www.porscheroadandrace.com
A Sting in the Tale
Published: 5th April 2019 By: Richard Wiley
Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/a-sting-in-the-tale/
Le Mans 24 Hours, 31 May-1 June 1986: Start of the race – Porsches dominate the lead group
In Part 1, Stories from Le Mans – with a Porsche flavour, our intrepid scribbler who hails from that beautiful part of South Africa, the Western Cape, shares with us some hilarious and revealing stories from his many trips to Le Mans. Richard Wiley, a lifelong motoring journalist, has always loved Le Mans, Group C and especially the Porsches of that era. A sting in the tale, covers his early trips to Le Mans in the late ‘80s. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 12-13 June 1954: Leading the Porsche contingent on a media parade lap ahead of the 1954 Le Mans 24-Hour race is the #40 1498 cc Porsche 550 Spyder of Glockler/von Frankenburg followed by the similarly spec-ed #39 car of Johnny Claes/Pierre Stasse with the #41 car of Herrmann/Polensky just behind. At the rear is the #47 550 driven by Zora Arkus-Duntov/Gustave Olivier, the class-winning 1098 cc car
For most of my three score years and ten, I lived – or should I say, survived – in Zimbabwe, an observation which may well invite the retort: “So what?”
There are a number of appropriate responses I could provide, but three carry the most relevance. Firstly, as the son of a car-mad dental surgeon, I used to attend many motor races in the 1950s and 60s in the then Rhodesia. A regular entrant was our family doctor www.porscheroadandrace.com
who competed in open-wheel racing in what was a precursor to Formula Vee. That meant a VW engine and gearbox combo in the tail and a trailing-arm suspension up front, just like the Porsche 356A and later 356B Super 90 that formed part of the afore-mentioned racing doctor’s fleet.
Le Mans 24 Hours, 22-23 June 1957: Scrutineering for the 550 RS Spyder of Ed Hugus and Carel Godin de Beaufort prior to the 1957 Le Mans. This car would finish eighth overall and first in the Sports 1500 class
To say that I was enamoured with the Super 90 in particular was an understatement, and while the older folk were tweaking the racing VW in the home garage, yours truly used to spend hours in the cabin of the powder-blue Porsche hoping like crazy that my Dad would switch allegiances to the other side of Stuttgart. The fact that I became the owner of a new 911 Carrera Sport in 1989 is another story, but sad to report, my Dad didn’t live long www.porscheroadandrace.com
enough to see my pride and joy which I doted on and maintained myself over a 19-year period.
Le Mans 24 Hours, 19-20 June 1965: The German factory pairing of Herbert Linge and Peter Nöcker drove a solid race to bring their #32 Porsche 904/6 home in fourth place overall, and first in the Prototype GT 2000 class. They finished just 12 laps down on the winning Ferrari 250 LM
Sadly, my Dad never did make the switch from star to stallion, but there was some compensation at hand when our doctor acquired the franchise to import Porsches into Rhodesia. My obsession with the brand took root in no uncertain terms and names such as Jean Behra, Herbert Linge, Jürgen Barth, Joachim Bonnier, Wolfgang von Trips and many more became entrenched in my psyche as I devoured every snippet of hard-to-access news www.porscheroadandrace.com
about Porsche’s feats on the race tracks of the world.
