{"id":610659,"date":"2020-01-13T14:46:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T14:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/\/\/the-final-flying-lap"},"modified":"2020-02-05T16:00:06","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T16:00:06","slug":"the-final-flying-lap","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/may-2019\/97\/the-final-flying-lap\/","title":{"rendered":"The final flying lap"},"content":{"rendered":"
The combination of Roger Penske and star driver Mark Donohue brought innovation to many areas of the sport, but perhaps the duo\u2019s most notorious achievement came with \u2018Operation Talladega\u2019 and what was perhaps the ultimate iteration of Porsche\u2019s iconic 917 sports car.<\/p>\n
American IndyCar driver AJ Foyt made headlines in 1974 when he lapped the high-speed Talladega oval at an average speed of 217mph. During the 1973 season, Donohue and Penske were riding high with the 917-30 in the Can-Am series, winning six of the eight races as the Penske-Donohue-engineered 917 earned the nickname \u2018Can-Am Killer\u2019. Its success was so widespread that the model was literally killing off interest in the formula, leading to its retirement after rule changes for 1974.<\/p>\n
With backing from both Porsche and oil company Sunoco, Penske and Donohue decided in 1975 to dust off the machine and together set out to break Foyt\u2019s record, aiming for a 220mph run.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe figured that the speed record would be a nice thing to have,\u201d says Roger Penske, looking back at the attempt. \u201cWe were just hoping the Porsche didn\u2019t fly out of the track because Talladega is a very fast oval. We knew the car would be really fast, but we\u2019d never really opened it out before because it was such a beast.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Porsche engineered solely for top-speed-limited road circuits, the modifications represented a big challenge. Donohue conducted extensive testing at Daytona, only for the Porsche\u2019s regular 5.4-litre engine to suffer repeat failures under the stress of flat-out running.<\/p>\n