John Fitzpatrick
on the Porsche he regrets selling, and being showered with debris
Earlier this month I flew to Atlanta for the RM Sotheby’s auction, where my Jdavid 956 was crossing the block. It brings back some great memories and, of course, I now regret ever selling it. Chassis 956-110 was delivered new for Le Mans in 1983 for David Hobbs and myself to drive. Competition was tough but we ran towards the front, behind the three Rothmans cars, until the early hours of the morning when a fuel metering unit failed out on the circuit and David had to walk back to the pits. The real drama of the race was on the very first lap. Mario and Michael Andretti were driving the Kremerentered 956 and had qualified towards the front of the grid, but had made a mediocre start. By the time the cars reached the Mulsanne straight, Mario was well back in the pack. In those days there were no chicanes so it was a flat out run down to the tight Mulsanne corner. About three quarters of the way down the straight there is a slight right hand bend called the Mulsanne kink. Even at top speed, 240mph plus, it can be taken flat out providing you take the correct line. That is to say, entering the corner from the far left edge of the track, clipping the apex on the right on the way through and drifting out to the edge of the track on the way out. Quite exhilarating when you got it right.
I had made a decent start and was lying fourth or fifth behind the factory cars going down the Mulsanne straight. On the long run down to the kink, Mario had slipstreamed several cars and was probably on the rev limiter doing at least 250mph. I saw him coming down the inside and he overtook me on the right, just before the kink. Of course, he was on the wrong line and had no chance of making the corner. His car slid across the track onto the sandy verge throwing up a shower of stones at the following cars, of which I was the first. A seriously large stone shot up and hit my windshield and came through into the car, leaving a two-inch hole behind it. I went straight into the pits, met by my mechanics who were wondering what on earth had happened. The hole in the windshield was taped up as best they could and I handed a small boulder out through the window.
Although Le Mans had been disappointing we took the car back to the workshop in Silverstone and received a call from the SCCA, which was suffering dwindling fields for its Can-am races. It invited us to take part in events at Mosport and Elkhart Lake (Road America), which resulted in a win and a third place. Then in September we won the 1000km race at Brands Hatch, which made up for a lot of disappointments. My regular co-driver, David Hobbs, was busy winning the Trans-am championship that weekend, so I asked Derek Warwick to join me. Thanks to his great drives in the wet we managed to beat the factory Rothmans Team.
The car didn’t sell in Atlanta, but when it does find a new owner I hope they gain as much pleasure from it as I did.