Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / David & Goliath: 914 vs 917 at LeMans 1970 (Patreon Special Re-release)

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David & Goliath: 914 vs 917 at LeMans 1970 (Patreon Special Re-release) · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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  We always have a blast chatting with our guests about all sorts of
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  different topics, but sometimes we go off the rails and dig deeper into
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  their automotive and motorsports pasts.
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  As a bonus, let's go behind the scenes with this pit stop mini sode
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  for some extra content that didn't quite fit in the main episode.
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  Sit back, enjoy, and remember to like, Patreon.
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  So I've got a, I've got a 914 two liter.
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  I've got a Bentley Arnage.
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  I've got, you know, I've got a variety of cars.
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  MGB GT.
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  Those were all cars that were important to me as I was 16 years
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  old and thinking someday I'm going to end up with a cool car.
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  From that point forward, I started collecting the cars
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  that I really like to drive.
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  And so, uh, those are the cars that I have in my collection.
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  You can't see over my shoulder.
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  There you go.
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  There's a cool nine 14 wide body.
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  That's been in the family since 86.
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  Is that an authentic GT?
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  No, that was a 1.
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  8 SC out of Florida with air condition and much of the stuff.
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  It's in the nine 14 registry, but it's a full on wide body car is a
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  former pro solo nationally recognized winning car belong to my dad.
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  He passed away.
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  It was in storage.
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  I have it, it had a six in it at several sixes in it at one point, and now I'm
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  converting it back to a four cylinder.
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  I'm going to put it that way.
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  The car is still in the family.
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  It's at the point of it can't be turned back original.
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  So I'm tastefully restomodding it is what I'm, what I'm saying.
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  So that's one of many in our collection.
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  It's been around forever, but yeah, it's sitting in my garage
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  right now waiting for me.
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  So we're, we're kindred spirits in 914.
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  How about that?
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  Yeah, no, I I'm like a big, big fan of the 914.
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  I think what's what a lot of people don't know.
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  And as long as we're talking about the 914, there really is a David and Goliath
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  story that goes back to Lamar in 1970.
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  So here we are, if we can close our eyes for a moment and remember the first
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  time we saw the Steve McQueen movie and what an impact that movie had on us.
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  In 1970, the 917 comes in and absolutely is a behemoth.
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  On the racetrack dethroning Ferrari's 512, which, you know, if you remember
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  the history of it, Enzo was absolutely committed to make sure that Porsche
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  did not win the 1970 race and he pulled out all the stops on the 512
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  s and brought in a great racing team.
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  Sam Posey was racing 512.
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  It was just unbelievable.
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  The 512 was like this major monster and Porsche comes in with a 917
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  with very little, what should I say that, you know, they didn't have an
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  awful lot of time to build this car.
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  They come in with a 917.
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  And so, as we know, based on the movie Le Mans by Steve McQueen, the 917 and the
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  512 battle out to the very brutal end.
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  But what most people don't know is that.
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  In that same race, the 24 hours, the most grueling automobile race ever in
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  the history of automobiles, I believe, in 1970, the Porsche 914 6 finished sixth
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  overall, ahead of the 908s, ahead of the Ferrari 312s, ahead of the 911 S's, the
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  914 6 GT finished sixth overall, so it was amazing That the car finished the
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  race at all 24 hours, that's a group.
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  I mean, there were a number of cars.
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  If you go down the list, a number of cars and a number of manufacturers
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  that couldn't finish the race, but the nine 14 six finished sixth
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  overall, absolutely unbelievable.
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  So a real David and Goliath story.
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  So yeah, I'm a, I'm a huge nine 14 fan.
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  And I believe they repeated that with a triple podium at the
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  Nurburgring 24 in that same year.
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  Maybe then it was the next year, 71.
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  Oh, I don't know that.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  The poster's on my wall.
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  Uh, 22nd of August, 1970.
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  It looks like they took the top three spots in class with 914 sixes.
