Rolf Stommelen at 350 km/h

Rolf Stommelen (1943-1983) was a racing driver from Siegen in Germany. He participated in 63 Formula One Grand Prix, achieving one podium – third in a Brabham-Cosworth in Austria in 1970 – and scored a total of 14 championship points.

Picture above: Rolf Stommelen, one of the rare drivers to race with glasses, in his Brabham BT42-Ford Cosworth, 1973 Austrian Grand Prix, Osterreichring (retired).

He was one of the best endurance drivers of the early 60s to the early 80s. Stommelen won the 24 Hours of Daytona four times (1968, 1978, 1980 and 1982), his class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, three times (1966, 1976, 1979) and the Targa Florio in 1967 in a Porsche 910.

Stommelen was very fast, especially when he drove a Porsche, and took pole position for the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 917, a year after finishing third in a Porsche 908. That year 1969, he became the first driver to exceed 350 km/h (217 mph) on the Le Mans Mulsanne Straight in the mighty, but at that time quite dangerous, Porsche 917LH (picture below).