24h Le Mans
The winningest team owner in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (15 victories between 1984 and 2014), Reinhold Joest - who celebrated his 80th birthday on April 24th - also experienced life as a driver at Le Mans from 1969 to 1980. His longtime loyalty to Porsche allowed him to drive, throughout the 1970s, some of the German manufacturer's most famous prototypes.
917/20, Reinhold Joest and the "Pink Pig" - Back at Le Mans two years after his first participation, with a Ford GT40, in 1971 Reinhold Joest shared the wheel of a very special Porsche 917 with Willi Kauhsen. The fruit of a specific study for the North American CanAm challenge, the 917/20 turned heads with its pink livery and huge red dotted lines delineating a pig's meat sections. It was a nod to the Sarthe, region of rillettes, and earned the 917/20 the moniker "Pink Pig!"
908, the Porsche "Shaker" - Appearing in 1968, the 908 is the car that gave Porsche, with Jo Siffert at the wheel, its first pole position at Le Mans, the same year. It enjoyed exceptional longevity, mainly thanks to Reinhold Joest. With this car, he claimed his first podium finish at the 24 Hours (third in 1972) and finished fourth in 1975.
936, a new generation - In 1976, Porsche entered two units of their new prototype, the 936, powered by a turbocompressed engine that had debuted two years earlier in a very special version of the 911, the Carrera Turbo. The car entrusted to Jacky Ickx and Gijs van Lennep was topped with an air intake, whereas the one driven by Reinhold Joest and Jürgen Barth was instead mounted with a roll bar. Ickx and van Lennep won the race, Joest and Barth were forced to retire in the 17th hour when their engine broke down. In 1980, Porsche provided Reinhold Joest's team with a 936 chassis that would end up entered at the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the name 908/80. Along with Jacky Ickx, Reinhold Joest reached the second step on the podium. He competed in his last 24 Hours as a driver the following year with this car, along with Klaus Niedzwiedz and Dale Whittington (retirement).
Click below for the first installment in this series:
Reinhold Joest, a...driver at Le Mans (1) - Nine starts and more
Photo: Here partially completed at the free practice session of the 1971 edition, the livery of the 9017/20 nicknamed "Pink Pig" - the first Porsche driven in-race by Reinhold Joest at the 24 Hours of Le Mans - was finished for the start of the race.
