John Woolfe

John Woolfe on June 14, 1969 at Le Mans; a few minutes before the start of the race

John Woolfe (born March 23, 1932 in London , † June 14, 1969 in Le Mans ) was a British racing car driver and racing team owner.

Career

John Woolfe competed in sports car races in Great Britain in the 1960s and founded the John Woolfe Racing team in 1968 together with the American David Riswick . In 1969, John Woolfe was one of the first private racing drivers to acquire a Porsche 917 . In order to comply with the homologation guidelines for the World Sports Car Championship , Porsche had to build 25 of the 917s developed at the instigation of Ferdinand Piëch . In order to even come close to covering the considerable development costs, Porsche was forced to sell some racing cars to wealthy privateers. Woolfe wanted his 917 at the Le Mans 24 Hourswhere it made its debut on a Chevron B12 in 1968 . Even before the race, the British motorsport press criticized that it was irresponsible to sell such a fast and difficult-to-drive racing car to a private racing driver. However, Woolfe had already gained experience with high-capacity racing cars with the Ford GT40 and the Lola T70 .

Originally, Richard Attwood provided as a partner for Le Mans. Attwood had a contract with John Woolfe Racing and competed for the racing team in sports car races in Great Britain. However, Attwood received a contract as a works driver at Porsche. Herbert Linge joined the team as a new teammate . The seasoned Linge was supposed to drive the first part of the race as well, but Woolfe insisted on this privilege as his entire family was present.

There was already a serious accident on the first lap. Woolfe's Porsche 917 was only in 21st place on the grid, but Woolfe was one of the fastest at the Le Mans start and was in the top ten at the end of the Les Hunaudières straight . Entering Maison Blanche he hit the grass with both left wheels, lost control of the car and hit the guardrail on the right at high speed . Because Woolfe had n't fastened his seat belt when he started , he was thrown out of the car. The vehicle's tank ripped and the Porsche went up in flames. Chris Amon - who shared a Ferrari 312P with Peter Schetty - could no longer avoid the crowd behind Woolfe and crashed into the wreck. While Amon was uninjured, Woolfe died at the scene of the accident.

After the race there were rumors that Woolfe did not close the door of the Porsche 917 properly when it started. Parts flying off would have damaged the rear spoiler and thereby contributed to the accident. But this thesis could not be proven. In 1968 Willy Mairesse only half closed a door of his Ford GT40 and lost it in a serious accident in front of the Mulsanne while driving.

After Woolfe's fatal accident, the Le Mans start at the 1970 Le Mans 24 Hours was replaced by the Indianapolis start .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1968	John Woolfe Racing	Chevron B12	Digby Martland	failure	Overheated cylinder
1969	John Woolfe Racing	Porsche 917	Herbert Linge	failure	fatal accident involving Woolfe

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10
1968	John Woolfe Racing	Chevron B12	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
										DNF		DNF
1969	John Woolfe Racing	Porsche 917	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
										DNF

Web links

Commons : John Woolfe  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Entry at motorsportmemorial.org (English)
• Image: John Woolfe at the start of the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1969

Individual evidence

1. ^ Motorsportmemorial.org: John Woolfe