Beast: The Indy 500 engine that shocked the world, with Al Unser Jr

In a special episode of The Race IndyCar Podcast, Al Unser Jr stars to talk about his and Penske's 1994 Indianapolis 500 victory. The event is significant mainly due to the shock the Ilmor-built Mercedes-badged engine produced. Built in secret, it exploited the rulebook with bigger displacement and turbo boost than its rivals. Whether its parts being flown on a World War 2 fighter jet and Concorde to reach Penske, a scuba-diving holiday that helped trigger an engineering breakthrough or the 'Taj Mahal' factory where the engines were rebuilt before being wheeled in the dead of night to Penske's race shop, it's a fascinating tale. Helping to tell the story, the manager of Penske's Indy 500 engine programme Kevin Walter and author of the critically acclaimed book called Beast - Jade Gurss - add to Unser Jr's memories of testing the car and, among other things, learning of the fact that its 1000bhp+ turned the wheels inside the tyres.

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