Porsche Made Vinyl Records From the Tires of Le Mans-Winning 919 Hybrid, Because Why Not

Dubbed ‘The 24 Minutes of Le Mans,’ each of the 200 examples are chock-full of racing history from Stuttgart.

byRob Stumpf|
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I'm a sucker for things made from car parts. From luxury handbags conjured from the tire tracks of the legendary AMG GT-R to a watch winder crafted into the bare bottom-end of a BMW M52 engine, I can have fun window shopping all day long. Porsche wants in on the game too, and its newest lifestyle product was created by turning the spent rubber from the Le Mans-winning 919 Hybrid into the art of sound.

The 1,160-horsepower Porsche 919 Hybrid is more car than most people will ever have the pleasure of driving in their whole lifetime. Built exclusively for winning the World Endurance Championship's LMP1 class, Porsche made waves 'round the world when showing off the capabilities of its electrified rocket.

And when it retired from its official racing career, Porsche began to break all of the barriers that were previously locked behind the gates of bureaucracy. Before becoming dormant once again, Porsche went on a killing spree—annihilating records at the Nurburgring Nordschleife and slaughtering laps the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Before the 919 became a reality, Porsche had a history of racing—decades of it, in fact, beginning with the Le Mans victory of the famous 356 SL in 1951. In that time, the purveyors of performance built a collection of quips and stories to share with the world and are doing so with a collection of sound called "The 24 Minutes of Le Mans." As if the history and beautifully composed audio tracks aren't enough, Porsche adds a bit of gasoline to the fire that will undoubtedly make any collector bite their fingernails in anticipation.

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When the 919 was finished racing, its tires weren't just tucked away in a storage shed or thrown to a recycler. Instead, Porsche reclaimed the rubber by shredding the Michelins and compressing them into vinyl records. When the needle hits the grooves, 24 tracks (each one minute in length) begin to fill the listener with the rich, warm sound that only vinyl can.

Only 200 records will be produced, and 24 of them will be going up for auction on Feb. 24. Porsche will donate the proceeds to Loisirs Pluriel, an organization in France that helps to care for children with disabilities.

If you're like me and have zero chances of winning the auction, you can still listen to the contents of the records on your favorite streaming service. Porsche has uploaded the 24-minutes of audio to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Youtube, Deezer, and Soundcloud, which I enjoyed whilst writing this very piece.

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