1. Dave Eaton Icon 917K

You could be looking at one of the legendary 917 racing cars, but what we actually have here is an incredibly authentic recreation, one that took more than a decade to build.

“I was inspired by watching Pedro Rodriguez win the BOAC 1000km race in April 1970, and at just thirteen years old it made a huge impression.” It certainly must have done because it led to a project that Dave describes as “10 years of lunacy!”. When this car appeared at the show in 2014 it was little more than a chassis and some body sections, but it is now a stunning road-legal machine that it’s owner is immensely proud of. The focus on detail is really something to admire.

The GRP body was formed from moulds taken from the 1969 Porsche 917 that was driven by David Piper, and beneath sits a laser-welded spaceframe chassis that uses exactly the same dimensions as the original short-tail racer. While Dave, and partner in the project John, would love to have used an original flat-12 engine they admit these are hugely expensive, so this car is powered by a 3.6-litre unit taken from a 964 generation 911. Rebuilt by John, it produces 270bhp at the wheels and drive goes through a G50 5-speed manual gearbox.

There simply isn’t the space to detail the rest of this car’s impressive specification but suffice to say it’s been designed and constructed to the highest of standards. Declared road legal in July 2019 it was registered as an Icon two months later. As well as being part of the Central Feature at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed it was driven down to the Le Mans Classic last year. Admired by Derek Bell, it has also been driven on UK tracks by British racer, Mike Wilds.