From farts to Formula E: the 919 story
Incoming genius Late 2011 and Fritz Enzinger joins from BMW – his V12 LMR won Le Mans in ’99.
Wanna join us? Enzinger cherry-picks the best from Porsche, calls old friends at BMW and oers a home to Peugeot’s ace LMP1 engineers.
Shakedown
The car hits Porsche’s Weissach test track in June 2013. The team grows to 230 people.
Bad vibrations Testing continues but the 919 is beset by vibration issues. Ventilation problems are so bad that when drivers break wind it lingers in the cockpit for hours.
Into battle
The Porsche 919 Hybrid is unveiled in March 2014. It scores a podium inish on its debut at Silverstone in April 2014.
Le Mans disaster One 919 inishes 11th overall at Le Mans; the second 919 retires with engine failure.
First win November 2014 and the 919 takes its irst win at Interlagos. Glory at Le Mans June 2015 and two 2015-spec 919s break the seven-year-old qualifying record in the irst session at Le Mans. In the race Nico Hülkenberg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy clinch Porsche’s 17th overall victory.
Glory everywhere Porsche already has the World Manufacturers’ title wrapped up before the inal WEC round in Bahrain – ifth is enough for Webber and co to take the Drivers’ title.
New rules
New 919 shown March 2016: it’s lighter, and its V4 engine now makes less than 500bhp due to stricter fuel-eiciency rules. At the same time Audi and Toyota adopt the lithium-ion batteries favoured by Porsche.
They all count Le Mans 2016 and Kazuki Nakajima’s Toyota grinds to a halt with one lap to go, making way for Porsche’s 18th overall victory.
2017 spec
Such is the pace of development that the 2017 car is 70 per cent new. At Le Mans, drivers Bamber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley stage a huge comeback, climbing from 54th to irst, to give Porsche its 19th overall victory.
And we’re out
July 2017 and Porsche shocks the racing world by announcing it’s leaving LMP1 and will instead focus on Formula E. 919 unleashed
A one-o Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo breaks the lap record at Spa, beating Hamilton’s qualifying time from the previous year by 0.783sec. Unleashed from FIA regs, the engine delivers 720bhp and the hybrid system another 440bhp. Active aero ramps downforce up by 53 per cent; weight is down 39kg.