Roger Dorchy, the Mulsanne's fastest man, has died at the age of 78. He and his WM team set an incredible top speed of 405km/h (251mph) at La Sarthe in 1988 – never beaten. Gary Watkins recalls the incredible feat in today's Great Read
The rear wing was wound down and the boost wound up. Duct tape was strapped across almost every bodywork orifice and some brave soul was strapped into the cockpit. The driver would trickle out of the pits and, if he was lucky, limp back 10 minutes later in a pall of oil smoke. In between times, he'd hit an almost obscene terminal velocity on the Mulsanne Straight.
Through most of the 1980s, the French WM team turned up for the Le Mans 24 Hours seemingly with only one goal — to top the speed-trap times on the four-mile straight, then uninterrupted by chicanes. A finish or even a decent qualifying time appeared secondary to this annual ritual.
"The car was made for top speed and nothing else..."
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