Porsche 909 Bergspyder

The Porsche 909 "Bergspyder" was a spydersports car designed and built by Porsche in 1968. Its purpose was to compete in hillclimbing competitions, specifically the EHCC Sports Car (Gr. P) class of the European Hillclimb Championship. It was a short-lived model, but its basic structure, technical innovations, and overall design became the basis for the successful 908/3.

Porsche had reigned champion with earlier models, the 910, 907, and 908, winning nine European Hillclimb Championship titles out of eleven years of participation. After being defeated two years in a row, Ferrari set out to develop a dedicated hillclimb car to challenge Porsche in 1967. This car was the 212 E Montagna, and was announced to compete for the 1968 European Hillclimb Championship. Despite this initial claim, Ferrari postponed its development, with the car being unveiled in 1969. Still, given the shocking news at the time of the 212's announcement, Ferdinand Piëch and his team of engineers at Porsche urgently developed a car to battle Ferrari.

Luckily for Porsche, the car was finished in time for the 1968 EHCC season, with Porsche driver Rolf Stommelen driving the 909 Bergspyder in two races in the European Hillclimb Championship. Proving the car's rapid pace and technological advancement, he placed 2nd and 3rd despite recently recovering from an arm injury. Porsche driver Gerhard Mitter preferred the Porsche 910/8, an older model was still competitive, because the Porsche 909 Bergspyder was said to be a handful to drive and had reliability issues. Regardless of the 909's mediocre success and the 910/8's age, the pair of cars dominated the 1968 European Hillclimb Championship. Porsche came out on top, with Mitter and his Porsche 910/8 placing first in the EHCC Sports Car (Gr. P) class.

Although Porsche was achieving lots of success in hillclimb racing, the development of the 917—used in the pursuit of winning Le Mans, the World Sportscar Championship, and eventually Can-Am—took precedent over participating in the European Hillclimb Championship. This allowed the Ferrari 212 E, a heavier but more powerful car than the 909, to completely outmatch its peers in the 1969 European Hill Climb Championship. Impressively, the car didn't just win overall, but it won every race it entered and set multiple course records. ^[1]

En definitiva, el 909 Bergspyder tuvo un buen desempeño a pesar de sus inconvenientes. Ante todo, fue una pieza de ingeniería radical e invaluable que desempeñó un papel crucial en el desarrollo de los futuros proyectos de competición de Porsche, en particular en el desarrollo del 908/3 .

El Porsche 909 Bergspyder estaba equipado con el motor bóxer de ocho cilindros Tipo 771 de  2.0 litros y 275 hp (205 kW) , derivado de los esfuerzos anteriores de Porsche en la Fórmula 1 .  

La unidad motriz estaba acoplada a un chasis espacial extremadamente ligero de aluminio. El automóvil también incorporaba metales exóticos, peligrosos y no magnéticos como berilio , titanio , plata y magnesio, con el objetivo de reducir el peso. No se utilizó acero en el 909. Para dar una idea del esfuerzo que realizaron los ingenieros con el 909, la carrocería de fibra de vidrio pesaba tan solo 10 kg (22 lb) , y en lugar de una bomba de combustible, el automóvil utilizaba una bola de titanio presurizada que suministraba combustible al motor para ahorrar peso.  

Este es solo un resumen de la larga lista de innovaciones que Piëch y su equipo de ingenieros implementaron en el 909. El coche pesaba la asombrosa cantidad de 385 kg (849 lb) y era capaz de alcanzar de 0 a 60 mph en tan solo 2,4 segundos.  

Porsche experimentó con una carrocería que incorporaba alerones delanteros y dos conductos de aire simétricos, además del frontal liso que se puede apreciar en el coche que se exhibe hoy en el museo de Porsche.

• Asociación Internacional de Autos Modelo: Porsche 908
• Porsche: Porsche 909 Bergspyder
• Porsche 909 Bergspyder