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24 Heures du Mans 1971 - The end of an era

During the '71 season the FIA decided to change the sports cars rules, this mean't it would be the last year that the Porsche 917's and Ferrari 512's would dominate the racing.

Ferrari would bring their 512 M spec and in reply Porsche would bring two new versions of the 917, the K spec would have the short tail modified and now ran a magnesium chassis and the LH (longtail) version would receive aerodynamic improvements.

The race started with the new Indianapolis rolling start and the No 18 917 of Rodriguez/Oliver was straight into the lead.

The No 21 917LH of Elford/Larrousse was clocked at over 386 km/h (240 mph) something that couldn't be matched by the 512M, its top speed was only 320 km/h.

The race would eventually be won by a 917k magnesium chassis, No 22 of Marko/van Lennep and the No 19 917K of Attwood/Müller would be second.

The winning 917K completed 397 laps a record distance of 5335 kms, the record would stand for another 39 years, until 2010 when it was bettered by the 3 Audi R15 TDI +'s.

In the 1970/71 season the 917's entered 21 races and won 14 of them.........