At Porsche Herrmann would find himself driving everything from Formula One single seaters to open-top sports cars like this 908 to 200-mph prototype coupes like the 917.
Photo: Siggi Brunn Collection
It was 11 in the morning. A 25-year-old German pastry cook was sleeping after a hard night’s baking. Until the phone squealed. He decided to ignore it, turn over and go back to sleep, but it was no good, the phone just rang and rang. So he answered it. At the other end, the gruff voice of Alfred Neubauer asked him to a Mercedes-Benz test session at the Nürburgring. The baker was completely awake after that.
For the July 4, 1954 running of the French Grand Prix at Reims, Hans Herrmann drove this special-bodied Mercedes-Benz W196R Formula One streamliner. Photo: Daimler-Benz
He didn’t know it then, but he was on his way to the big time. To winning the Grand Prix of Austria, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Targa Florio, the Daytona 24 Hours, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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