1971 Le Mans 24 Hour Race with the Porsche 917K and 917LH Motor Racing Art Print by Stuart Booth

1971 was the last year of the five litre Porsche 917’s and Ferrari 512’s. The Le Mans 24 hours was largely fought out between various Porsche entrants, the only significant Ferrari challenge coming from the 512M modified and entered by Roger Penske, but this retired before one-quarter distance.

The Porsches appeared in both standard short tail (917K) and long tail (917LH) versions as well as the experimental car christened the ‘Pink Pig’ due to its squat shape and unusual paint job.

Although the LH versions were extremely fast, reaching 240mph on the Mulsanne Straight, the race was won by the Martini Racing Team 917K driven by Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep, achieving a distance of 3315 miles. a record which, due to circuit changes, was to stand until 2010.

Here the winning Martini entered 917K leads the same team’s 917LH.