Porsche 909

The Porsche 909 "Bergspyder" was a spyder sports car designed and built by Porsche in 1968 specifically for competing in hillclimbing competitions. It was a short lived model, but its basic design went on to become the successful 908/3.

History

Porsche had great success with earlier models, the 907, 908, and 910, they had won hillclimbing championships in 1966 and 1967, but in 1968 Ferrari announced that they had an all new lightweight car for competition. Ferdinand Piëch immediately set out to develop a new model designed specifically to outdo Ferrari's new car. This focus resulted in the 909, sometimes called the "plastic Porsche". It was given an a 2.0L, Convert|275|hp|kW|0|abbr=on, flat-8 engine, and a lightweight chassis and body that resulted in the car only weighing in at Auto kg|385|0.

Unfortunately, Porsche's drivers preferred the, then year old, 910 model more, though it was still used. On June 8, 1968 Ludovico Scarfiotti was killed when the 909 he was driving in Rossfeld, Germany, went out of control, flew off the road, and slammed into some trees. A stuck throttle was blamed. For the year though, between the 909 and the 910, Porsche dominated the hillclimbing competitions, and the previously announced Ferrari did not even compete, being plagued with technical issues.

References

* [http://www.imca-slotracing.com/Porsche908.htm International Model Car Association: Porsche 908]