister cars, piloted by Jo Siffert and Brian Redman would take a narrow victory, but Rodriguez's team-mate Leo Kinnunen would cement his place in history as recording the fastest ever lap around the 72km lap, at 33m 36sec as after 1973 the race was abandoned as part of the world championship.