KESSELCHEN

KESSELCHEN

Then it’s very fast again, slightly uphill and through a long left bend over a crest at Kesselchen where we used to leave the ground. We would only jump about nine inches in the air, but the track then fell away at almost the same angle as the flying cars, so we’d spend 30 to 40 metres airborne before gently gliding down. At least, that was what normally happened until lack of aerodynamic understanding thrust its ugly head into the mix. In 7968 Jo Siffert and I won the Nurburgring 7000Kms in a Porsche 908 Coupe. The open 908/2 was the car of choice for Porsche in ’69, but Jo

and I had a new version nicknamed the Flounder’ with fiat aerodynamic bodywork for the ‘Ring, and on one practice lap I arrived at Kesselchen, gently took off and continued going up, and up… until I passed over the head of photographer Rainer Schlegelmilch who was lying in the grass beside the road taking pictures, and landed in the bushes beside him!