Canepa Rebuilds 1,500 Horsepower 917 Engine

Endurance racing in the late ’60s was a show of force by the big automakers. When Porsche wanted to win at all costs, they turned to their brightest engineer: Hans Mezger. While a V8 or V10 would have been easier, he chose to combine two flat-6 engines into one of the world’s most complex race engines. Aside from Mr. Mezger, only a handful of Porsche technicians are capable of working on such a beast. Some of them happen to work at the same shop, so let’s watch the team at Canepa rebuild a 1,500 horsepower twin-turbocharged 917/30 engine. The Porsche 917/30 was found in storage and was then purchased by owner Rob Kauffman and had Canepa undertake a complete restoration which was completed in 2017. We saw it win Best of Show Concours de Sport the Amelia Island Concours this year, so take a trip back to when Canepa was restoring one of the most powerful race engines of all time.

P.S. Don’t try this at home

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