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  So there you go.
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  Yeah.
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  I have to read it in German.
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  It's halfway across the room.
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  Yeah.
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  Amazing.
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  Yeah, 914 is an underappreciated, ugly duckling, call it whatever you want, but
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  it's actually a great car and it's always been the big battle between the 911 right?
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  They had to, I hate to say, neuter that car, handicap it, to keep it from beating
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  the 911, because as a platform, it's a...
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  Better handling vehicle, but you know, you got the flagship, you got the 911
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  and the same is true today, right?
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  They introduced the Boxster as the, let's say the heritage 550, the evolution, and
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  then the Cayman, it's not too far off.
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  They're basically 914s, right?
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  I mean, come on, you put the right guts in the Cayman and it is
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  going to give the 911 a real run.
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  That's right.
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  But they're always, they always want to keep it just
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  slightly shy of the 911, right?
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  That's why there'll never be a Cayman Turbo, not from the factory.
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  You know what I mean?
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  No, that's for sure.
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  So we talked earlier about your posters and you mentioned the war, the rivalry
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  between manufacturers and drivers and the spirit of competition and all that
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  that's exemplified in those posters.
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  I want to ask you this pit stop question, which we've asked many
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  guests, but I'm going to frame it appropriate to our discussion.
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  There is one rivalry outside of the many driver rivalries that we know,
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  you know, Hunt versus Lauda, Senna versus Prost, things like that.
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  There's another one that's in the modern times, and it's probably
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  one of the most epic rivalries still between Porsche and Ferrari.
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  Let's say you're deciding on the next year's theme for the concourse,
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  and it comes between choosing between exhibiting in center court.
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  The Porsche 959 or the Ferrari F40, which do you choose?
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  Well, yeah, it's going to be, that'll be a challenge because next year's
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  center court is Corvette and it will be, you know, erasing Corvettes that
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  have an incredible pedigree in history.
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  And of course the history of Corvettes, again, dating back to C1's
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  all the way through the 2022 Z06.
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  It's hard for me to put myself into that.
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  Thought process for next year.
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  However, when we think about the rivalry between Porsche and Ferrari, I will
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  tell you that the history of automobile racing between those two marks is such
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  that they are for me, a bloodbath.
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  Rivalry, there's no love lost between the two.
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  There is anger and focus between those two marks.
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  As soon as you see those cars get on the track, whether it's the driver or whether
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  it's the manufacturer, whether it's the supplier, the vendor of the parts that
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  are in the car, the teams that support it, pit crew, there is an anger that
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  exists between those two manufacturers.
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  And when you think about that intensity.
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  showing up within the same proximity of each other.
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  I don't know.
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  I don't know.
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  I don't know how, I don't know how you point to one or the other.
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  It is just such an amazing competition, a war between
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  two, you know, it's, it's core.
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  I mean, if you were an Oregon football player, it'd be like the
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  difference between the ducks and the beavers, you know, it's just like,
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  they're just going to come after it.
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  So if you had to pick up the keys.
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  off the table and drive one home.
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  Which would you choose?
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  Well, you know, I, gosh, I, if I could only have one car and it was
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  mine personally, I think probably tipping my hat to this year's mark,
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  it would probably be the Ferrari.
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  You are in good company with that answer.
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  Let me tell you.
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  Porsche is not winning this battle in the long run.
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  Well, and I don't have a Ferrari.
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  I mean, I've got a 914 down in my garage, which I absolutely love.
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  And I just sold my 2012 Spider back to the dealer.
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  They wanted it so bad, but I've got to tell you that, that I think
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  tipping my hat to this year's market would have to be Ferrari.
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  Absolutely.
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  Absolutely.
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  And, and, you know, the, the arguments we get are fantastic.
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  A lot of people will agree.
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  The nine 59 was technologically more advanced.
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  It was the super car of, of, of super cars at that time.
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  But there's something about the F 40 that everybody just gravitates towards.
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  It's amazing.
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