From the beginning, Porsche has always had motorsports in its DNA. As soon as in 1951, the factory put itself truly in the spotlight with the class victory at the Le Mans 24H in the Porsche 356 Gmünd SL. Successes followed up, the one after the other. Not only the true racers like the Porsche 550 Spyder or its successor the Porsche 718 raced from victory to victory. The standard Porsche 356 carried the motorsport genes too, and became succesful in many events. So obviously, everyone looked with great eyes to the motorsport capabilities of the Porsche 356 successor too. And with the introduction of the new six-cylinder Porsche 911, it became obvious that the car was not only designed to be suitable for every day use. The Porsche 911 was blessed with all the talents needed for racing too. And that is exactly what Herbert Linge and Peter Falk proved when they raced the Porsche 911 in the 1965 Rally Monte-Carlo.
As Huschke von Hanstein was both race-director and press-office, he saw the advantage of competing in the Monte-Carlo Rally. The new Porsche 911 could prove its reliability. The Monte-Carlo rally has international exposure, and would definitely put a spotlight on the brand. Huscke von Hanstein decided that the best duo to drive the Porsche 911 in the 1965 Rally Monte Carlo was Herbert Linge and Peter Falk.
Herbert Linge had a huge experience in both racing, and a technical knowledge beyond average. Peter Falk had experience as a development engineer, with a huge obsession for racing. Husckhe von Hanstein gave the duo one order : “Keep the car flawless and reach the finish at the Prince’s palace in Monaco within one piece’.
First practice runs
In the fall of 1964, Linge and Falk were sent on their first practice run for the rally. They were able to drive the course a second time that year between Christmas and New Year’s. They choose a ruby-red Porsche 911 coupe with Pepita artificial leather interior, that just rolled out of the factory
They only increased the output from the standard engine from 130hp to 140-150hp. Weber carburetors replaced the standard Solex carburetors, and they moved to gear lever a little to the back, as Linge wanted. The rest of the additions were standard rally equipment: rollover bar, Twinmaster, stopwatches, two extra front headlights, and the typical roof headlight of the time operated by the codriver. “We only used it to light up the road signs at night,” recalls Falk.
The Monte Carlo Rallye
As if by plan, there was no end of snow in 1965, which turned the Monte Carlo Rally into a winter sport. After setting off from Bad Homburg for Chambéry, Herbert Linge and Peter Falk had to fight their way through masses of snow in Holland, Belgium, and France. Falk reveals a tactic of the time: “We often just used the compass to drive in the snowstorms.”
The weather conditions made that only 159 teams managed to reach Chambéry. Many of them had accumulated a good deal of penalty points for arriving late at checkpoints. In the following stage, conditions even went worse. And only 35 teams survived the stage from Chambéry to Monaco. One of the victims was the Porshe 904 Carrera GTS driven by Pauli Toivonen and Antti Arnio Wihuri. Peter Falk and Herbert Linge did a good job, despite hitting a snow wall once too. Reason enough for Peter Falk to protest and throwing his roadbook on the backseat. However, Huschke von Hanstein convinced him to continue the race, as he was still aware of the worldwide press coverage of the event.
A drive up to the Prince’s Palace of Monte Carlo.
In the last stage, the “night of the long knives” weather was considerably better, even though the teams still had to cope with snow and ice. Only 22 teams made it to the finish, under 10% of the initial field. Porsche did a terrific job. Eugen Böhringer and Rolf Wütherich finished 2nd overall and 1st in class. Peter Falk and Herbert Linge finished 5th overall and 2nd in class with the Porsche 911. And they did exactly what Huscke von Hanstein ordered them to do : ‘Bring the car in one piece to the finish at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco’. The world press was stunned, and the new Porsche 911 was world-news.
Pictures courtesy Porsche AG.
