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Celebrating the 85th Birthday of Hans Herrmann in Photos

Hans Herrmann at Hockenheim, 1961
Hans Herrmann at Hockenheim, 1961 (Porsche AG)

Legendary racing driver Hans Herrmann celebrates his 85th birthday on 23 February 2013. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, the endurance and Monoposto specialist is regarded as one of the most reliable and consistent race drivers of all time. In the course of his motor sport career, Hans Herrmann won more than 80 overall and best of class victories.
The proverbial “Hans im Glück” (Hans in Luck) at the wheel celebrated his greatest successes with sports cars from Porsche: in the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, the Carrera Panamericana and of course in Le Mans, with the first overall victory for Porsche in 1970, driving a 917. His career began appropriately: in 1952, in a private Porsche 356, he took part in hill climbs, rallies and reliability runs. The very next year, he came fifth in the Lyon-Charbonnières Rally, together with Richard von Frankenberg in a Porsche 356.
Thereupon Porsche’s racing manager at that time, Huschke von Hanstein, brought him into Porsche works team. In 1953, Herrmann went to the start for the first time in the 24 Hours of Le Mans where, together with co-pilot Helm Glöckler in a Porsche 550 Coupé, he gained a best of class victory in the category up to 1.5 liters capacity at his very first try.
After Herrmann had also secured the title of German Sports Car Champion in the same year, he attracted the attention of Mercedes-Benz head of racing Alfred Neubauer, who integrated the 26-year-old into his works team along with Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss and Karl Kling. Parallel to this, in 1954 Herrmann continued to start for Porsche and gained prestigious class victories in the 550 Spyder in the Mille Miglia and the Carrera Panamericana.
Never to be forgotten is the spectacular incident that occurred during the Mille Miglia in 1954, when Herrmann and his co-pilot Herbert Linge ducked flat under the barriers to cross the rails at a closed level crossing, right in the path of a rapidly approaching train. Later, Herrmann made a photo of the spectacular moment the subject of a letter card, with the inscription “Glück muss man haben” (“You’ve got to be lucky”). In conversation, he completed this definition in a much more serious undertone: “Glück hat, wer als Rennfahrer überlebt.” (“Luck, for a racing driver, is to survive”).
1953 Le Mans 24 Hours Porsche 550 Coupe
1953 Le Mans 24 Hours – Hans Herrmann shared the Porsche 550 Coupe with Helmut Glocker, finishing 16th overall. (Porsche AG)

1954 Mille Miglia Porsche 550
1954 Mille Miglia – Hans Herrmann and Herbert Linge in the Porsche 550. (Porsche AG)

1954 Mille Miglia Porsche 550
Hans Herrmann and his co-pilot Herbert Linge ducked flat under the barriers to cross the rails at a closed level crossing, right in the path of a rapidly approaching train. (Porsche AG)

1954 Mille Miglia Porsche 550
Lucky at the 1954 Mille Miglia – Hans Herrmann and Herbert Linge finished first in class (6th overall) in their Porsche 550. (Porsche AG)

1954 Carrera Panamericana, Porsche 550
Hans Herrmann drove the Porsche 550 to 3rd overall and first in class at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana. (Porsche AG)

Hans Herrmann Celebrates 85th Birthday – Page Two

In the very first race of the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows at the French Grand Prix of 1954 in Reims, Herrmann drove the fastest lap time, 2:32.9 minutes – corresponding to an average speed of 195.463 km/h. Over the course of the season he took two Grand Prix podium places, in the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix and the 1954 Avus race, in each case coming 3rd.

