Porsche 910 – Building a Racing Empire Part II

By the time the mid-1960s arrived, Ferdinand Piëch had got his hooks well and truly into Porsche’s motorsport programme. With the 904, introduced in 1964, Porsche showed that it could mix it with the top runners even if overall victories were out of reach. With its successor, the 906, the first prototype of this model followed on 28 November 1965, and even though it was the first Porsche race car to be fitted with the new Type 901 six-cylinder engine, it was still considered to be a hybrid as it ran on 904 wheels and suspension.

1967 Porsche Type 910/6 Coupé. Corporate Archives Porsche AG

In 1966, the 906 showed Porsche and the rest of the international racing scene that the future really looked bright, when Herbert Linge and Hans Herrmann drove chassis #906 017 to a fine overall sixth place at the Daytona 24 Hours in 1966, winning the Prototype 2-litre class in the process. The next step up for Porsche was a seemingly small one, with the introduction of the 910, the first example of which was ready on 2 July 1966. Although most 910s were powered by the same six-cylinder engine that was fitted to the 906, it was the fitment of the smaller diameter Formula One-style wheels that set it apart from previous Porsche racers.