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 under-tone: “Glück hat, wer als Rennfahrer
überlebt.” (“Luck, for a racing driver, is to survive”).
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.
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.
He took this climax of a career in motor sport as the occasion to withdraw from active racing at the age of 42.
He had also promised his wife Madelaine before the race that if he won he would give up his dangerous
profession. As a pilot of historic race-cars, he also takes part in many vintage car events for the Porsche
Museum, including the “Le Mans Classic”, the “Targa Florio” and the “Solitude Revival”.
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