Mercedes-Benz Team at the 1954 French Grand Prix
French Grand Prix, Reims 1954. The Mercedes-Benz team of racing drivers, starting from the left: Hans Herrmann, Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling. (Daimler AG)

Start of the 1954 French Grand Prix at Reims
French Grand Prix in Reims, July 4, 1954: Juan Manuel Fangio, who was to win the race, at the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R streamliner (start number 18), next to him Karl Kling (start number 20), and behind them Hans Herrmann (start number 22). (Daimler AG)

When in 1955 the Daimler-Benz works withdrew from motor sport, Hans Herrmann was at the start again for Porsche. There followed the wandering years with Maserati, B.R.M and Borgward and, in 1959, the next homecoming to Herrmann’s ‘own brand’, Porsche. Together with Olivier Gendebien in a Porsche 718 RS 60 Spyder, he won the 1960 12 Hours of Sebring, achieving Porsche’s first overall victory in a manufacturers’ world championship endurance race. Shortly afterwards, the combination Hans Herrmann/Porsche RS 60 Spyder, together with Joakim Bonnier, also won the round Sicily ‘Targa Florio’. In 1960, Herrmann also became Formula 2 European Champion with the Porsche 718/2.
Sebring 1956 - Hans Herrmann with Porsche 550 Spyder (Porsche AG)
Sebring 1956 – Hans Herrmann and Wolfgang von Trips finished 6th overall and 1st in classic in the Porsche 550 Spyder (Porsche AG)

Hans Herrmann, driver of the Porsche 718 RSK
1959 Nurburgring 1000KM – Huschke von Hanstein in conversation with Hans Herrmann, seated in the Porsche 718 RSK (Porsche AG)

In 1962 he changed to Carlo Abarth and was active as works driver for the Vienna design engineer from 1963. Three years later, in 1966, he returned to the Porsche works team once again. Not only did Herrmann take part in all the great endurance races, besides driving European hill climb championship courses; he also carried out countless test drives in the – then newly-opened – Weissach Development Center.
In 1969 the Porsche works team, with pilots Hans Herrmann, Jo Siffert, Vic Elford, Rolf Stommelen, Udo Schütz and Gerhard Mitter, gained the manufacturers’ world championship title for Porsche for the first time. Previously, Hans Herrmann had finally had to hand the victory to Jacky Ickx in a Ford GT 40 after 24 hours of fierce fighting, owning himself beaten by 120 meters in one of the most thrilling Le Mans races of all time. One year later, things went better for him: in his eleventh Le Mans he was able to gain Porsche’s first overall victory.
The 1970 Le Mans-winning Porsche 917 KH of Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood
The 1970 Le Mans-winning Porsche 917 KH of Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood. (Porsche AG)

After capping his success in motor racing with the Le Mans victory of 1970, Herrmann withdrew from active motor racing that same year, at the height of his career. From then on he would devote himself above all to his automotive accessories business. But the “birthday boy” has retained close links with the world of motorsport to this day – above all as a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz Classic.
These days Hans Herrmann is regularly to be found behind the wheel of historical Mercedes-Benz competition vehicles, as a guest at any one of a variety of classic events, where he is able to convey to visitors the fascination of an important period in motor racing.
“Our congratulations to our brand ambassador Hans Herrmann, who has been a good friend of Mercedes-Benz for almost 60 years now,” commented Michael Bock, Head of Mercedes-Benz Classic, expressing his thanks to Herrmann for his contribution to keeping the brand’s heritage alive.
Hans Herrmann (W 196 R open-wheel version), Mercedes-Benz Classic, Goodwood Revival 2011
Hans Herrmann (W 196 R open-wheel version), Goodwood Revival 2011 (Daimler AG)

Goodwood Revival 2011, Mercedes-Benz, Juan Manuel Fangio II., Stirling Moss, Hans Herrmann (Daimler AG)
Goodwood Revival 2011, Mercedes-Benz, Juan Manuel Fangio II., Stirling Moss, Hans Herrmann (Daimler AG)

Hans Herrmann (W 196 R open-wheel version), Mercedes-Benz Classic, Goodwood Revival 2011
Hans Herrmann in the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R at the 2011 Goodwood Revival (photo: Daimler AG)

[Source: Daimler AG; Porsche AG]