“The reputation, the legend, the challenge”: Helmut Marko remembers his turbulent times at the classic “Le Mans” race.
Image: picture alliance / DPPI
In the F.A.Z. interview, Helmut Marko talks about all his experiences at the 24-hour race in Le Mans. He experienced a lot there: triumph, tragedy – and a dangerous attempt that he knew nothing about.
They won at “Le Mans” in 1971. What do you remember?
Anno Hecker
Responsible editor for sports.
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About a unique atmosphere with, that’s what they said back then, 400,000 spectators, about the smells from the sausage stands during the evening training and about our position in the Porsche team. My co-driver Gijs von Lennep and I were the youngsters.
Some kind of experimental team?
At least the two of us drove a Porsche 917 traveling with new things. Ours had a magnesium trellis frame and perforated brake discs. After the win, the then Porsche race director Ferdinand Piëch came to me and said: ‘Congratulations on the win, I’m surprised. We weren’t at all sure if that would work with the frame and the brake discs.’