Wollek's number one

Sir,

In your interesting article on the Kremer Porsche 917K-81 (June issue) you say the only other minor criticism is that the late Bob Wollek had not, at that stage of his career, yet been a works driver.

I was working on a Porsche 935K3 that year, and we were honoured to have Wollek drive the car in the Nürburgring 1000kms. It wasn’t the most professionally-prepared car in the race, but Bob was a delight to work with. His initial inspection comprised a check on spring rates and shock settings, and by poking his toe under the front splitter; he then asked us to raise the ride height by 10mm. Sure enough, ours was one of the few 935s not to destroy its front splitter that weekend.

The race was marred by Herbert Müller’s crash, but Wollek starred, driving 90 per cent of the shortened distance and running as high as second. The only downside was having to clean and dry out the seat afterwards, as “to stop for a leak is a waste of time!” A great driver, a great loss.

At Le Mans in 1981, the second, even older, entry in the IMSA class was a late-60s McLaren M6GT-Chevrolet. Reports described the car as ‘poorly prepared, if prepared at all’, and it inevitably failed to qualify after a succession of problems.

I am,Yours etc,

Adam Going, East Preston, West Sussex