Monday, April 22, 2019

A Porsche 911 Painted Like A Pig Wins Its Class In 24 Hours Of Le Mans

You can put lipstick on a pig, but Porsche put a pig on a 911.

For those who are not familiar with how the 24 Hours of Le Mans works, there are basically two types of cars that compete. There are the LMP1 and LMP2 cars, which basically look like nothing you've seen before, and then there are the Grand Tourers, which look like racing versions of cars you could actually go out and buy. This year, Porsche competed with its mid-engined 911 RSR in the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am class, scoring first place in both using a very specially painted 911 with an interesting story.

The No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR, which won the LMGTE Pro class, was painted with a unique pink livery that harkens back to the old Pink Pig Porsche 917/20 from 1971. The original car was considered ugly, but was designed to be as aerodynamically efficient as possible. People remember the 917/20 for its pink livery with pork parts outlined across the bodywork. The original pink pig crashed at the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans, but this year's No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR redeemed its predecessor by coming in 1st place in its class. Porsche also raced another 911 with a classic livery, though it didn't finish as well as the pink pig.

Porsche even brought out a stuffed pig from Ikea and tossed pork out to its fans at the race. The brand really went all in by calling each pitstop a "pigstop," and using pink headlamps in place of white ones. It is easy to tell this was a meaningful and historic win for Porsche.


View the original article here