1970 – Porsche’s first Le Mans victory

It was 50 years ago this week, on the 14^th June 1970, that Attwood and Hans Herrmann put in one of racing’s finest ‘tortoise and hare’ acts to become unlikely winners of the 24 Hours, claiming a landmark first for Porsche that would set it on course for a record number of wins at the race that would become its own. It could – perhaps should – have been the big characters who stamped their mark on Porsche and Le Mans history in the glorious 917: Jo Siffert, Pedro Rodriguez or perhaps Vic Elford. Instead, and rather deliciously, it was the understated Attwood and his veteran team-mate who splashed through a deluge and paced their way to a victory that would best be described as low-key, were it not for its huge significance.

Near misses in 1969 – the closes finish at Le Mans

Either Attwood or Herrmann could have written this chapter separately a year earlier. Elford had requested Attwood as his team-mate in the then-new 917 for Le Mans in 1969, a compliment Richard cursed. It’s well known that what would become one of motor racing’s most celebrated racing cars was a terrible handful when first conceived and Attwood didn’t exactly enjoy his first 917 experience at Le Mans, even if he and Elford almost won. Two of the four exhausts exited through the car’s flanks at about driver ear-level, deafening Attwood and giving him a splitting headache. Then there was the car’s spooky aerodynamic instability down the Mulsanne, unpredictably pitching either the nose or tail and making it hard to drive in a straight line. But by God it was fast – the fastest thing he’d driven and would ever drive – and they led by six laps after 20 hours. But when the increasingly troublesome gearbox failed, relief to be out of the thing rather than crushing disappointment was the overwhelming emotion.

More famously, Herrmann came even closer to victory – by a matter of just 120 metres. That was the gap his Porsche 908 lost out by to Jacky Ickx’s Ford GT40 after a last-lap scrap that resulted in the closest (genuine rather than staged) finish at Le Mans. For a man who had been around motor racing long enough to have been a team-mate to Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio at Mercedes in 1955, but had yet to land the big result for which he’d always yearned, this defeat stung. Attwood didn’t know 42-year-old Herrmann when they were teamed together a year later, and neither spoke each other’s language – but Richard soon clocked how determined his new comrade was to make up for what he’d lost in 1969.

Rain at the start of the reign

By 1970, the Porsche 917 had been tamed by John Wyer Automotive’s steadfast engineer John Horsman (who died in April this year) and it appeared almost certain to deliver the first Le Mans victory Porsche craved. Nine were entered, either with 5.0-litre or 4.5-litre flat-12 power – developed by the legendary Hans Mezger, who died last week – in both short-tail and ‘Langheck’ spec. The Porsches were pitched against 11 works and privateer Ferrari 512S entries, but as wondrous as the Italian cars looked and sounded, they really didn’t stand a chance in the face of the 917 squadron’s might.

Befitting his natural character, Attwood showed restraint in his choice of engine, his unhappy gearbox experiences in ’69 leading him towards the 4.5-litre with an eye on reliability. Soon he would come to regret it as he watched Herrmann take the start – the first not to feature the traditional dash across the track that had finally been deemed unsafe following John Woolfe’s fatal accident in a 917 on the first lap in 1969. In streaming conditions, Herrmann had no hope of living with the likes of Elford and Siffert in the 5.0-litre cars that boasted more torque. Fitted with just a four-speed gearbox but with use of first gear banned at Mulsanne corner and Arnage because of its fragility, Herrmann and Attwood’s bright red with white stripes short-tail 917 was losing up to six seconds a lap to their team-mates.

But the race came to them, as one by one their supposedly more illustrious colleagues fell by the wayside. By 2am on the Sunday morning #23 917 was leading – and would still be so at 4pm, to win by five laps from the garish psychedelic long-tail driven by Willi Kauhsen and Gérard Larrousse.

Sweet retribution, then, for Herrmann – but Attwood retreated from the celebrations. “We did 14 hours in terrible conditions and all we had to do was to finish the race,” he said. “That was the challenge. The biggest challenge was at the end, we had to finish without doing something stupid. I think it was the record for the fewest race finishers.”

What he doesn’t mention his own decimated physical state. Throughout he’d had a sore throat and swollen glands that had prevented him from imbibing anything other than milk. By the end all he wanted was his bed, a doctor later diagnosing he had the mumps… Glory for Porsche? His career-defining achievement has since served Attwood well, but half a century ago no wonder all he could muster was a swell of relief.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.