DREAM TO REALITY! Ice Drifting this INSANE Porsche 917K

We're about to do something that I don't think has ever been done before. Welcome to a frozen lake in Norway, and welcome to a car you'd normally expect to see at Le Mans. Today, we're with this remarkable 917 out on a frozen lake, here with Ice Driver Vents, a few hours outside of Oslo. And Knut, who has been responsible for creating this machine, is going to show us around exactly what's gone into it. Things like the studded tyre setup that it's wearing for what we're about to do, before we try and squeeze two people into this tiny little cabin and go out and have some fun here on the lake. This is the type of race car that you normally expect to see at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Racing the 24 hours back in the 70s, the 917s were dominant, destructive when it came to motorsport. In fact, my Porsche 914 that I recently bought came about because of the mid-engine success that the 917s had, and Porsche wanted to introduce that to their model lineup. This, however, is a car with a difference, a car with a story, and we need to figure out all about it today. The plan of action, then. We need to take a look around it, even with time-appropriate skis worn on the top. The studded tyres, everything about this thing. Set for today, before... Well, I don't really know how this is going to unfold. What I do know is that out here, it's going to be a whole lot of fun. Let's go grab Cluton. Let's have a look at this unbelievable car. How's it going? Good. It's not necessarily the right place for this, is it? I think it is the most fantastic place for this. The absolute perfect place to bring this car. We need a bit of an introduction to the car, because, personally, it's not normal. Looks phenomenal, but this is a project you've made into a road-legal car here in Norway. Yeah, so what you see is something that, aesthetically, is an original car, but it's not. It's a copy from original moulds. It is made to be road-legal, so it has a plate in the back. We were running it in the summer, and then we decided, why shouldn't we run it in the winter? Because I have about five hours to the nearest racetrack, but now I am half an hour from home, so this is my racetrack in the winter. When we were kids, we were going skiing. Now we are going skiing in another fashion. We brought the skis, but we don't care about the skis anymore. But I like that you even threw back the skis to the period-correct time of the car. Yeah, these are my father's skis. They are from the 70s. They are correct in terms of the car. So, in theory, it could have looked like this in the 70s, but it didn't. So talk to me about this, because this is complicated. Yes. So I had a friend who said, you need to drift the 917, and I said, I can't drift this on slicks. And he said, you need to do it in the winter. And I said, I don't have studs. And he said, why not? So we said, let's see what we can get. And we found some VRC rally tires, but it would look stupid with a single one in the back, because this has like half a meter of tires normally. Yeah. So then we actually fitted two tires on the same rim. How do you do that? How does that work? Well, it has not been done before. So I thought, okay, let's see how it holds up. So I actually designed and 3D printed an insert in the middle of the rim. Okay. So you have one bead from each side. Yeah. And so the insert in the middle is plastic, but it has been lasting for two seasons now without any problems. Wow. There we go. Genius. And up front? In the front, you cannot get any studded tires whatsoever in this dimensions. That is summer tires, which we have studded with four or five, 600 studs. I actually lost count. Yeah. But that is summer tires because that was the only thing we can get a hold of. But it works. It works. So quick introduction to the car. Chassis engine. So body is coming from original molds. Frame is built on original blueprints. Engine is an original Porsche engine. A 935 style engine. The reason for that is that we needed to have something that was road legal. So we have some limitation in terms of horsepower and so on. Do you know roughly where it's at? Yes. So in the registration papers, this has a little above 300 horsepower. But when we remove a little bit of muffler, we turn off the turbo pressure and so on. We have excess of 400 horsepower. And it can't weigh a whole lot. No, this is like 900 kilos. So yeah, the horsepower is not the problem. Well, it's safe to say it causes quite a stir. And I think seeing this in this type of environment where we are today. We have a couple of factory Audi people on the track besides us. And they used a couple of minutes to pass us this morning. Because, yeah. So 917s for you, has it always been the car? Is it kind of? No, it has been 911s, 914s and so on. And then they came out of legislation in Norway, which allowed you to build cars and kit cars and so on and get them registered. And then someone said, why not a 917? And we were looking through everything and all of the legislation saying, okay, if we can get exceptions for these four items, we can actually get a 917 on the road. Can make it happen. And that is what we did. There was no plan at that time to take it on the ice. That was, then that came later. Can we take a look inside? Yes. Let me have a quick look at the cabin that you have here. Of course, it's interesting thinking back to racing period of these. Second seats and luggage space. Yeah. So the second seat that I'm going to try to fit you into today was never, ever meant for people. That was just for homologation and so on, because it needed to be a two-seater. It needed to have a luggage compartment in the back. So it was not intended for people. More for show, but we'll try it out. Where is the luggage compartment in here? The luggage compartment is underneath here. Tucked inside that. Yeah. So we need to remove the skis to be