Before leaving his home in Stuttgart to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the summer of 1970, the German racing driver Hans Herrmann promised his wife, Magdalena, that if he won, he would retire from the cockpit. This was his 14th attempt at the French sports car classic and, at 42, he was not expecting to have to honour his pledge.
But win he did. He and his co-driver, Richard Attwood, a former Jaguar apprentice, held the lead in their Porsche 917K for the last 12 hours of a race run on a rain-drenched track so treacherous that only seven cars out of 51 starters were able to reach the finish.
