![Linge, front, centre, in 1972 with the track safety team he set up](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/02/13/TELEMMGLPICT000364917450_17078225815350_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Herbert Linge, racing driver who helped to make Porsche a global force and raced Steve McQueen at Le Mans – obituary
He was a visionary safety pioneer who set up the first fast-response track rescue team
![Linge, front, centre, in 1972 with the track safety team he set up](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/02/13/TELEMMGLPICT000364917450_17078225815350_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Herbert Linge, who has died aged 95, was one of the founding members of the small team who helped to establish Porsche as a car manufacturer. He was the firm’s first lead mechanic in 1948 and went on to make a significant mark as a racing driver, and then as a manager as Porsche’s global reputation for motorsport success blossomed.
He was known for his multi-disciplinary skills, and his passing marks the departure of the last member of the original founding team of the family-run Austro-German Porsche brand. Linge’s achievements on the racing track spanned three decades, but he was also to become Porsche’s senior manager at its engineering research centre.
Linge drove a Porsche 908 in the 1970 Le Mans race as a camera car for the Steve McQueen film Le Mans. He was told that the car had to be driven as part of the race, and he ended up dicing with the leaders – but was disqualified because changing the film rolls counted as working on the car.
![Linge, left, with his co-driver Hans Herrmann at the 1954 Mille Miglia: they finished first in their class and sixth overall](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/02/13/TELEMMGLPICT000364953873_17078229883080_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpeg?imwidth=350)
He was also employed to drive ahead of McQueen in a sequence that was supposed to culminate in the actor streaking off into the distance. He confidently told Linge not to take his foot off the pedal, as he could easily overtake him anyway.
After a week of shooting the scene he had to admit defeat, and Linge was ordered to slow down to let him pass. But the pair got on well and took a motorbike tour of the Normandy countryside together.
A precise and fast driver, Linge had a visionary concern for safety standards, and in 1972 he founded the safety division of Germany’s national motorsports organisation. He also contributed to driver survival with his idea for high-speed rescue teams, and adapted a Porsche 914/6GT as a rescue car, equipping it with a large fire extinguisher tank and medical kit.
![Linge at the wheel of the Porsche 718 RSK Spyder during test runs at the Nürburgring in 1957](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/02/13/TELEMMGLPICT000364953874_17078230742850_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The concept was adopted in an era when circuit owners provided little mobile safety equipment, but Linge’s work was supported by Bernie Ecclestone – then a team owner and soon to found the Formula One Constructors Association – who funded safety improvements where track operators did not. Jackie Stewart was also instrumental in the campaign.
Formula One’s head medical officer Sid Watkins helped to develop Linge’s ideas for getting rescue teams to crash scenes quickly, and many lives were saved in what had hitherto been an era of “acceptable” tragedy. Niki Lauda’s life, for one, was saved by the rapid intervention that stemmed from Linge’s work. Linge was recognised for his achievements with the German Federal Cross of Merit.
Herbert Linge was born on June 11 1928 in south-western Germany at Weissach – later, thanks to him, the home of Porsche’s research centre. His mother wanted him to be a teacher, but his father, a motorbike enthusiast, took him to the Porsche family workshop for a job interview.
![Linge, right, with his co-driver Peter Falk during the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/02/13/TELEMMGLPICT000364953876_17078231428410_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Having passed an entrance exam, he was taken on as a 14-year-old junior apprentice and worked on Porsche-designed prototypes. In 1946 he was based in Baden-Baden as part of a Porsche engineering team working for the Allied occupying forces.
Two years later Linge was the first mechanic employed by Porsche after the firm had been re-established in Stuttgart. (The Porsches – Ferdinand, his son Ferry and his son-in-law Anton Piëch – had been arrested for their support of the German war effort but were eventually released.)
Linge worked closely with Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche as their first production car, the 356, evolved from a prototype into a production roadster and then the coupe that defined the company in the 1950s. In the early days of low-volume production, every new 356 was driven by Linge before being despatched.
![Linge, second right, with Steve McQueen and other cast and crew on the film Le Mans](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/02/13/TELEMMGLPICT000364953883_17078232016560_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Porsche then sent Linge to America, where better-quality fuel, as well as traffic jams (then rare in Europe), were causing engine problems. Linge solved the issues and became a revered “Mr Fix-it” to American Porsche fans.
A keen biker, Linge had competed on BMW and Horex motorcycles in his youth, but his talent on four wheels was evident by the early 1950s and he drove a Porsche alongside Hans Herrmann in the Carrera Panamericana races from 1952 to 1954; the pair achieved three consecutive victories in their class.
In the 1954 Mille Miglia they had a remarkable escape in their low-slung, open-topped Porsche 550 Spyder: unable to stop at a level crossing, they drove under the closed barriers – and across the tracks just inches in front of the Rome express. Herrmann bashed the short-of-stature Linge on the back of his helmet to make him duck down below the dashboard – and did likewise. James Dean would be killed in an identical 550 Spyder the following year.
![Linge and assistant preparing for the 1973 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/obituaries/2024/02/13/TELEMMGLPICT000364917065_17078233472240_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqhvMve3qkt_GJyFkL7oN8dlaf4eSVnMEEuHWeQpg2GXA.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Linge took class wins at the Mille Miglia for several years, and one in 1958 at the 12 Hours of Sebring race in Florida. He was the overall winner of the 1954 Liège–Rome–Liège and the 1960 Tour de Corse. Victory at the British Empire Trophy Saloon Car race in 1961 in a BMW 700 was a rare non-Porsche moment. In 1967, he won the Marathon de la Route on the challenging Nürburgring track.
Linge was pivotal in the launch of the original Porsche 911, and alongside the engineer Peter Falk secured its first major success, finishing fifth in the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally. He started 11 24 Hours of Le Mans races, winning the GT Class in 1960 and finishing fourth overall in 1965 in a Porsche 904/6 co-driven with Peter Nöcker.
In the 1970s, Linge suggested to Ferry Porsche that the company build it new engineering development centre in his birthplace, Weissach – making it the richest village in Germany, according to locals. In the following decade he played a key role in the development of Porsche.
Pioneer in Pole Position by Frank Wiesner (2007) told the story of Herbert Linge’s remarkable career.
A marriage of more than 50 years’ standing gave him a secure home base near Weissach, and he never moved away from the area. His wife Liselotte died in 2013 and his own health declined, but he continued to appear at Porsche events and was greatly revered by enthusiasts.
Herbert Linge, born June 11 1928, died January 5 2024