"When the technology goes on strike," Rolf Stommelen once said, "there's nothing you can do, it's fate". On that tragic day in April 1983, when the aerodynamic forces tugged so hard on his Porsche 935, the former Formula 1 driver was proved right. The rear wing broke at 300 km/h. On the 94th lap of the six-hour race in Riverside, California, the Cologne-based driver's sports car spun through the air and crashed into a concrete wall. German motor racing lost one of its greats that day - this year marked the 30th anniversary of Stommelen's death, so we took a closer look at the latest biography of Rolf Stommelen.
From birth in a shelter to the fatal Riverside
During the Second World War, Cologne was repeatedly the target of Allied air raids. Wilhelm Stommelen therefore brought his pregnant wife to friends in Siegen. Rolf was born on April 23, 1943, just outside Cologne in an air raid shelter. It is striking that there is only one photo of Rolf's childhood in the book. When asked why he didn't have any more photos, his father, who was still young at the time, said: "Back then, I still had to cycle 20 kilometers to get my boy his fresh milk. I didn't have time for photos."
The Second World War forced many to restart their business lives. It also changed the lives of the Stommelen family. After the currency reform in 1948, Wilhelm set up his own petrol station, later rented a garage and established a car rental business. While children Rolf's age were playing football, Stommelen Junior was driving around on his father's property in an NSU Fox. By the age of seven, Rolf was already driving his father's Opel. After eight years of school, he trained as a car mechanic at the leading VW and Porsche dealer in Cologne at the time.
A Porsche Super 90 for his birthday
As a reward for completing his apprenticeship as a mechanic, Stommelen's parents gave their son a Porsche Super 90 in 1962. Rolf did not use the new car for any sporting activities, apart from the countless cavalier starts at traffic lights. "I discovered that I could do it," said Stommelen later, "but I still didn't want to become a racing driver. I then bought a Porsche 904 so I could race around with pretty girls," that was in 1964.
In 3rd place for fun
"It was at a hill climb near Bitburg in the Eifel, where I was competing for the first time, completely unencumbered by any knowledge of motorsport. I simply drove there on Saturday, wondered about the word 'scrutineering', and was then terribly slow during training because I thought at every blind bend that there might be a hairpin bend coming up. In the afternoon, I took a closer look at the track in my girlfriend's old Opel, and then things got better," Stommelen later grinned in an interview about his first race, in which he finished on the podium, in third place after Udo Schütz in the Porsche 904 and Willi Bartels in the Carrera 2.
From hill climb to Le Mans
Porsche race director Huschke von Hanstein had his eye on the young Stommelen early on and arranged for him to start in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965, where he did not get to drive due to premature gearbox damage. In 1966, Stommelen drove a Carrera 6 together with Günter 'Bobby' Klass and secured class victory in the sports car category.
"The Porsche 917 is too unsympathetic for me..."
After Gerhard Mitter's fatal accident on August 1, 1969 at the Nürburgring and the subsequent retirement of Udo Schütz, only Jo Siffert, Brian Redman, Vic Elford, Kurt Ahrens, Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood remained in the two Porsche works teams. Rolf Stommelen refused to extend his contract for 1970: "I just don't like the car...".
Nobody knows for sure whether the switch to Autodelta was really only motivated by the apparently not so great 917 or rather by the highly remunerated contract. However, when Rolf's friend Günther Bott told him that Autodelta was offering three times the salary of Porsche, things became much clearer.
"Team of the blind"
And so Rolf Stommelen drove for Autodelta from 1970. Together with Andrea de Adamich and Masten Gregory, another spectacle wearer joined the team and they were jokingly referred to as the 'team of the blind'. Rolf commented: "With narrow spectacle rims, the lateral field of vision is also optimal. Despite the visor, my eyes can't tolerate contact lenses while driving, too much dust." The book devotes 40 pages to his time at Autodelta.
A round of Targa Florio with Rolf Stommelen
The book is written very entertainingly and fluently, but some short chapters offer a special contrast and make reading even more fun. In the book, you can enjoy five of these personal episodes from Rolf Stommelen's life, starting with the hellish ride of Austrian motorsport journalist Helmut Zwickl, who sat in the passenger seat of Rolf Stommelen's Porsche 910 for a whole lap of the 1967 Targa Florio. It goes without saying that Helmut Zwickl took a ballpoint pen and notepad into the car in vain! These texts are unique and contribute to the fact that we can warmly recommend the book.
"I'd like a kitchen, but it can't cost anything..."
With this unusual remark, Rolf conjured up broad smiles on the faces of the sponsor managers at Bosch when he visited them together with Hans Herrmann. Although Hans Herrmann's personal chapter is a little short, it is amusing and indispensable. It provides some of the background to the switch to Autodelta.
Capri, Schnitzer and Formula 1
The book not only looks at the endurance races in detail, but also tells the story of Rolf's involvement in touring car racing, the German Racing Championship and Formula 1.
Photos by Ferdi Kräling
Most of the approximately 400 photos shown are from Ferdi Kräling's archive and are mostly large-format images. The choice of photos was particularly pleasing.
Who should buy the book?
Lovers of high quality photos will get their money's worth, lots of portraits and of course tons of racing photos, many of the photos have never been published before.
Anyone who has an affinity with one of the Porsche, Ford, BMW or Alfa Romeo brands will also be interested in the book. The cars are illustrated in detail and are also described in detail in the text: you can learn about every change that was made to a vehicle during the test laps.
Anyone who hasn't bought a motorsport book for a long time and would like to immerse themselves in this world again could pick up this book: it is suitably varied due to Rolf Stommelen's wide range of activities.
Information about the book
- Order book from Amazon
- Order book directly from the publisher
- Publisher: Petrolpics
- Authors: Michael Behrndt and Erich Kahnt
- Photos: mainly Ferdi Kräling
- 304 pages, over 400 photos
- Hardcover with dust jacket
- German
- ISBN-10 : 394030624X
- ISBN-13: 978-3-9403-0624-1
- Dimensions: 25 x 29 cm (W x H)
