Porsche Bergspyder 910/8 Bergspyder

- February 28, 2026

Porsche’s lightweight 910 Bergspyder was extremely nimble and well-suited to dominating mountain roads. In 1967 and 1968, the Porsche 910/8 Bergspyder was the dominant force before the 909 came along.

Technically, the Porsche 910 Bergspyder was state-of-the-art, featuring materials such as titanium (brake calipers), beryllium (brake discs), magnesium (wheels), electron (tank), plastic (body) and aluminium. The running gear was similar to that of a Formula 1 car, including an eight-cylinder boxer engine that had about 275 horsepower.

The European Hillclimb Championship regulations stipulated 2-liter engine but didn’t stipulate minimum weight. The 910/8 initially weighed just under 990 pounds (450 kg) but by 1968, with additional development and optimization it weighed in at just 930 pounds (420 kg).

There’s not much chance of driving this 910/8 Bergspyder: the racing car has remained unchanged for 52 years.

This will remain the case, right down to the rusted front bonnet, where now-weathered paint once shone in primary colours, scuffed seats, on which the faintest traces of flocking remain, and the toothless timing belt, stretched ineffectively across the injection pump drive – it will all be preserved for the sake of authenticity. That is just what this 910/8 Bergspyder conveys: authenticity, originality, a stopped moment in time.

“We do nothing to alter the condition,” says Alexander Klein, Head of Vehicle Management at the Porsche Museum. “Any tinkering would destroy its unique originality.” That applies to all of its functions too: the engine must never run again, the racing car will not be driven anywhere. “We have no intention of returning it to a ready-to-drive state,” explains Alexander Klein. “The Bergspyder has fulfilled its mission – it has already proven that it can drive and win.”

The racing archives note Saturday 13 May 1967 as the car’s completion date. Its eight-cylinder boxer engine with fuel injection and power output of 202 kW (275 PS) sits in front of the rear axle; the car was built with lightweight titanium, magnesium, aluminium, and plastic replacing conventional materials. The 26-litre fuel tank contains electrum, though race engineers later switched to an aluminium tank. Without an alternator, the power for the transistor-controlled ignition was supplied by a silver-oxide battery, which also powered the horn and turn signals – in consideration of potential registration of the car for public highways. Under the glass-fibre shell exists a steel space frame, and the chassis was designed in line with Formula 1 standards of the time, featuring extremely light 13-inch magnesium wheels for short hill sprints. Two coil springs reduce the weight on the front axle.

Trim, bonnet and floor pans were made from wafer-thin glass-fibre-reinforced plastic, while an integrated spoiler covering almost the entire width of the tail was attached with hinges and held by three perforated plates, so it could be adjusted to suit the race track; getting aerodynamics and contact pressure right can shave crucial tenths of a second off times. The 910/8 Bergspyder weighed in at less than 450 kg, and accelerated from 0-100 km/h in around three seconds.

One week after its completion, the 910 031 lined up at Montseny, Spain, for its first start, piloted by Gerhard Mitter with starting number 86. It left the rest of the international field in its dust – a first victory for the brand-new Bergspyder after just 200 km. Three more wins and further podium finishes in all eight races resulted in overall victory at the 1967 European Hill Climb Championships.

The 910 031 was retired at the peak of its career, on 3 October 1967, after competing in the Gaisberg Race in Austria with starting number 1. The car was put into hibernation with no damage but some signs of ageing – the task now is to keep these in check as far as possible, without any changes to its basic substance.