Kurt Ahrens Jr.

Kurt Karl Heinrich Ahrens was born on the 19th April 1940 in Braunschweig, Germany and became interested in racing early on as, besides being a garage owner and scrap metal dealer, his father, Kurt Senior, was a champion speedway rider. He entered Formula 3 in 1952 and Kurt Jr followed him into this category six years later, racing Cooper Nortons, and they were soon competing in the same races together. His father won the Halle Saale Schleife though the following week he was beaten by Kurt Jr at Kiel. Racing at Leipzig in June, they shared the heats with Kurt Jr winning the final though in later races his father was second at Sachsenring and Wismar and won at Wismar and Dresden. In 1959 he was fourth at Halle Saale (with his father winning), took wins at Bernau and Dresden, a second at Sachsenring and finished the year with a win at Bautzen. His father then switched to Formula Junior and they continued to race each other until he retired in 1963.

During this time Kurt Jr. rose to prominence when he became the Formula Junior German Champion in 1961 and 1963. His results on his way to the first title saw podiums at Eifelrennen, Nurburgring, Pferdsfeld, Rossfeld and Freiburg, plus victories at Kelheim, Norisring and Schorndorf to take the championship ahead of Gerhard Mitter and third placed Kurt Senior. Alongside his single seater racing in 1962 he also contested the 1000km Nurburgring round of the World Sportscar Championship in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta though he and Anton Fischhaber did not finish. Racing in FJunior, in two races with an OASC entered Cooper T59 car he was second at Aspern plus recorded the fastest lap (behind Jo Siffert though ahead of his father in third), then second at Sudschleife. In a privately entered car he was fourth at Innsbruck and seventh at Sudschleife (plus fastest lap), took podiums at Avus, Norisring and Neubiberg and won at Achum (ahead of his father’s Lotus 22). Unfortunately he was banned for six months after journalist and former driver Richard von Frankenberg claimed a number of drivers were using 1450cc engines. He used the times of Kurt and others to prove his accusations and as a result, Kurt (who had become German National Champion) and Gerhard Mitter were disqualified. However, another report said the suspension was imposed by the ONS for disputing the official result of a race the previous year.

After the suspension, he went on to have a strong season in 1963 and took his second FJunior title. Driving a Cooper T67, he won three consecutive races at Aspern, Avus and Norisring, then a sixth place at Solitude before taking the final three races at Achum, Sudschleife and Innsbruck. Returning to contest the World Sportscar Championship he was sixteenth with Dieter Bohnhorst in a BMW 700 at the 500km Nurburgring.

There was a busier season in 1964 and he had two shared Nurburgring drives with Franco Patria, at the 1000km in an Abarth-Simca 1300 then a Fiat-Abarth 1000 TC at the 6 Hours race. In solo drives he was third in the 500km Nurburgring, sixth in a non championship Innsbruck race, contested two DARM GT races at Avus and Wunstorf with an Abarth-Simca 2000 GT and took victory in October at Innsbruck. He entered two Formula 3 races with a Cooper T65 and was fifth at the Nurburgring and seventh in Crystal Palace’s London Trophy.

Abarth drives the following year brought second at an ETCC Zandvoort round with an 850 TC and fourth in a Simca 1300 at the 500km Nurburgring. In two shared drives at Nurburgring there was retirement from the 1000km with Hans Herrmann in a 1600 OT and sixth in a 1000 TC alongside Klaus Steinmetz at the 6 Hours race. The acquisition of a Brabham gave him the opportunity to contest F3 and F2 but his F2 outings were restricted by his commitments at his father’s garage and scrap metal business. His F2 debut came at Nurburgring in April though he retired the BT16 while he was fifth in the second race at Solitude. In F3 he started with a BT10 and was third at the first round at Monza and won at Vienna, though he was racing a BT16 after this and although he retired at Adenau he had podiums at Monza (twice) and Albi plus victories at Mainz, Trier, Roskilde, Zandvoort, Wunstorf and a Freiburg hill climb.

He continued in F3 in 1966 with a Brabham for Caltex Racing plus entered some rounds in a privately entered car. He finished sixth in the Championship and results through the season saw third at Nurburgring (behind Jochen Rindt and Peter Arundell), fifth at Karlskoga and Monaco, second at Roskilde, Avus, Sachsenring and victories at Roskilde, Mainz-Finthen, Avus and twice at Hockenheim. In one Abarth outing he finished fourteenth in the 1000km Nurburgring teamed with Johannes Ortner, Ernst Furtmayer and Wolf Dieter Mantzel in an 1300 OT.

In 1967 he became the F3 Cup Champion with drives in the Caltex Brabham BT21 producing second and fourth at Zolder and Monza plus victories at Djursland, Roskilde (and fastest lap), Jyllands-Ringen, Roskilde (pole plus fastest lap), Avus (plus fastest lap) and Hockenheim (with an ADAC entered car). Abarth drives saw retirements at two races at Hockenheim plus a non classification at Avus. He had his first Porsche drive after being asked by Huscke von Hanstein to race a 910 alongside Rolf Stommelen at the Nurburgring 1000km but though they qualified fourth they retired after 31 laps.

