50 Years Ago Porsche Wins Their First 24 Hours Of Le Mans With The 917
This coming weekend, the 13 / 14 June, marks the anniversary of the first Porsche Le Mans victory 50 years ago.
The 917 KH took the overall win at the hands of both Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood. Attwood, something of a Porsche racing legend, celebrated a significant anniversary too this year turning 80 years old.
Over the weekend the Porsche Museum will be displaying the winning car, the 917 KH. The car was painted in the red and white Porsche Team racing colours. Not as iconic as the Gulf livery on the John Wyer (JWA) cars. But, it still looks good.
The 1970 917 KH with the 4.5L flat 12 engine put out 580bhp and weighed around 880kg. This was the evolution of the notriously difficult to drive 1969 car. But even though it won Le Mans, this wasn’t the version that was actually suited to the task. A great deal of work went into the car for 1971.
In 1970 the number 23 917 of Herrmann and Attwood completed 343 laps and 4,607.811 kilometers. This was on the older style circuit without the additional chicanes we have today. The Dunlop complex was more of a flat out kink back then.
Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood reminisce about the race In 1970. “It was a race dominated by rain and it felt we had to permanently keep changing the tyres and adapt to the situation at hand. It was not the wear that forced us to change tyres, but the constantly changing weather. The fact we harmonized so well together as a driving team led us to victory. To compete in a 24-hour endurance race with just two drivers is no mean feat,” says Hans Herrmann.
Many of the competitors dropped out of the race, many of them Porsche. “Le Mans is a race where everything goes right, or it doesn’t. In those days, the 24 Hours was more like an endurance drive than a race,” remembers Richard Attwood. “To win Le Mans with Porsche and Hans came fully unexpectedly because our car didn’t have the right set-up for speeds. Hans and I were simply a dream team.”
“We worked on the car in training until the very last minute. Hans Herrmann: “The 917 started out as a very difficult racing car. It was driving us rather than the other way round – until we managed to optimize the aerodynamics and transform it into a winning car.” On the return to Stuttgart, Porsche’s victory was celebrated with a parade through the city and in the main square.
“The victory gained in significance over the years. Who would have thought that Porsche would become the record title holder at this race,” says a pleased Richard Attwood. “I was also unaware at the time that I was contending with another personal challenge: I couldn’t eat anything during the race and could only drink milk to stay fit to drive. Because what I didn’t know was I had come down with mumps.”
Further Le Mans Success
Porsche have won a total of 19 overall Le Mans victories. This has given Porsche a strong link with the race over six decades. The first time they entered was in 1951 with the 356 SL. Concentrating on the smaller capacity classes for many years it took until the 1960s to change strategy. In 1969 Porsche entered the first 917, but it didn’t finish. A 908 driven by Herrmann came a close second to Jacky Ickx in a Ford.
A lot had been learned in the time to prepare the first 917 ans the evolving car for 1970. The 917 was a constantly changing car, and the further development proved successful. The 1970 race saw Porsche occupying the top three places. The Martini LH car of Larrousse and Willy Kauhsen was second. The 908/02 of Rudi Lins and Helmut Marko came in third.
This was a turning point as the following year out of 49 starters, 33 of them drove a Porsche. This is a record that still stands today. The 1971 Le Mans was won by Gijs van Lennep and Dr. Helmut Marko. The 917 KH with the 4.9L engine and magnisum frame, this time with the Martini team. Second was another 917, Richard Attwood and Herbert Müller driving for John Wyer.
For 1974, Porsche entered the Turbo era with the 911 Carrera RSR 2.1 Turbo and got the first turbo victory. The 936 Spyder victorious in 1976. The exact same car winning again with the works team the following year in 1977. In 1979 a customer entered team won with the first rear engined car to win. Another first, this time with the 935 K3. The first time a car based on a production vehicle had won.
The 1981 win was the last for the 936 Spyder as the following year saw the introduction of the 956. The 1982 race saw Porsche take all the top three places with the debut outing. The 962 follwed the 956 and the pair are considered the most successful racing prototypes ever made. The 962 is also considered to be one of the most friendly to drive. Some nine 956s featured in the top ten winning teams in 1983, eight in both 1984 and 1985.
In 1994 the Porsche 962 Dauer Le Mans GT won and in 1996 and 97 the TWR Porsche WSC Spyder. This time a customer team won two times out. the late 90s saw the 911 GT1 appear and take the victory in 1998. The first carbon monocoque designed by Porsche with the first carbon fibre brakes the works team had used. This Le Mans win was also the 50 year anniversary of the first operating permit for the 356.
Since this time Porsche have focussed attention to developing production based race cars. Variations on the 911 have seen eleven class wins between 1999 and 2018. But 2014 saw the return to prototpe racing with the 919 Hybrid. The wins coming in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Porsche have had 108 class wins and 19 overall victories at Le Mans, the most successful manufacturer in the near 100-year history of the race. Since 1951 a Porsche sports car has taken part in Le Mans. However, this year June is a little different. The Esports team will be entering four 911 RSRs from the 2017 model year.
Live information from the Porsche Twitter channel will be available as well as a historical review of the 1970 race.
Thanks to Porsche for the images and happy anniversary on the 50 years since the first Le Mans win.