The Porsche factory shipped over one for Amelia Island not too long ago. It's subtle.
The Porsche 914/6 may have offered a much-welcomed bump in power over the already stellar 914/4, but what it would have been like to pilot a 914 powered by an eight-cylinder engine?
Well, Porsche apparently wanted to know as well, so it made two prototypes in the late ‘60s.
Dubbed as 914/8s, both prototypes were powered by the flat-eight engine out of the 908. The head of Porsche’s racing department, Ferdiand Piëch, pushed the development of the first prototype, which was reported to be good for 350 horsepower.
The second prototype was registered for road use and featured a detuned 908 flat-eight engine that is said to have been rated at 300 horsepower. The car would actually go on to be a 60th birthday gift for Ferry Porsche, though now lives in the Porsche Museum.
Would a production 914/8 have dominated both the streets and the race track, or would a flat-eight have been too much engine for the car?
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The Porsche factory shipped over one for Amelia Island not too long ago. It's subtle.
I'd think a 1hp:7lb power to weight ratio would be all the fun you could reasonably use. Wish they'd made a limited production run, although that engine was probably pretty expensive to maintain...
" Would a production 914/8 have dominated both the streets and the race track, or would a flat-eight have been too much engine for the car?"
There's no such thing as too much engine. There's just not enough tire.
APEowner said:" Would a production 914/8 have dominated both the streets and the race track, or would a flat-eight have been too much engine for the car?"
There's no such thing as too much engine. There's just not enough tire.
I'll take option C, all of the above.
Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911?
David S. Wallens said:Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911?
If you slap a bigger price tag on it, sure.
ProDarwin said:David S. Wallens said:Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911?
If you slap a bigger price tag on it, sure.
I'f you've got a 914/8, why can't you have a 911/8?
I wonder how much extra weight that slung over the rear axle? I'm imagining some awesome 914 drift action here.
David S. Wallens said:Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911?
What about outrunning Ferraris?
That said, I would hate to have to replace the spark plugs on one of those.
Also, let me be the first to make this very clear:
If you give me a 914/8 for my 60th birthday, I will be forever grateful.
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