From the movie, LeMans. This is the same car driven by John Thomas that is featured in the sound files recorded by Mike Parris at Riverside International Raceway in 1980. The first audio file was posted before, but the second one, Four hot laps around Riverside, was recently acquired from driver John Thomas.

Great in-car 917K video

You’re in a 917K as it comes out of the pits, follows a 908 around for a lap, and then at about the two minute mark, watch out. Great in-car video from Monterey, 2009. Complete with on-screen G-meters. Don’t miss the racing scenes from the movie Le Mans with Steve McQueen that were posted previously on Dean’s Garage. Thanks to Bruce Canepa of Canepa Design. There are more in-car videos at Canepa Design.

Hot Afternoon in River City

by Mike Parris

It was a hot afternoon at Riverside Raceway in Southern California and L.A. Times owner, Otis Chandler, had rented the track for the day. He and a number of his vintage car-owning friends would have the classic road course to themselves to play with GT-40s, Cobras, Lolas, and some Porsches from Chandler’s collection.

I had been invited out for a second time, as some months earlier I had taken photos of the Chandler cars for some magazine spreads and had become friends with him and his friend/IMSA driver, John Thomas – better known at J.T.

I was making the best of the photo opportunities and ended up with some great images but J.T. had also promised me a “couple of good rides” at some point during the day. The first ride was in the glorious 917-K, the number 20 car driven by Steve McQueen in the movie Le Mans. It was a tight wedge getting in the “passenger seat” – obviously not meant to be inhabited by humans. Once in the cockpit, J.T. handed me a tape recorder and asked me to handle taping a few laps with some commentary. This came in two sessions; four warm up laps in the morning and another four laps “at speed” during the afternoon. This was the final, on-the-edge laps bumping a little over 160 mph on the back straight.

Firing the big, flat 12 Porsche engine sent a chill up my spine, partially because it sounded so great but also because it was sitting about five inches behind my neck! There was plenty of vibration and noise, but good noise. Slipping the clutch to get out of the pits, J.T. began a quick warm up and was starting to hit his stride by the time we got to turn seven. Double clutching and down-shifting into seven, he asked if I had enough room – we were looking akin to Siamese twins at this point – and I said, “Of course,” just happy to be in the iconic Porsche. By the time we came out of turn eight, a tight 110 degree hairpin, J.T. was into the first of four gears at full throttle and distinct over steer, revving past seven grand going on to the back straight. Pinning me against the back of my seat, John took it quickly through the gears as the desert scenery was fast becoming a blur. Entering the dog leg going in to turn nine, we were now going back down through the gears, toe-and-heal, with the brakes whipping us from left to right. There was a crudeness to the 917 that gave most drivers a love-hate relationship with the vehicle. It had tons of pure, raw horsepower but had to be finessed and sometimes manhandled, making it both fun and tiring to drive. Sweeping through nine was an experience as my side of the vehicle came within a few inches of the concrete retaining wall under full throttle as we headed to the start finish line.

What an adventure. I rode in the Sunoco 917-30 Can-Am car later in the day and while it was no doubt faster and more refined, it couldn’t hold a candle to the 917-K in pure automotive ecstasy. It’s just hard to describe, but between the sound and the raw power, nothing else even comes close. All I can say is, that was one fine day at the track.

917K in-car sound files by Mike Parris

This car belonged to Otis Chandler, and was the same car driven by Steve McQueen in the movie LeMans. Thanks to Mike Parris and John Thomas.
Click to listen: Two warm-up laps around Riverside in Otis Chandler’s 917K. Narration by Mike Parris.
Click to listen (Recently acquired sound file from John Thomas): Four hot laps around Riverside in Otis Chandler’s 917K. Narration by Mike Parris.

Great photos by Mike Parris from track day at Riverside in 1980:

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The first chapter,“Laying the Foundation,” is the history of what the climate was like at Ford in the years prior to 1950 and the events that led to the design of the 1949 Ford. The full-color book has 182 pages, softbound. ISBN 1-931128-14-6. By the way, yours truly designed both books and covers.

Every chapter includes a timeline, pricing, and model information. There are many two-page photo spreads in the book. The gallery in this post is a collection of photos from Fords of the Fifties.

Thanks to Mike Parris and Howard Fisher.

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Porsche 917K at Riverside

In March of 1980 I was assigned, as a staff photographer at Argus Publishers, to meet L.A. Times owner/publisher Otis Chandler at his private warehouse to photograph a couple of cars from his collection. There were no exterior signs or indications of what lay inside the building, but it held Duesenbergs, Porsches, motorcycles, an Olds woody like one Chandler had as a teenager, and an assortment of other beautiful collector pieces. After taking photos of a Porsche 904 and a Speedster, Chandler asked me if I would like to come out to Riverside Raceway the following month to photograph his 917-K, the one Steve McQueen drove in LeMans. How fast could I say, “Yes.”

When arriving at the classic road course a couple of weeks later, I found that Chandler had rented the track for the day, brought his 917-K, his Mark Donohue 917-30 Sunoco CanAm car, and his then-current 935 twin turbo IMSA spec Porsche. He was licensed for IMSA competition and had his co-driver John Thomas with him.

After photographing all three cars, Thomas said that Chandler was thinking of selling the two 917s and he wanted to get an audio recording inside the “K” before it went to a new owner. So I donned my helmet, strapped myself in the “passenger seat” of the 917-K and grabbed the tape recorder. Once John was situated in the pilots slot the crew closed the swing-up door panels and he proceeded to fire up the big flat twelve. It fired up with a loud “rip” that sent a sharp chill up my spine and god, did it sound great. Slipping the clutch he brought it out of the pits and got up to a reasonable speed, still letting the transmission oil and tires warm up first. He went through a series of accelerate-and-brake motions to get the brakes up to temp also. After one cruising lap he began to pick up the pace significantly, double clutching in to every corner with the crash box and smiling as the flat twelve powered us out of each apex. Coming out of turn eight and on to the long back straight, Thomas was now in full throttle mode with that glorious sound ripping from dual open headers—right behind our helmets. Touching 160 mph before the dog-leg at the end, Thomas hit the brakes for turn nine, fighting the 917’s steering and man handling it through the corner. It might not have been the best mannered of vehicles but my goodness, those twelve singing cylinders.

By lap four, Thomas was bringing it hard through the esses, down to first in turn six and on the throttle to the off-camber turn seven. He was laughing out of seven and kept both of us grinning from ear to ear, just hearing the big twelve rev. What g-force, what acceleration and what a scary chassis and brake combination. What a car. What a great day.

Listen to the recording Mike made from inside of the 917K of his laps around Riverside!

Photography by Mike Parris

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Mike wrote and photographed all of the cars that are featured in his two books published by California Bill’s Automotive Handbooks, Fords of the Fifties and Fords of the Sixties.

Mark Donohue, captain of the Roger Penske Sunoco Javelin Trans Am car. Great shot by Mike Parris.

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My friend Mike Parris had a several lap ride in a Porsche 917 at the Riverside International Raceway before it became a shopping mall. He took his tape recorder. This is the sound track. 12 minutes.

Listen to the sounds of the 917K.