Last update: October 1, currently 21 models, 1 pit crew and 1 watch in this collection
John Wyer is a British team manager who formed his team JWA together with John Wilment. They had successes with their Ford GT40’s and Mirages that both won Le Mans. But JWA is most famous because of the Gulf liveried Porsche 917, which was the star in Steve McQueen’s movie “Le Mans”.
1969
1969 London Motorshow, Gulf Porsche 917. John Wyer bought the former Ford works cars with support from Gulf and won Le Mans in 1968 and 1969. Both years, he beat the factory Porsches. If you can beat them, join them, so Porsche announced a cooperation with John Wyer and Gulf for the 1970 season. This car was presented at the London Motorshow late 1969.
#1 London Motorshow
John Wyer Porsche 917L – 4.5 liter Porsche 912.00 V12 180º, approx. 550 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnr. #917-001
- SPARK S1898
1970
1970 Daytona 24h, Gulf Porsche 917K. The strong JWA Gulf Porsches 917 were the favourites of the 1970 world championship season. At Daytona the Rodriguez and Kinnunen Porsche 917 won with a great margin over its teammates and the first Ferrari.
#2 Pedro Rodriguez (
MEX) / Leo Kinnunen (FIN) – 1st
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.5 liter Porsche 912.00 V12 180º, approx. 580 hp. Aluminium space frame, chassisnr. #917-015
- left | SPARK Daytona 43DA70 (resin) The SPARK is a bit pale blue
- right | MINICHAMPS MC430 706702 (diecast) but MINICHAMPS made the specific Daytona window in the roof with a grey decal 🙁
1970 Monza 1000km, Porsche 917K. The Porsche 917K was a hit in 1970. After winning Daytona and Brands Hatch (Sebring was for Ferrari) the Porsches won Monza. At the home track of Ferrari, Porsche won and Ferrari came in 2nd, 3th and 4th. Rodriguez and Kinnunen winning again for Gulf John Wyer.
#7 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX) / Leo Kinnunen (FIN) – 1st
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.5 liter Porsche 912.00 V12 180º, approx. 580 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnr. #917-016
- BRUMM R219 (diecast)
1970 Le Mans 24h, Gulf Porsche 917K. The #20 Porsche 917K is the most famous of all. Despite retireing from the race because of an overrevved engine, it was the star in the movie “Le Mans” from Steve McQueen.
#20 Jo Siffert (CH
) / Brian Redman (GB) – DNF / engine
1970 Le Mans 24h, Gulf Porsche 917K.The #21 also retired, this one because the cooling fan broke, a problem that occurred more often at the air cooled Porsche engines.
#21 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX) / Leo Kinnunen (FIN) – DNF / cooling
1970 Le Mans 24h, Gulf Porsche 917K. The third JWA Porsche #22, had a big crash.
#22 David Hobbs (GB) / Mike Hailwood (GB) – DNF / crash
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.5 liter Porsche 912.00 V12 180º, approx. 580 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnrs. #917-017, #016 and #026
- #20 SPARK Steve McQueen Collection SMC01 limited 333 pcs (resin)
- #21 SPARK S1970 (resin)
- #22 SPARK S1971 (resin)
The movie “Le Mans” was produced by Steve McQueen and he played the main character ‘Michael Delaney’ racing the #20 Gulf Porsche. Making the film was a disaster. Steve who was a good driver himself, wasn’t allowed to actually race by the insurance company. Filming took much longer than planned and costs exceeded the budget. Accidents happened, in one of which David Piper lost part of his leg. A very nice book has been made about the production of the movie, “A French kiss with Death”. Now, many years later, the film has reached a cult status and is regarded one of the best racing movies ever made and my all time favorite.
- #20 “Michael Delaney” (USA) / “Johann Ritter” (D)
- Auto Art 87183 1:18 scale
- TAG Heuer Formula 1 Gulf Edition
1970 Spa-Francorchamps 1000km, Porsche 917K. The start of the 1970 Spa race is historic. The two teammates touch at high speed going into the famous Eau Rouge corner. No damage was done and Siffert continued to win the race together with teammate Redman. A similar situation between Ickx and Bellof years later would claim the life of Bellof.
#24 Jo Siffert (CH) / Brian Redman (GB) – 1st
#25 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX) / Leo Kinnunen (FIN) – DNF / gear box
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.5 liter Porsche 912.00 V12 180º, approx. 580 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnrs. #917-014 and #017
- BRUMM s98/22 limited 600 pcs 2model diorama (diecast)
1970 Watkins Glen 6h, Porsche 917K. The strong John Wyer Gulf Porsches 917 were the favourites of the 1970 world championship season. At Watkins Glen they won with a margin of over three laps in front of the first Ferrari. The internal Gulf battle was won by Rodriguez and Kinnunen in the #2 car.
#1 Jo Siffert (CH) / Brian Redman (GB) – 2nd
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.9 liter Porsche 912.10 V12 180º, approx. 600 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnr. #917-014.
