{"id":2901,"date":"2017-12-14T14:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slickpix.de\/curbs\/?p=2901"},"modified":"2017-12-14T14:00:59","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T13:00:59","slug":"andretti-and-jantke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slickpix.de\/en\/insights\/andretti-und-jantke\/","title":{"rendered":"Andretti and Jantke"},"content":{"rendered":"
Age is no protection against speed!<\/h2>\n
In major motorsport, you encounter many famous personalities. However, with very few does a personal relationship develop like the one between Manfred Jantke and Mario Andretti. The two share a lifelong friendship. And Mario Andretti also had a friendly relationship with Porsche, where Jantke was head of press and motorsport for many years \u2013 even though he never officially raced for Porsche.<\/p>\n
But he once took a secret test drive in Weissach in the 70s, when Porsche had an Indianapolis race car in development, and there Andretti gave Porsche his expertise on the vehicle. Mario has won almost everything there is to win in his career \u2013 from the Formula 1 World Championship with Lotus to the Indianapolis 500 or the Daytona 500 race for stock cars. His unfulfilled dream to this day is a victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Porsche tried to fulfill it for him when they were really pushing it at Le Mans in the 80s with the Porsche 956. Porsche entered a third works car, driven by the three Andrettis: father Mario, son Michael, and nephew Jeff Andretti. They drove well but had a technical defect and only finished fifth. Andretti's dream remained unfulfilled.<\/p>\n
Even after Manfred Jantke's time with Porsche, Andretti and he had a lot of contact when Manfred Jantke was commentating on the American INDY series for Eurosport TV. At that time, Andretti raced for Newman Haas Racing, alongside Nigel Mansell. Today, Mario still drives a two-seater IndyCar, chauffeuring important guests around the track on race weekends \u2013 and he's 77 years old! \n
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n \nJantke and Andretti still call each other occasionally. Andretti called Manfred Jantke in June of this year and invited him for such a taxi ride. \u201eYou know everything about road racing, but you've never flown around an oval at full speed,\u201c Andretti said on the phone. When asked where they could do this, Andretti said, \u201eWe'll do it at the Texas Speedway in Dallas \u2013 because there we are pulling the highest G forces.\u201c What initially sounded like a joke became reality.<\/p>\n
Jantke was persuaded and boarded the plane to Dallas for the IndyCar race. Two sports stars are ambitious people and remain so their entire lives. That's why Mario has a two-seater with a 3-liter displacement so that he is roughly as fast as the regular IndyCars, which have 2.6-liter engines. Even passengers with a height of 1.85 meters fit surprisingly well in the race car, which is blessed with a very long wheelbase. The securing in the cockpit is exemplary, just like for a race car driver, only without the steering wheel.<\/p>\n
The Texas Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile oval with heavily banked turns. Enormous centrifugal forces build up in the corners. Very hard tires were mounted on the outside and much softer ones on the inside. The ride is literally breathtaking. Manfred Jantke's fear that consciousness might fade under the incredible lateral forces, however, did not materialize. Due to the long gearing, the acceleration forces remained within limits. But even so, they would have taken the breath away from any normal driver. But then the duo got going and how... The previously very wide asphalt strip became a narrow bottleneck at higher speeds, where everything just flew by, leaving no time to notice the surroundings.<\/p>\n
\u201eThe acceleration was still okay,\u201c Jantke said after the ride, \u201eyou have major problems breathing when the G-forces kick in, and that was 5G, after all.\u201c It took his breath away. Mario Andretti, now 77 years old and still a full-throttle animal and racer today, really let it fly in the Texas oval. Manfred Jantke, 79 years old, enjoyed the experience knowing that he and Mario would set a \u201erecord\u201c for eternity here. They drove an average of 314 km\/h for five laps in the oval! We don't know any statistics, but we can imagine that a new world record for seniors was set here. Because when do a 79-year-old and a 77-year-old drive at an average speed of 314 km\/h? In an IndyCar! And it will surely stand for a long time, because how often will a 77-year-old get behind the wheel of an IndyCar and step on the gas as boldly as Mario Andretti did? \n
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\u201eThe best comes last,\u201c 156 years together in a race car \u2013 and then an average of 314 km\/h: Mario Andretti (front) and Manfred Jantke (back) share a long friendship.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMario Andretti (left) to Manfred Jantke: \u201eYou know everything about road racing, but you've never flown around an oval at full speed...\u201c \n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\"Marco](\"https:\/\/slickpix.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jantke-mario-andretti-marco-werner-150x150.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>![\"Manfred](\"https:\/\/slickpix.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jantke-150x150.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n![\"\u201eThe](\"https:\/\/slickpix.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/mario-andretti-honda-150x150.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Mario](\"https:\/\/slickpix.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/mario-andretti-manfred-jantke-150x150.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t