1969 Porsche 917K Limited Edition Print

By the end of the 1960’s the World Sports Car Championship was so dominated by the 5.0 Litre V8’s of Ford’s GT40 (and the Lola T70), especially at endurance events such as LeMans, that just as they do today the FIA couldn’t resist tinkering with the rules and effectively banned them in favour of cars with smaller displacement engines. And from those ashes rose the legendary Porsche 917.

Designed by Ferdinand Piëch it first appeared in 1969 with a 4.5 Litre Flat-12 and was a slave to both power and light weight (in the days before carbon fibre the gear knob was even made of balsa wood). And it was absolutely lethal. With handling on the wrong side of appalling and insanely fast, many top names of the day simply refused to get into it. Uncontrollable wheelspin at over 200mph was a regular occurrence and drivers not only prayed that their cars would break down, but were openly relieved when they did.

Long story short, in 1970 the rear end of the cars was completely redesigned to create the 917K, and with vastly improved aerodynamics the car went from undriveable to unbeatable at almost every race it entered. So much so that the FIA stepped in yet again and banned it at the end of 1971.

Petroheaven is a carefully curated collection of strictly Limited Edition Fine Art Photographs of outstanding aircraft and automobiles from 1905 to 1970. Signed and numbered on the white border by photographer Jonathan Little they are individually made to order on heavyweight archival matt paper and should not be confused with mass produced items. Prints are supplied either rolled in a tube or in a high quality black presentation box, protected until you choose to frame them in a glass-clear polyester sleeve and wrapped in tissue paper. Along with a signed Certificate of Authenticity it all adds up to a wonderful gift – either for yourself, or for someone you love.

The paper size is 48cm x 33cm, with a print area in most cases of 40cm x 26cm.