RICHARD ATTWOOD: LE MANS LEGEND AND MONACO MASTER
Few can claim to have done what Richard Attwood has in motorsport. In a professional racing career spanning just seven seasons, Attwood established himself as a master of two of motorsport’s most storied races: the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Monaco Grand Prix.
Furthermore only Attwood, alongside his co-driver Hans Herrmann, can claim to have taken the Porsche marque’s first ever overall Le Mans 24 Hours victory, which he did half a century ago this year.Attwood moreover was central in the first steps of the Porsche 917, a car that routinely tops petrolheads’popularity polls. He entered three Le Mans in the groundbreaking machine, from 1969 to ’71, and he nearly won all three.
His Monaco crowning glory was finishing second for BRM in the 1968 grand prix, just 2.2 seconds behind the victor Graham Hill.And in more recent timesAttwood’s been a regular participant in historic racing as well as frequently pilots Porsches in demonstrations such as at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
He’s turned 80 this year too.
Plus, as he starts by explaining to us, the 917’s 1969 Le Mans debut was far from straightforward. That, sharing with Vic Elford, the car retired from a clear lead when the gearbox broke was the least of the problems.
Question: “How scary was the Porsche 917 when you first drove it?” Alexander Cameron Via email
Richard Attwood: “Unbelievably so, it was the scariest car I ever drove. I didn’t test it at all, people think I tested it quite a bit before, but the first time I drove it was to qualify for the race at Le Mans in 1969. You’re a professional driver and you’ve got to do whatever you’re meant to do as a professional driver, but the car was unbelievably difficult. There wasn’t any downforce really.
“But the car was so hugely fast, probably 30mph faster than anything else there’d ever been at Le Mans. I can explain it best by the kink at Le Mans down the [Mulsanne] straight. In any car I’ve ever driven before or after that period it was easily flat. This car couldn’t take it flat it all, you would just literally not get round the corner.
“It was just ridiculous, because you couldn’t keep the car on the ground. And to illustrate my point two people had massive problems with that same car at Le
