A winning race car Porsche 917

A car that held the record for nearly 40 years. This Le Mans race car dragged in the second victory in a row for Porsche over 50 years ago. A true achievement for an experimental variation on the already famous Porsche 917 model.

The experimental 917 'Kurzheck' appeared at the start of the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans. In this year, Gijs van Lennep and Helmut Marko covered 5,335 km at an average speed of 222.3 km/h. A feat that not only ensured Porsche won the race for the second year in a row, the records also held until 2010. Almost 40 years after dates.

The winning car was made with a magnesium chassis, an experiment that worked out well for Porsche. The already famous 917 model normally has a tubular aluminum frame, which is heavier than magnesium. This allowed the experimental Porsche 917-053 to reach a top speed of 320 km/h! Unfortunately, that top speed can no longer be achieved because the magnesium has become too brittle after 52 years.