917K :: Behance

I've had this project in mind for a while.

It became ingrained in me by repeatedly watching the film "LeMans" with my Father as I grew up. The iconic 917 wrapped in its infamous blue and orange Gulf livery for me has always been a HUGE landmark - a key milestone and unrivalled convergence in terms of Motorsport, Technology, Design and Branding.

I've dabbled with applying Gulf colours to many sketches and ideas over the years - but have repeatedly shied away from tackling "The Daddy" head on - until now.

The project itself has gone through a slow gestation over the past 9 months - full of many restarts and dead ends. It's taken me a long time to find a design direction which I felt could attempt to do justice to the original source material.

In the end, paring things back to a really clean and simple amorphous cockpit volume was key - with very linear applied surface graphics to punctuate the form and add dynamism.

Atypically, with this project I was applying and reworking the livery on the bodyform from day one - tweaking surfaces and proportions to try and ensure everything hung together cohesively . . . with "regular" projects the livery is often only considered once the form and functionality aspects are resolved.

It's not perfect yet - and I could easily devote a sizable chunk of time to reworking and refining it . . there's never a right or definitive design solution when trying to pay homage to a Classic - such an iconic, emotive and established benchmark will inevitably inspire a billion different and equally valid interpretations.

But - for what its worth . . . this is my Gulf Porsche 917 - reimagined.

. . . Introducing . . .

Side view silhouette is meant to echo the key lines and proportions of the original. Details such as the slats over the front wheels have been simplified and stylised, but are still present. Windscreen and side windows have been combined to form a simpler wrap-around visor graphic.

Getting the nose to feel right took the longest. I wanted it to feel very modern and decluttered - and as flat to the tyre tops as possible to minimise frontal area - but without losing the character of the original 917, which had quite pronounced, curvaceous arches. . I think this just about gets away with it - although I reckon theres a whole load more exploring still to be had!

I'm really enjoying learing how to render in vRED - although much of what I'm achieving is still a series of happy accidents - if I'm being honest. This reverse angle shot works nicely because of the light on the far-side being reflected in the glass and bodywork. The nearside bodywork aero recess disappearing into darkness also helps accentuate the form - and shows off bodyside light I'd positioned above the racing numbers - as per the original 917k.

. . . . . . view of the car as seen from the winners podium?

Gratuitous fan shot. Yeah - the original 917K "only" had one fan . . so I figured any worthy sucessor would have to go at least one better . . . I was originally wanting to do this thing as a purely electric concept - but that would have implied ditching the Gulf Oil livery, which I wasn't prepared to do. Who knows . . maybe Gulf are about to get heavily into Electric Vehicle Technologies? Fingers crossed - it'd be nice to keep seeing Blue and Orange racing wedges on the race tracks of the future, rather than being destined to become nostalgic museum pieces . . .

For me, the rear wheel spat works OK - and helps keep the bodyside clean and sleek. The wheel-cover splitline echoes the original arch-line of the 917 - so hopefully I'm not too far wide of the mark to offend the purists too much . . . .

When you're inventing your own future racecar, you also get to invent the Team. For those of you who maybe don't know, Michael Delaney was the lead character played by Steve McQueen in the film 'LeMans' - who drove 917's for a living. The second Michael really needs no introduction whatsoever - my thoughts and best wishes remain with him and his family. https://www.keepfighting.ms/

I've always been a sucker for tracking down a good set of reference elevations whenever I'm developing a new concept - it's always useful to be able to compare sizes and proportions versus existing proven vehicles. If anyone fancies having a go modelling their own Endurance Racer, feel free to use these views and dimensions as a startpoint. Cheers!. M

Yeah . . some development "out-takes" and also-rans I've been wrestling with over the past few months.

Far left: For reference, these are essentially the original 917K volumes I'd estimated from blueprint elevations - it's often useful to model the existing vehicle to understand the basics before you start stretching your legs. - I kept benchmarking these reference volumes throughout the project.

2nd Left: Initial purely angular / faceted concept - stripping the design back to its fundamental volumes. This was interesting, but felt too much like a cartoon / videogame caricature.

3rd left: 80's style bubble canopy wedgie box. This was headed much more towards 956/962 territory - so a dead end for this project. Mind you, it could spawn something else entirely!

4th: This was where I stated to find an acceptable front end "face" - with light shape and overall graphics that felt about right. This cockpit and bodyside treatment still felt a bit too boxy and retro - too literal . . .so back to the drawing-board.

5th: The breakthrough sketchmodel with an altogether more amorphous, flowing canopy integration. All a bit overblown in terms of surface graphics - and a bit too McLaren - but the project definitely gained traction at this point..

6th: Less is more. Starting to strip things back in terms of surface graphics and splits - getting back towards the simplicity of the original 917k.Those headlights were still far too McLaren though . . .

7th: Ta-Daah! The "finished" article. Much the same volumes as 6, but different surface graphics to reinstate the lights I liked from #4. This'll do for now - but I'm sure at some point my 'Jamais Content' spirit will force me to develop a few more iterations! ;-)