Porsche recycles retired race tires into playable vinyl records to celebrate Le Mans success
Porsche has retired its famed 919 Hybrid from the racing circuit, but rather than putting it in a museum, the automaker has given new life to its tires in audio form.
24 Minutes of Le Mans Porsche packaging
After Porsche exited the LMP1 class of the 24-hour race of Le Mans, the sports-car maker and Grabarz & Partner created an auditory monument to celebrate its successes: Porsche pressed records from the tires of the triple Le Mans victor, the 919 Hybrid into a packaged limited series dubbed ‘The 24 Minutes of Le Mans.’
The 24 hours at Le Mans is seen as perhaps the most difficult auto race of the world, and Porsche has been a part of it since 1951. The 919 Hybrid accomplished a hat trick with three overall wins in a row and became a Le Mans legend.
After leaving its LMP1 class, the 919 Hybrid went on an international tribute tour and finally took its place at the Porsche Museum at the end of 2018.
Now an auditory monument has been created for it: Porsche had the original tires of the Le Mans winner shredded and melted to press a limited series of unique records.
The 24 Minutes of Le Mans is divided into 24 chapters, recounting Porsche’s impressive history on the French race course – the wins, losses and drama. Every individually numbered record is elaborately packaged in cardboard and plexiglass, held together by a fastener inspired by the original fastener used for the race car’s tires.
The audio features exclusive interviews with celebrities such as Steve McQueen’s son Chad, Walter Röhrl, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, who share stories and memories, allowing listeners highly personal insight into the magic surrounding this race.
Even the doctor of the Porsche racing team and the legendary Le Mans radio presenter have their own chapters. The audio was recorded in English and a soundtrack was composed.
The main theme consists of the notes corresponding to three legendary numbers: 919 for the last winning Porsche race car, 1951 for Porsche’s first participation in Le Mans and 2017 for the last race of the 919 Hybrid.
Now 24 of the limited edition 200 records are being auctioned off on a single day over the course of 24 hours. On 24 February, the records will be available for purchase at porsche.com/24minutes – with one sold every hour. Porsche will give all proceeds from the auction to Le Mans Loisir Pluriel – an organization dedicated to helping children with disabilities.
A two-minute YouTube video details the production story.
Porsche is making the entire track available for free through audio platforms online to allow as many Porsche and racing fans as possible to enjoy the audio documentary contained on the record, independent of the auction.
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