able to see it. Got it. Gosh, it's kind of cool looking from back here. Open and exposed, but yet with a plate on it. Yet with a plate on it. So when you turned up to get this registered, did you get a funny look? There was a little bit fight internally and saying who was going to test drive it. Okay. So they actually got one of the guys that was doing go-karts professionally to do it. Okay, right. He's safe, he's safe. He's done it before. He probably had an absolutely mega day. Yeah, he said that was an experience that he was not going to forget. Beats many of the cars that you might test. What I find fascinating is that from an outside perspective, Norway is viewed as one of the best countries in the world in terms of electric cars, future technology, development. You basically said, I want to keep the petrolhead dream alive. Yeah, so everything for its use. Oh, for sure. This is not a daily driver. You'd be a little bit crazy if you did. We do a couple of thousand kilometers, but that's it. The rest we do with all the cars. So it's kind of a fun project, a passion you had, make it happen. Just making it happen. It's just, we can do it. And then we did it. It's the same with the tires in the back. It has never been done before. So why not try? If it fails, it fails. If it works, it works. And it has been working. So when you started this, obviously it's not like there are parts off the shelf that you just get for it. The whole thing actually started with another body. And I made part of the body with the blueprints and so on. And then we were nearly finished. And then someone placed on race parts, a mold from an original 970 for sale. And then I thought, oh, okay, we've gone so far. Maybe I should take the plane to Italy. So we went to Italy and we bought the whole thing. And then, yeah, the rest is history. The rest is history. And I guess presented in the most iconic way with the famous orange and blue. Yeah. Where it had to be really. It had to be. There was no option. So process, you have to get it up to temps. Do we just try and throw ourselves in? We can throw ourselves in. We take a couple of slow runs to heat up the oil and be gentle with the engine. And then we can try to floor it a little. See what happens out here. The sun is poking through. It's ready for us. It's a couple of degrees minus. It's beautiful weather. Perfect time to drive a 970. There's a challenge here. Understatement. So it is not made for you. But we will try to get you to fit. Okay. So first of all, step on. Yeah. Maybe I can bash that on this one. Can I bang it on there? No, it's fine. Thank you. Okay. So down in the seat and then slowly. Slowly and carefully. This is not the problem. It could be. Okay. We could see a hip problem. But yeah, that's made for somebody quite a lot smaller than me. Okay. Ah, that's fine. Hey, I could drive. I could press your pedals. All the way down. Okay. I'm kind of in. Yeah. Kind of in. Just watch the head. Should try to. Ah, he fits. Yeah. Oh gosh. There's a screw there. Okay. Yeah. Do you want to be tightened in? Or are we going to drive casually? Do you want to go fast? Or do you want to go casual? Easy peasy. It's kind of cozy in here, but we'll make it work. I just got to stay out of the way. The pedals is what I'm most worried about, to be honest. The only problem is the clutch. We will always get to a stop. It's harder to get in when I have visitors. This is a cozy squeeze, isn't it? Do we have enough foot room? Yes. Yeah? I think so. We are squeezed in. I said we're going to be good pals when we don't. I'm going to try and keep us out the way as I can. From the clutch pedal down there. All right. Ready? I'm ready. Born ready. Do you have racing experience? It's impressive. If you were just on slicks right now, you wouldn't even be able to move. You actually have the studs. The studs brings me back in. Yeah. The only problem with this car. Yeah. This one has a really, really... So that means that if I overshoot. Yeah. I'm doomed. I buy myself back on the studs. This is seriously cool. Agree with me. It was not born here. My cheekbones are aching from smiling. It's one of those like, this makes no sense at all. They squeeze two people into a study. So everything is so wrong, but at the same time, it's absolutely... Oh. The sound. Yeah. Everything is in Uniball, Compaxol, yeah, yeah. I don't know what to say. Oh, that's so cool. Still puts a massive smile on your face. But you do agree with me. It isn't born here, but it will never, ever leave. No, no. This is Le Mans vacation. It needs to be here. It's fantastic. I don't know. Never in my wildest dreams did I think one day I might be riding in something like this. And it's a car that, you started this project a while ago, right? It's taken. It has been some years. So. Worth it. Completely worth it. Everything is working. And everything looks correct. Yeah. And everyone thinks that there is no regrets. It's just, yeah, you just, this is something that you just need to do when you start. It's just, yeah, don't give up. So the next question is, how do you get out? I haven't thought that far. What do you open? I think we start with me. Yeah. And then I will come back to you. Give me a couple of minutes. I will get you up. Let's see what happens. I've kind of unclipped my seat belt. You're still laughing. Stop laughing. How can you stop laughing in this? It's laughter of joy. It's laughter of sheer amusement and happiness. You know, like, this is like. I'm glad you liked it. I liked it a lot. Just a unique experience. OK. My legs feel a little bit, uh, stuck. Well, yeah. OK. It's the price you have to pay. It's OK. Yeah, I'll survive. OK, right. So kind of step up, kind of step out. Imagine if I went blind. What a cool drive. Wow, my mind is blown. Like. Sometimes you need to do things outside the box. Yeah, I think that's like the best way to summarize this. This is an idea outside the box. Everything about