Fast and furious 917

At the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Porsche 917‘s were quickest in practice despite being unstable at high speed. Porsche factory driver Brian Redman recalled that “it was incredibly unstable, using all the road at speed.”

Picture above: Vic Elford talking to engineer Helmut Bott, while team mate Richard Attwood takes the wheel of the #12 Porsche 917LH, at the 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours. The pair was forced to retire from the lead after 21 Hours.

Soon after the start, the poor handling of the 917’s and the inexperience of one of the privateer drivers led to a drama: British gentleman driver John Woolfe crashed his Porsche 917 at Maison Blanche on lap 1, and sadly was killed.

The #12 917, picture above, dropped out of the lead and the race in the 21st hour with a broken gearbox, despite leading by 50 miles. At the end, Hans Herrmann’s older model 908, remained as the only Porsche that could challenge for the win, but Ickx’s more powerful Ford GT40 won once again, by a mere 120 metres.

Porsche had to wait one more year before a 917K, driven by Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood, would score the marque’s first overall Le Mans win (picture below).