- Auto Art 67072
- The model is advertised by Auto Art as a Daytona car, but misses the typical “Daytona window” in the roof. It looks like the version that raced at Watkins Glen including the additional rear wing.
1971
1971 Temporada Buenos Aires 1000km, Porsche 917K. The Temporada, Buenos Aires’ 1000km race was the first race of the 1971 championship. Battle went on between the Gulf Porsches and the 3-liter Alfa Romeo. Jo Siffert and Derek Bell started 3rd but managed to win the race in the #30. Jacky Oliver crashed the #32 car during practice and it was just in time ready for the race. They finished 2nd behind their team mates. The race was overshadowed by the fatal accident of Ignazio Giunti.
#30 Jo Siffert (CH) / Derek Bell (GB) – 1st
#32 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX) / Jackie Oliver (GB) – 2nd
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.5 liter Porsche 912.00 V12 180º, approx. 580 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnrs. #917-029 and #035
- BRUMM R568 (diecast)
- BRUMM R569 (diecast)
1971 Temporada Buenos Aires 1000km, Porsche 917K. Auto Usdau entered two cars for this race, their older 908 for team owner Hans-Dieter Weigel and this 917 that was just purchased from John Wyer. They changed the orange striping in a red one and added some sponsors. Drivers were Reinhold Joest – he used to write his name in those days as Jöst – and local hero Angel Montguzzi.
#48 Reinhold Jöst (
D) / Angel Montguzzi (RA) – DNF / engine
Auto Usdau Porsche 917K – 4.5 liter Porsche 912.00 V12 180º, approx. 570 hp. Aluminium space frame, chassisnr. #917-022
- BRUMM R573 (diecast)
1971 Daytona 24h, Porsche 917K. The John Wyer Gulf Porsches 917 were favourits to win the Daytona 24 hour race. And they did: Rodriguez and Oliver won ahead of 2 Ferrari’s. The Porsches used the new 4.9 liter engine for the first time here but this #1 car with Siffert and Bell suffered a broken engine early in the race. Daytona Porsches always had an additional window in the roof that allowed the drivers to look further ahead on the steep banking of Daytona.
#1 Jo Siffert (CH) / Derek Bell (GB) – DNF/ engine
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.9 liter Porsche 912.10 V12 180º, approx. 600 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnr. #917-035
- BRUMM R269 (diecast)
1971 Sebring 12h, Porsche 917K. Pedro Rodriguez hit a Ferrari early in the race. His mechanics fixed the car with lots of tape and when it went dark they even mounted a headlight on it. This way it finished 4th, the victory was for the Martini 917K.
#2 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX) / Jacky Oliver (GB) – 4th
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.9 liter Porsche 912.10 V12 180º, approx. 600 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnr. #917-009
- ALTAYA Les monstres sacres de l’endurance # unknown (diecast)
- TRUE SCALE MINIATURES TSM 10AC04 JWA Gulf pit crew (resin)
1971 Le Mans test, Porsche 917K “Schnorkel” . During the 24-hour race at Le Mans, the #18 Porsche was one of the longtail versions. But during the tests 2 months earlier, the German manufacturer was experimenting with high placed air-intakes. These periscopes or “schnorkels” were only used once in a race, but never at Le Mans.
#18 / #1 Jo Siffert (CH) / Derek Bell (GB) / Jackie Oliver (GB)
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.9 liter Porsche 912.10 V12 180º, approx. 600 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnr. #917-016
- SPARK S9985 (resin)
1971 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 917L. The longtail versions of the Porsche 917 were blistering quick, reaching over 240 mph (in 1971!). On the #17, the fans of the air cooled engines broke. The #18 had an oil pump failure, so they both retired with broken engines.
#17 Jo Siffert (CH) / Derek Bell (GB) – DNF / cooling fan
#18 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX) / Jackie Oliver (GB) – DNF / oil pump
John Wyer Porsche 917L – 4.9 liter Porsche 912.10 V12 180º, approx. 600 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnrs. #917-045 and #043
- MARSH handbuilt kit (metal)
- MINICHAMPS MC430 716718 (diecast)
1971 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 917K. It weren’t the fast longtail Porsche 917s that took victory, but two shorttailed “K” versions. The Martini car in front of last year’s winner Richard Attwood, this time in the Gulf car.
#19 Richard Attwood (GB) / Herbert Müller (CH) – 2nd
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.9 liter Porsche 912.10 V12 180º, approx. 600 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnr. #917-026
- MINICHAMPS MC430 716119 (diecast)
1971 Monza 1000km, Porsche 917K. The Gulf Porsches won five world championship races in 1971, three of which were double victories. The 3-liter Alfa’s had no chance at the fast track of Monza but finished in places 3, 4 and 5. The new fast Ferrari 312 qualified 2nd but Ickx crashed early in the race.
#2 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX) / Jackie Oliver (GB) – 1st
John Wyer Porsche 917K – 4.9 liter Porsche 912.10 V12 180º, approx. 600 hp. Aluminum space frame, chassisnr. #917-034
- BRUMM R221 (diecast)
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