Porsche 910

The Porsche 910 or Carrera 10 is a prototype race car built by Porsche in 1966 and 1967. It is preceded by the Porsche 906 and followed by the Porsche 907 and Porsche 908. The chassis is a steel space frame design covered by a lightweight fiberglass body. Unlike the 906, the 910 was not developed with the considerations necessary for public road use.

The 906 was the forerunner of a whole new generation of Porsche competition machines. The first of these was the 910. Introduced in late 1966, there were two versions; a Spyder, equipped with a 2.0 liter flat 8-cylinder engine, and the Coupe, powered by either a 2.0 liter 901/20 flat 6-cylinder or a 2.2 liter Typ 771 flat 8-cylinder.

The windshield was carried over from the 906, but the suspension was changed dramatically. Both the Spyder and the Coupe used a suspension design similar to the Formula One cars of the day, with 13 inch wheels at all four corners. The Spyder, built as a hill climb car, differed from the Coupe in other, minor ways like the use of a two-gallon fuel tank.

The body was changed in a number of ways from the 906. Due to the use of 13-inch wheels, the wheel arches could be smaller, allowing a better view out the windshield. The large rear plastic window of the 906 was abandoned, as were its gull wing doors. The 910 doors hinged forward, and the center roof section between could be removed to make it an open cockpit car. Like the 906, the rear body section hinged rearward to allow access to the drivetrain.

A total of 28 examples were built. Originally contesting the 2-liter prototype class, when FIA rules were changed allowing a minimum of 25 cars to be produced, the 910 was automatically qualified as a competition sports car.

With the 910, Porsche completely dominated the 2-liter class in 1967. Outgunned by the larger engined Ford GT40 and Ferrari Prototypes on the long tracks, 910s usually finished in the top five, while handily winning their class. Results in early 1967, like 4th at Daytona followed by 3rd at Sebring and Monza, and 2nd at Spa, were topped only by a pair of overall wins at the Targa Florio and again at the Nürburgring. The 910 also won every hill climb that counted towards the World Sportscar Championship.

With the rapid pace of the Porsche racing program in the late 1960s, factory development and competition use of the 910 was measured in months.

The win at the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres was accomplished by a fleet of six factory cars, entered in an attempt to score the first overall win at Porsche's home event. Two 910/8s, one driven by Stommelen and another driven by Siffert, failed to finish due to value damage. The remaining 910/8, with Mitter at the wheel, finished fourth behind the three 6-cylinder 910s. This impressive 1-2-3-4 victory gave Porsche its first outright win in a major World Sportscar Championship since the 1956 Targa Florio and the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1960.

At Le Mans a month later, a 907 LH finished 5th in front of a 910 and two 906s.

In hill climb competition, the short and light open-top 910/8 Bergspyder, with its 8-cylinder engine, won both the 1967 and 1968 European championships. At Course de Côte d'Ollon-Villars, which counted towards the World Sportscar Championship in 1967, the 910 achieved a 1-2 finish, with Gerhard Mitter and Rolf Stommelen beating Herbert Müller in a V12 Ferrari 412P Berlinetta.

While Porsche was looking to the future with their 907 and 908 race cars by the end on 1967, the 910 saw continued success in the hands of well known private racing teams well into the 1970s.