Sports Car Forum - MotorWorld.net - Jay Leno sets world record for fastest lap and fastest mile

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Leno sets speed mark in Porsche at Talladega
Friday, September 02, 2005
MIKE BOLTON
News staff write
TALLADEGA - You knew Jay Leno was quick with a quip.

Thursday, the "Tonight Show" host set three world speed records for production cars at Talladega Superspeedway, but not before giving Porsche officials and himself quite a scare.

Leno, an avid car enthusiast, drove a stock Porsche Carrera GT to a speed of 156.603 to establish the world record for the fastest lap ever run from a standing start on a closed course by a production vehicle. He also set records for the fastest mile (128.14) and fastest kilometer (110.478) for a production car from a standing start.

The records runs were sanctioned by the Grand American Racing Series.

Two hours prior to the record runs, Leno was testing at speed when he lost control in the speedway's tri-oval. Leno had just passed the timing light at more than 182 mph when he drifted high in the tri-oval and got caught up in debris near the wall.

The 605-horsepower, $450,000 vehicle spun five times on Talladega's front stretch but never hit the wall. The car suffered only minor damage after hitting a cone located in the grass in the tri-oval. Leno was wearing a helmet and seat belts, but the car had no roll cage.

A shaken Leno managed to laugh off the incident.

"NBC thinks I'm at the go-kart track in Malibu," he quipped.

Asked if 182 mph was the fastest that he had ever been in a car, Leno managed a laugh. "No, he said, "but that's definitely the fastest I've ever been backwards."

Leno, who has a collection of 85 antique automobiles and race cars, loves to go fast. He has driven a jet car 278 mph on the dry lake bed at El Mirage, Calif., and once drove a pre-production race car more than 200 mph in Spain. He has also driven the pace car at the Indy 500 and Daytona 500.

Danny Donahue, the son of the late Mark Donahue, also set three world records Thursday. He did so on the track where his father set the world speed record of 221.160 for a closed course in 1975. Donahue died 10 days later after that record run in a crash in Australia.

Driving the same car as Leno, Donahue set records for the fastest lap ever in a production vehicle in a flying start (195.145) and records for the mile (198.971) and kilometer (195.755) in the same category.

Leno said the car, provided by Porsche but identical to the one he owns, was a little nerve-racking at such speeds.

"It was a little scary, actually very scary," Leno said. "Only an idiot wouldn't be a little afraid out there.

"I'm used to driving on the streets so it's amazing to me how at these speeds a quarter-pound or half-pound of tire pressure can make such a difference. You can run over a dime on this track and tell if it's heads or tails."

Leno received instructions and driving tips from Porsche officials and Donahue much of the morning before making the record runs in the afternoons.

"Danny tells me this morning to stay off the painted stripes in turns one and two because its turns are in the shade and there's still some dew on them," he said. "How would I know something like that? All I know how to do when I'm driving is to look out for black ice."

Leno arrived in Alabama late Wednesday and took a few quick laps around Barber Motorsports Park in a Porsche before visiting the Barber Vintage Museum.

"I believe it's the greatest museum in the United States," Leno said. "The focus is on the machinery and not anything else. I think every motor sports fan in the U.S. needs to come see it. Most museums I've been to are an ego thing to the owner but this one is all about the vehicles. It was nice, relaxing, fun place to go."