X

20 Fascinating Facts & Figures About Porsche’s 17th Overall Le Mans Victory

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or intentionally trying to avoid the news, then you know that on Sunday, June 14, 2015, the trio of Earl Bamber, Nico Hülkenberg and Nick Tandy gave Porsche their 17th overall victory at the Le Mans 24-Hours. Following right on their heals, in second place, was their sister car piloted by Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber. Their one-two finish was the 4th for Porsche after achieving similar results in 1971, 1987 and 1998. If that’s not interesting enough trivia for you, here are 10 more facts you can use to win your next Porsche trivia contest.

  • Porsche completed 395 laps or 3,344.7 miles (5,382,82 kilometres). This year’s race was only two laps short of the longest distance covered in Le Mans back in 2010.
  • The average speed of the winning Porsche 919 Hybrid was 139.3 mph (224.2 km/h).
  • The highest top speed of a Porsche 919 Hybrid in the race was 211.4 mph (340.2 km/h) by Mark Webber on Saturday at 4:40pm.
  • The Porsche 919 Hybrid recuperated and used 2.22 kWh (8 megajoule) per lap. That’s enough power to supply a family home with electricity for three months.
  • A total of 120 people were part of Porsche’s operation crew.
  • There were a total of 90 pit stops, 30 per car. Tires ad drivers changes were made at 26 of them.
  • 54. That’s the longest number of laps covered by one set of tires. In total, the team chewed through 116 tires over the length of the race.
  • Given that a tire and wheels set weight 43.87 lbs, Porsche’s mechanics moved 5,089 lbs.
  • 1 minutes, 13.9 seconds. That’s how long the fastest pit stop, including a driver and tire change, lasted. The fastest stop for just fueling was completed in 51.3 seconds.
  • 1 hour, 35 minutes and 36 seconds. That’s the combined amount of time all three 919 Hybrids spent in the pits. The next closest team spent over 2 hours and 10 minutes (35 minutes plus) more in the pits with their cars.
  • The winning Porsche 919 used 500.87 gallons of fuel.
  • 25,293. That’s the number of gear changes made (both up and down shifts) by the pilots in the winning 919 Hybrid during the 24-hour race.
  • Neel Jani drove the most of any of the Porsche pilots with ten hours and ten minutes of seat time. In the winning car it was Nico Hülkenberg who drove the most, eight hours and fifty-two minutes.
  • Mark Webber lost more than 6.5 lbs over the course of the race. He weighed in (including gear and helmet) at 179 lbs for the start. At the end of the race, with the same gear and helmet, the scale only registered 172.4 lbs.
  • Over the course of the entire 24-hour race, Porsche 919 Hybrid had a refill of but 1.06 quarts of oil.
  • The highest ambient air temperature during the race was 77 degrees Fahrenheit, while the highest temperature measured in the cockpit of the 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Perhaps, most importantly, after three rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship, with double points in Le Mans, Porsche now leads the championship with 140 points, followed by Audi (124) and Toyota (71).

Where Does All The Data Come From

Here’s one more interesting tidbit for you. Each car is fitted with a multitude of sensors. Over the course of the race each 919 transmitted 13.5 gigabytes of data back to the pits and the analysts who measure and tweak such things.

Never Miss Another Update, Review, or Giveaway
Subscribe to the first and only source of original Porsche-related content.
Pepper Girl:
Related Post