The classic Nürburgring Nordschleife had both horizontal and vertical curves, although the latter were never counted in the circuit’s total of over 150 corners. Well up in the air here on one of those vertical curves is a Porsche 908/2 during the 1970 Nürburgring 1000 Km. race, driven by Rudi Lins and Willy Kauhsen to sixth place overall. Their car was entered by Martini Racing International and had Porsche factory support.
Rudi Lins was born in Austria where his father had an early Porsche dealership. Once into racing, Lins specialized in hill climbs, winning several championships and joined the Porsche team in the late 1960s. He retired to follow his father in business in 1971. Willy Kauhsen had a longer and rather more varied racing career. One of his best results was a second overall in a Porsche 917 at Le Mans in 1970, followed by successes during 1970-74 in a number of Interserie races with 917s after forming his own team which also ran cars in F2.
Driving the Nordschleife even at relatively normal speeds is something that any auto enthusiast must do on a visit to Germany. It is a truly stunning experience. It is worth remembering that until recent years there were high hedges around most of the circuit and pretty much no runoff. The hedges made the track’s many blind corners even more so, such as the steep descent down Fuchsröhre, translatable as fox’s throat, which has always been absolutely flat out, but even today is a daunting stretch of road. With the old hedges it was like diving straight down into a green wall.
Photo by Yves Debraine ©The Klemantaski Collection
Klemantaski Collection 
Gentlemen, the above referenced photo is from 1968 rather than 1970
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Your comment is well taken and absolutely correct. The photo had been mis-filed in our archive.
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