The Komplizierte Kompressoren

Mark Donohue starts his Porsche 917/10K (#6) from pole for car’s debut at the 1972 Mosport Can-Am, alongside reigning series champion Peter Revson’s McLaren M20-Chevy (#4). Race winner Denny Hulme is behind the Porsche in sister McLaren (#5), with the black car is the Shadow Mark III of Jackie Olvier. Photo: Pete Lyons / www.petelyons.com

Back in the free-and-easy days when you still could cozy up to naked racecars right out in plain sight, some of us journos enjoyed the challenge of trying to figure out new speed technology on our own, without asking the team for explanations.

And anyway, when the team was Penske-cum-Porsche in the Can-Am of 1972, there was no point in asking. That was as flinty-eyed a bunch of uncommunicative competitors as ever iced a poor paddock prowler.

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