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Chassis:
Chassis 917.031 started life as a spare for John Wyer's Gulf team. It was duly used to replace a damaged chassis 917.026, which had been crashed at Le Mans, and was re-stamped 917.026. This was common practice to prevent additional custom charges. The damaged chassis was repaired by Porsche and given the 917.031 identity. At the end of 1971 it was used to constructed a 917 Spyder for the popular Interserie, which was Europe's equivalent of Can-Am.
As 917.031, the 917 Spyder was sold to German Ernst Kraus, to replace the Porsche 908 he had used in 1971. His best result that year was third in the Imola round, followed by fourth at Silverstone. The season came to a premature end when Kraus crashed his 917 at Hockenheim. For 1973 the car was replaced by a turbo-charged 917. The naturally aspirated 917 Spyder re-appeared in the hands of Jurgen Barth, who placed it fifth against strong competition at the Norisring and at Hockenheim.
After its contemporary career, the 917 Interserie Spyder was acquired by the Chandon family in France. They retained the car until 1987 when it was sold to American Porsche collector Michael Amalfitano. In 2006 he showed the car at The Palm Beach International where it is pictured above. Since then the car has been carefully restored by Gunnar Racing. In August 2010 Bonhams will offer the car, along with the late Amalfitano's other fabulous Porsches, in their annual auction at The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering.
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