Le Mans 24 Hours, 14-15 June 1969: On the final lap, the #64 Porsche 908 LH of Hans Herrmann/Gérard Larrousse swapped places with the #6 Ford GT40 of Jacky Ickx/Jackie Oliver many times, but ultimately the Ford triumphed – by 75 yards, the narrowest winning margin in the race’s history
The arrival each month of Motorsport magazine, and later, Autosport, could not happen soon enough, especially as DSJ himself became a disciple of the Porsche brand, but when it came to June and the running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I glued myself to the transistor radio and the BBC World Service 15-minute sport programmes, hoping against hope for an update on race positions. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 13-14 June 1970: Rain began to fall during the early evening hours, increasing as night fell, changing the nature of the race entirely. As the hours passed cars spun out or retired due to mechanical maladies, but the #23 Salzburg Porsche 917 soldiered on to take the chequered flag – Porsche’s first overall victory at Le Mans
Of course, in those days the diminutive Stuttgart entrants were seeking Class wins and Index of Performance glory, but this mattered not as the giant-killing acts of the racing Porsches provided just as much smug satisfaction as an outright win. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1977: Taking the chequered flag in the #4 Martini Porsche 936/77 at the end of the 1977 Le Mans race was a very relieved Jürgen Barth. An overrevved engine in the #4 car resulted in a burnt piston as a result of low oil pressure, and so in the final hour of the race, race engineer Peter Falk called the car into the pits. The team had built up such a lead, they calculated that a 30 minute pitstop in order to rest the engine would still enable them to rejoin the race in the lead. Ickx had already driven his allotted time/laps, and with the car running on just five cylinders, it fell to Barth to nurse the car to the end. Barth kept the lead in an ailing car and won the race, the second consecutive win for the 936 and Ickx’s third straight win at Le Mans
Over the years, magazines and books all piled up, most of them with a Zuffenhausen bent, and with the switch to front-running racing machinery from Weissach, my interest in attending endurance races reached fever pitch. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 9-10 June 1979: Against all expectations, the #41 Numero Reserve Kremer Porsche 935 K3 triumphed at Le Mans in 1979, the first privateer team to achieve this feat in a Porsche. Driven by the relatively unknown pairing of American brothers Don and Bill Whittington with the rather better known German driver Klaus Ludwig, the Kremer 935 K3 crossed the line first as much by attrition as by reliable performance
To say I worshipped the 956/962 era is an understatement and come 1986/87, the leash snapped and I found myself on long-haul flights from southern Africa heading for Brands Hatch, Spa and Silverstone 1000 mile events. Sadly, I missed the Stuck/Bell/Holbert Le Mans win in 1987 but I followed much of it from my home in Harare on a 6.2 metre satellite dish which was used to intercept a live TV feed to Japan. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Spa 1000 km, 15 September 1986: The winning #17 Brun Motorsport Porsche 962C was driven by Thierry Boutsen/Frank Jelinski – the Jägermeister Porsche was a favourite with many Porsche enthusiasts www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 31 May-1 June 1986: The #7 Taka-Q Joest Racing Porsche 956B of Klaus Ludwig/Paolo Barilla/Louis Krages only managed 196 laps before retiring with engine failure www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 13-14 June 1987: Hans-Joachim Stuck, Derek Bell and Al Holbert drove a consistent and determined race to bring the #17 Rothmans Porsche 962C home in first place
By 1988 it had become apparent that Norbert Singer’s machines were showing signs of age such that any 962 wins would be achieved courtesy of reliability rather than pure pace. Nonetheless, the Le Mans entry list that year still included three factory-supported 962s complete with the latest Bosch Motronic engine management system and the spectacular Shell/Dunlop livery. On board number 18, and sharing the wheel with Brilliant Bob Wollek, was South African hero Sarel van der Merwe who had piloted a March-Porsche to a Daytona 24 Hour win four years earlier. Number 17 was home to the superstar trio of Dinger Bell, Strietzel Stuck and King Klaus Ludwig while the Andretti dynasty occupied number 19 with its white windscreen sun strip. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1988: (from L-R) Klaus Ludwig, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Derek Bell would drive the #17 Shell/Dunlop Porsche 962C
Weissach clearly meant business in the face of a Tom Walkinshaw armada of Silk Cut Jaguars and any thoughts that the 962 was getting arthritic were soon banished as the flat- www.porscheroadandrace.com
sixes locked out the front row.
