The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been held annually but there are only a handful of race-winning cars which have become true icons of motorosport. The Porsche 917 is one of them.

Porsche scored its first Le Mans victories with the 917 in 1970 and 1971 and in the year’s since, has become the race’s most successful company, claiming no less than 18 race wins.

Although various versions of the 917 were created with varying sizes of flat-12 engines, most had top speeds approaching the 240 mph (390 km/h) mark, an incredible feat for a racer with the ability to run flat-out for 24 hours straight.

The Porsche 919 Hybrid is cool but compared to the 917, it’s nothing. This point makes us want to see this 917 Homage racer come to life even more.

Designed by artist Cleber Santos, are three different modern-day interpretations of the 917, some painted in Gulf Racing liveries and looking absolutely stunning.

The first combines some of the brand’s modern styling traits with those of the original 917. It includes similar rear wheel arches to the Le Mans winner and now benefits from a large central fin, LED headlights and slightly sharper lines.

As for the second and third designs, they mimic the 917 very closely but add touches like new body lines and air intakes, a reshaped windshield and different headlights.

We’ve seen some rather cool automotive renderings in our time but few have us salivating quite like this.

PHOTO GALLERY