Willie Kauhsen shared the “hippy”-liveried Martini Porsche 917 Langheck during the famed 1970 running of the 24-Hours of Le Mans. Kauhsen and Larousse finished 2nd, behind the winning short-tail 917 of Hermann and Attwood, but would have won were it not for ignition trouble caused by the heavy rains that year.
One of the races I remember well from my career was winning the 24-Hours at Spa in 1968. I drove the Porsche 911 to 1st overall, and it was a beautiful race for me although it had the usual Spa weather with rain for more than 18 hours. I was very happy to win that with my co-driver, Helmut Kelleners, and it left me with a good feel- ing about racing at Spa.
Willi Kauhsen
My first race at Spa had been in 1965 in a Mini-Cooper with a Downton engine, and then in 1966, I had a 1000-cc Fiat-Abarth with the open engine cover. I came back again in 1967 which was the year I won the European Championship in the Fiat-Abarth. This was a good build-up to winning the 24-Hours in 1968. I also did some of the 1000 Kilometer races at Spa, and of course, all these races were on the old, longer circuit which is not like any- where else in the world. Le Mans is fast, and so is Monza, but there is no experience like pushing a very quick car through the corners at Spa. The risk is very big but so is the thrill, and the sense that you have done something well.
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