The Porsche That Terrified Its Own Drivers

Porsche built the 917 to finally win Le Mans. It had a powerful flat-twelve engine. It had incredible straight-line speed. And on paper, it looked like exactly the car Porsche needed. But there was one problem. The faster the original 917 went, the harder it became to control. At more than 300 kilometres per hour, drivers could feel the rear of the car moving beneath them. The problem wasn't the engine. It wasn't the suspension. The problem was the air. This is the story of how Porsche discovered that building a faster car wasn't enough. First, they had to make it controllable. Chapters 00:00 — Porsche Builds Its Ultimate Le Mans Car 02:10 — The Car Nobody Wanted to Drive 04:40 — Porsche Searches for the Problem 07:13 — Why the Original 917 Was So Unstable 16:07 — The Car That Finally Won Le Mans Subscribe for more engineering stories exploring the failures, decisions and technical problems behind motorsport's greatest moments. New episodes every week. Credits: Music: ‪@soundridemusic‬ Phoenix — Soundridemusic Dark Investigation — Soundridemusic Anxiety — Soundridemusic The Rise and Fall of a New King — Soundridemusic Awakening — Soundridemusic Video sources: ​ ‪@Porsche‬ ‪@19Bozzy92‬ ‪@garywoodland4379‬ ‪@SimeoneMuseum‬ ‪@bjwhitegti‬ ‪@ourafilmes‬ ‪@KingRoseArchives‬ ‪@bsportHistory‬ ‪@Sportscarillustratedmagazine‬ ‪@TheWheelNetwork‬ ‪@elferspot‬ ‪@MLC...‬ ‪@fichellorenzo1727‬ ‪@SectorCrashed‬ ‪@canepadesign‬ ‪@cvdzijden‬ #porsche #917 #lemans #motorsport #technology