Moment #4

“When you drive at speeds of more than 350 km/h, the white dashes in the middle of the road look like a continuous line,” explains Hans-Joachim Stuck, who can be seen with Norbert Singer in the fourth episode of “Porsche Moments”. In 1986 and 1987, he was behind the wheel of the Porsche 962 C, whose exceptional performance was also due to an underbody with ground effect designed by Singer. “Stefan Bellof gave me a tip before my first drive: ‘The faster you move in a car with ground effect, the more grip you have,’” remembers Stuck, who also twice won the Supercup in a 962 C. As in the previous year, Stuck drove to overall victory in Le Mans for Porsche in 1987. Norbert Singer was once more responsible for the technical success and received well-earned praise for his contribution. The reunion of the two men is extremely warm and friendly. Stuck is delighted that he is allowed to drive the winning car from back then on the test track in Weissach. Singer takes a trip down memory lane: “It rained all the time,” he says when looking back, “and the quality of the petrol provided was not good. It was OK in training, but the fuel for the race was really poor.” Stuck and his team colleagues Derek Bell and Al Holbert won the race with a lead of 20 laps. “Porsche keeps on winning in Le Mans because all those involved work very professionally from preparation right through to the end,” says Stuck.