{"id":490850,"date":"2009-08-01T15:00:52","date_gmt":"2009-08-01T15:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=45988"},"modified":"2025-01-06T00:46:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T00:46:05","slug":"a-baptism-by-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/a-baptism-by-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"A\u2008Baptism by Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Contrary to what many may believe, the first time I drove a Porsche 917 was when I first sat in one to qualify for the 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours. There were three 917s entered for the race: the privately owned John Woolfe car, the Rolf Stommelen\/Kurt Ahrens car, and the car I shared with Vic Elford. I didn\u2019t necessarily want to drive it, but I assumed it was my turn. No one really wanted to drive the car at all. Mitter and Sch\u00fctz drove at Spa, someone else drove at N\u00fcrburgring, and so, naturally, I thought Le Mans was my turn. It was only five years ago I found out that Elford had nominated me to drive it. We were at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, reminiscing about \u201cthe good old days,\u201d when he told me. My reaction wasn\u2019t pleasant. I thought \u201cMy God, you bastard!\u201d I really could have killed him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Gerhard Mitter and Udo Sch\u00fctz were entered to drive the car at the Spa 1000-kms, in May prior to the Le Mans race. In practice, the weather was dry, but, for the race, it rained. Their car did half a lap and retired with engine problems. Quite recently, I met Udo Sch\u00fctz at the Solitude Revival meeting and I couldn`t help myself but ask if the retirement at Spa was deliberate.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say anything, he just had a wry smile on his face that told me everything. I know I would have done exactly the same; in the dry, it was bad; in the wet, it would have been completely undrivable. None of the Porsche factory drivers wanted to drive it, so, they didn\u2019t\u2014a somewhat mild kind of protest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n