The return of Porsche

By 1968 Porsche had returned to LeMans to claim victory. The following two Time magazine articles chronicle their attempts in 1968 and 1970.

"Porsche Parade"
Friday, Feb. 16, 1968

Oldtime fans still talk with awe about the thundering Auto Unions that dominated the Grand Prix circuit in the late 1930s, and the howling “Silver Arrows” of Mercedes-Benz that Juan Manuel Fangio drove to victory after victory in the mid-1950s. But for a nation that once ruled the road, Germany has taken few top honors recently.
Its last triumph in the 24 Hours of Le Mans came way back in 1952, and no German car has won a Grand Prix race for half a dozen years. But in Florida last week a trio of long-tailed Porsche 907 prototypes put on a performance that suggested this year may be Deutschland über Alles once again. They finished one-two-three in the 24 Hours of Daytona, the longest sports-car endurance race in the U.S. and a major tune-up for Le Mans.

With its little 2.2-liter engine, the Porsche 907 is a 270-h.p. midget compared with the seven-liter, 500-h.p. Ford Mark IV prototype that averaged a record 135.4 m.p.h. at Le Mans last year. But it is a muscular midget—durable, exceptionally nimble in the turns, capable of straightaway speeds up to 175 m.p.h. And this year, with prototypes restricted to engines under three liters in displacement, it does not have to try to keep pace with far bigger Fords and Ferraris.

No factory Fords or Ferraris were entered at Daytona, but there were several privately owned Ferraris and two Ford GT40 “sports cars”—production copies of the old 4.2-liter prototype that ran at Le Mans in 1964. Although they were not technically in competition for prototype-class honors, the Fords were still the cars to beat.

Porsche’s strategy for the race was to run at the heels of the faster GT40s, hoping that the strain of the 24-hour grind would take its toll. “The important thing,” said Baron Huschke von Hanstein, Porsche’s team manager, “was to stay with the Fords, not losing contact, and wear them out.” The plan worked perfectly. One after another, the little white Porsches took turns dicing with the Fords for the lead; after only four hours, one of the GT40s pulled into the pits with transmission troubles, the other retired eleven hours later with a damaged fuel system. From that point on, it was a Porsche parade. Averaging 106.7 m.p.h., Britain’s Vic Elford in No. 54 took the checkered flag as the winner, in the company of two other Porsches that escorted him across the line.

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"Power to the Porsches"
Monday, June 29, 1970

Horsepower, that is. Always a top competitor in its class, Porsche in past years was known as the Volkswagen of sports cars—a small, sturdy “superbug” that made up in precision performance what it lacked in muscle. In the past two years, however, Porsche debuted two models designed to mix it up with the big boys. Last year the Porsche 908, with a larger 3-liter engine and 380 h.p., proved that it could more than hold its own when it won the World Manufacturers’ Championship, losing only three of the ten races on the circuit. The most disappointing defeat came at Le Mans, France, when—hurt of all hurts—a heavy, outdated Ford GT-40 managed to best the new 908 by the scant margin of one second in the closest finish in the 38-year history of the event.

Last week Porsche returned to Le Mans revved up for revenge. This time they had the new Porsche 917, a low-slung speedster with a 4.9-liter engine and 660 h.p. that can hit speeds of up to 200 m.p.h. on the straightaway. As was the case last year, the West German cars had already clinched the world championship, having won endurance races in the U.S., England, Italy, Belgium and Germany. Nonetheless, as the most prestigious race on the international circuit, the 24 Hours of Le Mans was one trophy the Porsche team dearly wanted to win —a feat they had never accomplished in 19 years of trying. The Ford GT-40s were not competing, but Ferrari, which handed Porsche its lone defeat this year at Sebring, Fla., was strongly represented, as were Alfa Romeo and Matra-Simca. As it happened, the cars might have made a better showing if they had been equipped with water wings instead of wheels.

No Heir in Sight. Swept by torrential rains, the race became a dangerous game of dodge ‘em in which the only strategy was survival. After a few sloshy turns around the twisting, 8.4-mile course, Ferrari Driver Ronnie Bucknum allowed that “this race makes Indianapolis look like a Sunday drive. I was plain terrified most of the time.” Ferrari, which had eleven entries, lost five cars in the first three hours, three in a single accident. Early the next morning Belgian Driver Jacky Ickx slammed his Ferrari 5125 into a one-lane S-curve in an attempt to overtake Swiss Driver Jo Siffert’s front-running Porsche. Ickx lost the gamble, jammed on the brakes, and his racer skidded off the road. He emerged with minor injuries, but a racing official in the car’s path was fatally injured.

A half-hour later, Siffert’s Porsche was sidelined with engine trouble. No matter. Among the 16 of 51 starters still moving at the end of the race, eleven were Porsches. More important, the West German cars finished one-two-three, with the Porsche 917 driven by Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood leading the way at an average speed of 119.29 m.p.h. over 2,863 rain-slowed miles. Slow as the pace was, the closest contender to Porsche was Bucknum’s Ferrari, which finished fourth at a distant 248 miles behind the winner. Since there is no heir apparent in sight, the 1970 Le Mans was further proof that the Porsche will be the sovereign of sports-car racing in the '70s.