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1988: The starting grid of the 1998 race was dominated by the Shell/Dunlop Porsche 962Cs
Quite why I hadn’t made plans to attend in person I still can’t work out, but rest assured, the aforementioned satellite dish was pressed into service such that I recall spending more than 18 hours glued to my chair watching an epic while listening to a frenzied Japanese presenter describing the exploits of the “Varks Porschays.” www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1988: A family affair – the Andretti family, consisting of Mario, son Michael and nephew John – steered their #19 works Shell 962C to a respectable sixth place finish
Early on, I was basking in a sense of great contentment as 962 number 17, backed-up by number 18, showed every sign of having the race under control until Klaus Ludwig slowed alarmingly in the vicinity of the Porsche Curves. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1988: The #17 works Shell sponsored 962C driven by Stuck/Ludwig/Bell was beaten to the flag by the 7.0-litre V12 Jaguar XJR-9LM of Lammers/Dumfries/Wallace by a mere 2:36.85 seconds
Factory Porsches at Le Mans rarely fail, especially at that part of the track, and so it proved. Ludwig had decided to risk another lap and drained the fuel tank while commanding the race! Subsequent conversations with Hans Stuck suggest that the German driver was wholly to blame for the misjudgement and subsequent loss of around four laps as recovery was made to the pits on the starter motor. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1988: Through the first half of Saturday night, the #18 works car of Bob Wollek/Sarel van der Merwe/Vern Schuppan kept the pressure on the lead Jaguar, exchanging the lead repeatedly. However, in the small hours of the morning, around the halfway mark (192 laps), the #18 car was retired from the race with engine problems
Some compensation was delivered in the shape of the Wollek/van der Merwe 962 that was romping away into the night with a decisive lead until disaster struck when total engine failure side-lined the leader around the bewitching hour. “Bob’s Curse” had struck again and continued to do so as he never won at Le Mans. Of interest is that Sarel van der Merwe told me that he believed the engine failure was caused by a foreign object, perhaps something as simple as cleaning material left on assembly, that stopped a valve from closing completely with the result that the overheating part literally parted company and fell into the works. www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1988: (from L-R) Walter Näher talks with Derek Bell after a night time stint
Whatever, the lead factory 962 embarked on an epic recovery mission that saw Strietzel gaining on the leading Jaguar hand over fist as he used all the road and more in a masterly demonstration of rain driving. That he and his team mates failed to mount the top step of the podium by a mere one third of a lap made Ludwig’s fuel misdemeanour all the more galling. But there was more… www.porscheroadandrace.com
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1988: Towards the end of the race, the #17 factory Shell/Dunlop Porsche 962C of Stuck/Ludwig/Bell prepares to leave the pits
It was subsequently established that the winning Jaguar was on the brink of suffering the same terminal gearbox failure that had become an epidemic in the Silk Cut ranks. Then, five months later at a sports car event at the then new Kyalami circuit attended by two Sasol- liveried Joest Racing 962s, I learned something else that made my ears prick up.
Both Joest drivers, namely Bob Wollek and Klaus Ludwig in response to my probing questions about the happenings at Le Mans in 1988, independently suggested that the winning Jaguar exhibited, shall we say, exceptionally low levels of fuel thirst. Each driver proffered reasons for what might have triggered this parsimonious behaviour, and interestingly, exactly 29 years later in the paddock of the WEC event at Bahrain’s Sakhir Circuit, Hans-Joachim Stuck nodded in agreement when I put these thoughts to him. www.porscheroadandrace.com
The only difference of opinion on a related fuel matter was that Ludwig suggested his 962 at Le Mans ran dry because of a faulty fuel reserve tap whereas Stuck said the car had no fuel anyway!
Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1988: (from L-R) Derek Bell, Klaus Ludwig and Hans-Joachim Stuck finished second in the #17 Shell/Dunlop Porsche 962C
Prior to attending this race meeting, in which both heats were dominated at record-breaking pace by the two Joest Racing entries, I had been to see the local Porsche importers at their offices in downtown Johannesburg, and placed an order for a Grand Prix White 911 Carrera Sport with seats in Marine Blue featuring leather bolsters and pin-stripe velours centre sections. www.porscheroadandrace.com
At the end of April 1989, I collected my pride and joy at the same premises and so began a 19-year love affair, details of which I will disclose in due course. But in the meantime, in my capacity as a first-time owner of Stuttgart’s finest, I could no longer find any reason not to head for Le Mans for the 1989 running of the great race.
My decision, made from memory around October ’88, was further justified on 21 May 1989, when Bob Wollek and Frank Jelinski took the Joest Blaupunkt 962 to its last world endurance victory at Dijon-Prenois. There was still life left in the old dog and despite the factory’s decision to abandon Le Mans in 1989, the lead Joest entry would be guaranteed of works support not to mention the driving duties assigned to two stalwarts, Stuck and Wollek.
Dijon, Round 2, Sports-Prototype World Championship, 21 May 1989: By mid-race, Wollek had built up an eight second lead on the pair of Mercedes. Apart from one brief spell when www.porscheroadandrace.com
the Mercedes of Kenny Acheson held the lead, the #7 Porsche of Bob Wollek/Frank Jelinski was seldom troubled and the Joest Blaupunkt romped home in first place, thereby ending a winning drought that had persisted for longer than anyone at Joest cared to remember
Hope sprang eternal despite Brilliant Bob’s curse, but little did I know that this would mark the first of no fewer than 25 visits to the Le Mans 24 Hour race up to 2018. Needless to say, that 2019 is of course already booked! Look out for more stories in the coming months about the brand that has never missed a race since 1951. The racing tales will be spiced with stories of getting there, surviving there, celebrating there, misbehaving there, recovering there and occasionally shedding a tear there.
Written by: Richard Wiley Images by: Porsche Werkfoto