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10/02/2026 11:31 am
This Porsche 917/30/KL Spyder may be the most powerful sports car ever made. With speeds approaching 239 mph, it crushed McLaren and the rest of the CanAm field for the 1972 and 1973 seasons winning 6 of 8 races. Its 5.4 liter twin turbo flat 12 could produce between 1100 and 1500+ HP. Porsche had reduced the turbo lag to make the car as potent on twisting curves as it was on the straights. With Mark Donahue behind the wheel, it's dominance could only be undone by the Americans regulating it out for the following year. This car, here in the classic blue and yellow Sunoco livery, was an absolute masterpiece from the Porsche Weissach Development Team. Three more chassis were ready for the 1974 that they were regulated out of and the CanAm series was terminated before its last race that many blamed on this car for making the races boring and predictable. The enine could be tuned for any event, The race engine was set at 1085 HP and the speed engine at 1212 HP. The latter was used to set a speed record at Talladega in 1975 that it held for 11 years. The few cars that were made seem to still exist with their worth in the millions, sales are a private exchange so little is known. This Mark Donahue car is in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. It was only a few weeks after the Talladega speed event that Mark Donahue died at a Formula 1 event in Austria. 3
This Exoto model is so incredibly detailed that I wish I possessed the knowledge to understand what the hell I'm looking at. LOL
10/02/2026 12:05 pm
I wish I possessed the knowledge to understand what the hell I'm looking at.
That makes two of us! Maybe Marlowe knows? 🤔 🤔 I mean, if anything was missing, how would you know? 🙄 🙄 Terrific pics & post Rich!
10/02/2026 12:50 pm
Boring not, predictable yes. I followed CanAm back in the day catching a few races live each year. This Porsche was incredible to watch and with CanAm, the pits were open to the public before and after races, incredible to see close up. My young son and his friend were lucky enough to get to sit in this one at Mosport in 1973. At least I got to speak to the drivers, including Mark Donahue. Great post Rich.
10/02/2026 1:51 pm
Many great photographs of this astoundingly cool and detailed Exoto replica ! It makes an amazing model.
10/02/2026 10:12 pm
I've got one of these models and the detail is indeed exceptional. My only beef with the model is that it sits too high. As with many highly detailed cars the model is either too light to put proper weight on the suspension springs or the model maker did not take into account that the cars set high for transport but were set lower for actual racing.
Here is my car before and after adjustment
10/02/2026 10:33 pm
@franklemire Fantastic Frank! Some will "mess" with lesser 1/18's but few "mess" with CMCs & Exotos.
I commend you for:
A) Having the guts!
B) Making it right!
😎 👍 😎 👍 😎 👍
David Green and Tony Perrone reacted
10/02/2026 11:15 pm
@chris I'm not that much of a hero. On cars like Exotos and CMCs I try to come up with fixes that can be undone. In this case I just used a little wire to compress the suspension at the four corners. The wire can be removed and the suspension will spring back - or at least it did the last time I reset the suspension about two years ago. My initial wiring was done in 2007
11/02/2026 2:00 pm
I saw this car, in the pits at the Monterey Vintage & Historic Races, in ca. 1994-95. Since I was dividing my attention between the races and the nearby Pebble Beach Concours, I didn't hang around for its race. Arguably, Porsche, with this car, was/were the nemesis of the Can-Am series.
David Green and Christopher Moroni reacted