Scheckter's Can-Am Porsche for sale

The late Vasek Polak’s Porsche 917/10 turbocar, which 23-year-old Jody Scheckter raced in the 1973 Can-Am Championship and famously described as “like riding a bicycle with an afterburner on the back,” is a star of Brooks USA’s inaugural sale at Quail Lodge, California, on August 15.

Future World Champion Scheckter, combining Can-Am with his fledgling Formula One career and an F5000 programme in the USA, piloted the 900bhp tubeframe machine to sixth place in the series, his best results in chassis 018 being second to runaway champion Mark Donohue in Roger Penske’s more efficient and more powerful (1100bhp) 917/30 at Elkhart Lake and Edmonton.

Polak, a gifted mechanic who made his fortune with the German marque, amassed a sensational collection of Porsche racers. Also under the hammer in the Monterey race week auction is the 917K which won the 1971 Sebring 12 hours in the hands of Vic Elford and Gerard Larrousse. MP