Porsche's First Le Mans Win - The Porsche 917K
- Finlay Ringer
- Jan 13
- 6 min read
On a rainy day in 1970, Porsche made a gutsy challenge against the mighty Ferrari, but how did its first triumph play out?
By 1969, Porsche was no stranger to Le Mans, nor to winning races; it had taken victories all over the world with cars varying from early 356s to the latest 908 prototype, including class wins at Le Mans.
The overall honours still eluded the company. Porsche Motorsport boss Ferdinand Piëch (grandson of company founder Ferdinand Porsche) spied a chance at correcting that when, in 1968, sportscar racing regulations capped the engine capacity of prototype racers at 3-litres.
However, production cars were allowed an engine cap of 5-litres, providing that 50 cars could be built to satisfy production car status (this was later reduced to 25).
Piëch, still in the early stages of becoming the industrial titan that he would be known as later in life, ordered the production of enough of Porsche’s new flagship prototype to satisfy the homologation mandate. In a remarkably short time window, 25 Porsche 917s rolled out of the Zuffenhausen factory to awaiting scrutineers.
The car was an engineering marvel back in 1969, with a lightweight tubular aluminium space frame chassis weighing a mere 42kg. When clad in its striking fibreglass bodywork, the whole car weighed just 800kg.
Legendary designer Hans Mezger created an ear-splitting 4.5-litre Flat-12 with meticulous detail (it took 160 hours to build each engine). Making 575bhp and 376lb-ft, it was a potent machine and challenging to drive with its 5-speed gearbox and rear-wheel drive layout.
After debuting to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in 1969, Porsche mounted an ill-fated campaign at Le Mans. The 917 LHs showed impressive speed but developed a reputation for being unstable and difficult to drive, so much so that Porsche’s factory drivers preferred the older and more developed Porsche 908 for racing on the La Sarthe circuit.
Disaster struck almost immediately in 1969 after privateer John Woolfe was killed when his 917 crashed on the first lap. The two remaining factory cars led the race for some time before both eventually retired with clutch issues.
It was in 1970 that Porsche really perfected the 917 formula. To combat the car’s floaty nature, John Wyer Automotive (JWA) designed the 917 Kurzheck or 917K, which had a chopped rear end made of aluminium. This greatly improved the handling compared to the original 917LH but sacrificed the car’s raw speed by up to 30mph. They would still manage 211mph down the Mulsanne Straight.
The 917K quickly became the favoured variant of the 917, with only two LHs being entered at Le Mans. Porsche would enter seven 917s across three privateer teams, all supported by the Porsche factory.
Its closest rival was the 512S from Ferrari. It was a heavier and less powerful car in comparison but had strength in numbers with 11 prancing horses lining the grid.
It was a year for iconic liveries, including the green and purple swirls of the Martini Racing 917LH (nicknamed the ‘psychedelic’ livery), and the legendary baby blue and orange of JWA’s Gulf sponsored machines.
The fiery red and white schemes of the Porsche Konstruktionen Salzburg have become most synonymous with the 1970 race. Funded by Louise Piëch and managed by her son Ferdinand, the team had a direct link to the Porsche family. They would enter the race with two variants of the 917 with alternate colour schemes. The red and white #23 917K was far from an early favourite, showing a lack of pace in practice compared to the Ferraris and qualifying a lowly 16th, the slowest of the 917s.
The Drivers
Born in Germany in 1928, Hans Hermann had been an apprentice pastry chef during World War 2, but desired a life defined by speed, not war.
His dream of being a racing driver was realised when, in 1952, he began campaigning a Porsche 356 1100cc in national championships with some success. By 1953, he had a factory contract to race for Porsche at Le Mans in a 550 Coupé, taking a class podium. He had an on-again, off-again single-seater career, taking 17 Formula One starts over eight years.
Hermann raced for several teams, including one Grand Prix for Porsche. He even had a contract to race for Mercedes in 1955, but they pulled out of racing entirely after the Le Mans disaster of that year.
He went on to take most of his success in endurance racing with Porsche, stepping away for a few years to race in regional championships with Abarth. He was called back to Porsche in 1966, gradually edging closer to an overall victory at Le Mans.
His efforts culminated in a crushing near miss in 1969, when Hermann missed out on the win to the Ford GT40 of Jacky Ickx by just 120 metres, the closest competitive race finish in Le Mans history. He came to Le Mans in 1970 with a hunger to win, and only one chance to do so – after several close calls in his career, he had promised his wife that this race would be his last.
Hailing from Wolverhampton, Hermann's teammate Richard Attwood was the son of car dealers and grew up surrounded by the motorcar. He started racing in 1959 at age 19. By 1965 he was in Formula One, racing for names like Lotus, BRM and Cooper; he even took a podium at the Monaco Grand Prix.
After a stint at Ford and Ferrari, he started racing sportscars for Porsche in 1967. He secured a factory contract from them in 1969, having earned a reputation for being a precise and reliable driver. Much like his teammate, he had missed out on an overall victory at La Sarthe, so was eager for Le Mans glory. His only problem being that he was driving with the mumps.
The Race
The 38th edition of Le Mans was a race of attrition with many drivers falling foul of the heavy rain and fog. The #23 would run a consistent race from the middle of the pack, moving through the field until, in hour 11, it took the lead. By comparison, the Ferrari effort had stalled, with all four factory entered cars retiring before the halfway point. It was Porsche’s race to lose.
Attwood and Hermann maintained their lead, and after 343 laps they crossed the finish line with a five-minute lead over the next car: the 917LH of Martini Racing, giving Porsche a 1-2 finish.
It was a bittersweet moment for the winners, as Hermann would honour his promise to his wife and retire on the spot, going out on top of the podium he had dreamed of since his first Le Mans in 1953. In 1971, Attwood would take second place at Le Mans in a JWA 917K before hanging up his own helmet.
This was a huge milestone for Porsche, kicking off their reign over Le Mans – they would win again in 1971 with the 917, before taking dominant wins in the Group C, GT1 and LMP1 eras. Even today, Porsche’s 963 Hypercar wears a livery reminiscent of the #23’s red and white scheme. Since 2023, it has searched for that elusive 20th victory, but Porsche's absence from the World Endurance Championship in 2026 means it may have to wait a while to stand on the top step again.
Richard Attwood would return to the circuit to race the Aston Martin Nimrod in the 1980s and has since made a name for himself racing classic cars, including several Porsches. Attwood is still alive today and can be seen at classic racing events like the Goodwood Revival. Hans Hermann died on the 9th of January 2026 at the age of 97. He was active in the racing community until his death. The car which brought them both to victory takes pride of place in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.
Photo Credit: Porsche Newsroom
This article was originally published on The Sportscar Database's social media.
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