As part of Porsche’s big showing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, they’ve again brought along their Le Mans winning LMP1 class 919 Hybrid prototype. They won their third Le Mans 24 race in three years, the “hat trick” as they’re calling it, and to celebrate that victory, they’ve trotted the car, still resplendent in its race-earned dirt and bug splattered bodywork. The car looks all the more spectacular when it’s filthy like this, and we can’t help but hope that Porsche puts the car in their museum exactly as it is seen here for the rest of its days. It has earned the right to a cushy retirement.
It’s easy to tell from the video that Timo wasn’t pushing the car 10/10ths up the hill, primarily because there is only one 2017 Le Mans winner. If he were to stuff the car into the brick wall in the upper section of the Goodwood driveway, he’d probably be excommunicated from the team, permanently. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a 919 Hybrid take a new record up the Goodwood hill, what with the massive power output aided by the instant torque of the hybrid drivetrain, but it would certainly need a lot more downforce than a Le Mans-spec bodywork kit would provide in order to complete that feat.
In any case, it is special to see these seriously historically significant cars still taken out and beaten up from time to time, and that’s what Goodwood is all about. This car made history just a few weeks ago, and they’re not afraid to bring it out and show it off to their UK fans.