{"id":187728,"date":"2017-09-08T09:45:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T08:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/opinion\/porsches-race-of-records\/"},"modified":"2019-09-19T08:18:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T07:18:13","slug":"porsches-race-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/sports-cars\/porsches-race-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Porsche’s race of records"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two underdog drivers, one unproven car, a four-decade precedent<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twenty four hours, more than 5300km of pedal-to-the-metal driving in a car forever on the edge of expiring.<\/p>\n

It’s a remarkable feat, considering that’s London to New York as the crow flies. But it’s the fact that the Le Mans distance record would remain unbeaten for almost four decades that makes Porsche’s achievement truly mesmerising.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, when Dr. Helmut Marko<\/a> and Gijs van Lennep<\/a> arrived to contest Le Mans in 1971, they were both relative newcomers.<\/p>\n

Marko, a law graduate who had put academia before sporting ambitions, was a latecomer to the racing scene and most renowned in European touring car circles for success with BMW Alpina. His Dutch team-mate had taken a similar route, although it was his second place finish in the 1971 Targa Florio<\/a> for Alfa Romeo that had caught works attention.<\/p>\n

Seven 917s and nine Ferrari 512Ms would contest the victory at Le Mans in 1971<\/a>, but the hype surrounding the great race of yesteryear had fallen flat. Its magic had faded with the abandoning of the traditional Le Mans start the year before, creating a spectacle that Denis Jenkinson described as ‘the dullest thing imaginable’. In fact, for the first time in 20 years Motor Sport<\/em>‘s continental correspondent had decided to give the race a miss \u2013 so had many of the spectators. <\/p>\n

But the pre-race pessimism was short-lived. The unfolding race was far from dull and the Martini 917 of Marko and van Lennep was by no means the favourite. Each 917 was uniquely sized, shaped and flamboyantly painted \u2013 this was the year of the Pink Pig, lest we forget \u2013 and while Siffert and Bell, Rodr\u00edguez and Oliver ran long-tail cars, Marko and van Lennep would run 20kph slower down the straights in their short-tailed car. It wasn’t reliable, either.<\/p>\n

“When they tested it at Weissach, it never lasted more than three or four hours without something breaking,” van Lennep told Simon Arron<\/a>. “The team didn’t expect us to make the finish and we weren’t exactly pacing ourselves either; we were driving as quickly as we could.”<\/p>\n

There were concerns about cooling too. “Our mechanics changed one bolt on the cooling fan at a time during each pit stop to keep everything tight without causing any delays.”<\/p>\n