this is outside the box. Do it in the first place. Peter, put the studded tires on it. Put skis on it. So come and drive it here. The whole thing is, well, let's try. If it works, it works. If it doesn't work, we give up. But let's try. Let's try. Love it. Thank you so much. If it goes badly, we can take the skis home. So it'll be a long cross-country journey back. It's time for me to see and hear this from outside, to spectate for a moment. That's going to take it for a drive. Look at that thing. That's just not a sight I ever thought I would see. 917. Sliding around. Right. We are back in my Black Series, because we're going to be driving over towards another little part of this unbelievable venue. Oh, it's cold. It's negative a couple of degrees. G63 here as well, also on studs. Vastly more suitable than this. But because we're here, I'm going to put this into the drift control toggle, because we can for a second. Engine's still mostly warm. But let me turn around the only way we know how, really. There we go. Wow, on just winter tires, not studs. It takes a lot longer to get moving. Interesting. Kind of fun, though. So look at this. So that's where all the Audi guys are at the moment. We're now following that thing. That is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Oh, I'm so cold. Warming up slowly. Oh, man. This is ridiculous. I mean, just look at it on the snow road. I don't know what to call it here. Just look at that. This has been the snow tour. We have the ice in St. Moritz. We're here now on this frozen lake outside of Oslo. And we're heading to Sweden. We're heading all the way. I haven't actually said yet, I don't think, up to the Arctic Circle, which is going to be crazy. Oh, this car is so good for sliding. So good. And you can just turn it up and down, depending how much angle you want with this. Makes it easy, really easy. The thing I do know here is that we do not want to go into the ice banks, because that would be a very broken bumper. But as we do go around here, it's quite amazing. It's quite amazing. Is he going to give it a little bit of a welly? No, not yet. Oh, it's so smooth in this car. It's so easy. It's actually amazing. No studs on an ice frozen lake that we can just have some fun, link it, slide it. What a day. This is amazing. This is absolute perfection. It's cliche to say it. People often talk about this. Driving on ice is one of the most fun things that you can do in a car. Everything happens in slow motion. You have the ability to understand the dynamics of a car and learn more of what the car is doing safely, like just at 30 kilometers an hour or so, slide it, and know what's going on, and not have any real risk. And it's just amazing to do it as well in my own car, to be this far from home. This is a long, long way from home right now. The G-Wagon's sliding up there. Funny. We are unleashed on the track. But again, oh, this is amazing. This is absolutely amazing. Wow. This is where I want, obviously, to get to, linking all the turns together. The one thing I know is we might have had some interesting tire fun. But we're not going to find a spare front bumper here somewhere. So let's make sure we preserve that. This is so cool. Like I said, driving on ice is about the most fun thing you can do in a car. Really, really crazy feeling. Little change of plans. Hopping into the G with Per. For a little bit of hoonings. OK. Oh, that's a view. That's a very cool view. So got a belt up. So the main trick with the G is to engage the center diff. Yeah. And then everything is switched off, and you're ready to go. Full four-wheel drifts. Drifting a G63 on a frozen lake. It's utterly brilliant. Full sideways in a G-Wagon. How often do you take this around? Not too often. Just now and then for some fun. When we have to deliver goods and stuff to the ice. Yeah. This is on some studs as well. To the beautiful view again. I find it so fascinating how different the control and style of driving is when you're in a four-wheel drive vehicle to a rear-wheel drive. Yeah. It's a completely different approach. And you obviously have a massive amount of weight, which you have to calculate into the drifting. Thank you for the ride. I don't know what's happening now, but G-Wagon off. That's cool. It was forecast, but the weather is quickly taking a turn. Getting windier, getting snowier. Not really a surprise when you're out on a frozen lake. But this, I tell you the overwhelming thing for me is actually how small it is. And OK, I've been out in the car with Knut, and it's absolutely tiny inside. That's a given, because it's basically made for a single person to run within for 24 hours at Le Mans. It's amazing to think of the history of the 917s, and obviously everything behind them, if you wind back to the late 60s and to the 70s, and what that really meant and did for Porsche and motorsport and how dominant these things were, the originals when they were running. But to go about building this is just something totally crazy. It's so super cool. And to bring it here today, that's not something I ever thought might happen one day, to see something like that sliding around. Looks amazing, sounds amazing, against the white backdrop as well. And to have also been out in the G63 as well as the 917, plus do a few laps with my car, which is just a taster, because we're going to be doing a little bit more with that and changing things up a bit, too, on this tour. Ah, what a cool day. Cool, cool, cool, random, spontaneous fun with this. Just those shots, something I'm going to look back fondly on for a while. Big thanks to Knut and to Per and to, well, everyone who was part of today. But it's time to go and warm up. It is very cold out here. So thank you very much for watching, as always, guys. I hope you've enjoyed this video. I hope you've enjoyed celebrating the 917 with this amazing thing. That's it for this time, though. And I'll see you again very soon. Cheers.