He joined the Porsche factory team in 1968 plus enjoyed a full F2 season with the Brabham BT23C. An ETCC drive brought a second place finish at the Nurburgring 6 Hours with Dieter Quester in a BMW 2002 and he partnered Hans Herrmann in a Porsche 908 at the International Championship for Makes race at the 500Km Zeltweg. Unfortunately, his first F2 race came in April at Hockenheim but it was an emotive occasion for him as Jim Clark suffered his tragic accident during it; on the evening before the race he had been with Clark in a TV studio doing an interview and they shared a car back to their hotel. In following races he was fourth and fifth at Tulln and Thruxton though had podiums at Eifelrennen, Jarama and Hockenheim, where he enjoyed the chance to compete with GP stars such as Jochen Rindt and Jackie Stewart. With backing from Caltex, he made the move up to Formula 1 when he lined up alongside Jack Brabham and Jochen Rindt in a Brabham-Repco at the German GP at Nurburgring. This would be his only F1 start and he would finish twelfth though the race was held in appalling weather conditions. With official practice having been badly affected by the weather, the organisers laid on an extra session on race morning, though cars were still sliding off. There was thick fog and driving rain, with visibility no more than 100 yards and the race start was delayed to 2.30pm and then 2.45pm. Despite the conditions it eventually started and the field set off in a plume of spray, with terrible visibility. Kurt had qualified seventeenth and during the race was involved in a battle with Hubert Hahne but on lap nine he was losing pace due to ignition problems as water had got into the Brabham’s electrical system. He was classified twelfth of the fourteen cars still running at the finish, ahead of Bruce McLaren and Richard Attwood, though the fact nobody was killed in the conditions was surely a result in itself. Describing the conditions the drivers faced, race winner Jackie Stewart recalled “I don’t think I had ever been more frightened sitting in a racing car than during that first lap. Visibility is so pathetically poor I can’t even see Chris’ car in front of me…I am simply driving into this great wall of spray. I pull out to pass him but the spray is dense and I’m driving blind. With three laps to go, it really started to pour and the track became even more treacherous…I kept thinking they would stop the race-but they didn’t. Each lap was a nightmare…When it was all over, you just wanted to know if everyone was alright. There had been accidents, and the amazing thing was, no one was badly hurt. But when you think of the conditions we raced under that day, it was madness. Total madness.” After his F1 drive he realised that he could not devote the time or commit fully and decided against a career in F1, stating “I was needed in the company and that meant I could not afford to do the whole thing professionally. I enjoyed driving at the weekend but on Monday I had to put all that behind me again.”

The following year saw a full schedule with Porsche, mostly with the a 908 though there were two outings in a 917. At the Daytona 24 Hours Porsche fielded five works 908s for Siffert/Herrmann, Attwood/Buzzetta, Elford/Redman, Mitter/Schutz and Kurt with R.Stommelen. They had slightly larger engines, longer tails and different spoilers for increased stability at high speeds and were the favourites to win the race, especially after their 1-2-3 finish in the previous year. The best practice time was achieved by Vic Elford and he took the lead after the start of the race, followed by the Lolas then the rest of the Porsches. After almost two hours of racing Gerhard Mitter pitted with tyre damage and later second placed Brian Redman came into the pits. Exhaust gases had penetrated the cockpit and nearly made him faint and an inspection showed the exhaust pipes were cracked. The car stood in the pits for some time as the manifold had to be replaced here but before they returned to the track, Kurt came in suffering the same problem. Although they rejoined the race none of the five cars completed the race as in addition to the problems with the manifolds, there were also difficulties with the camshafts. This led to the failure of Siffert/Herrmann, Stommelen/Ahrens and Mitter/Schutz while the Elford/Redman and Attwood/Buzzetta cars suffered oil pressure and engine problems. In the following month Kurt was at Sebring and the entry list featured a strong field of cars and drivers with the clear favourites being Ferrari, Lola and Porsche. Mario Andretti and Chris Amon were teamed in a Ferrari 312P (and were fastest qualifiers, breaking the track record) with the Daytona winning Penske Lola driven by Mark Donohue and Ronnie Bucknum and James Garner had two Lolas on the grid. This year also featured the last ever Le Mans start and the early stages of the race saw a furious battle between the Redman/Siffert Porsche, the Donohue/Bucknum Lola and the Andretti/Amon Ferrari. At the finish, Ickx and Oliver took the win, with the Andretti/Amon Ferrari finishing second, followed in third place by the Kurt, Stommelen and Joe Buzzetta Porsche 908. Following this he took second and third at 1000Km races at Monza and Spa with Hans Herrmann and third with Vic Elford at Nurburgring. Although he and Rudi Lins were only eleventh at the 500km Imola, in solo drives he was fourth at Innsbruck plus took victories at Wunstorf and twice at Salzburg. At Le Mans, Porsche entered three 917s in longtail form and Kurt made his debut, partnered with Rolf Stommelen and the car’s power was shown on the first night of practice when they took pole position. In the race itself Stommelen led to the first pitstops but was delayed by oil leaking from the transmission and their 917 eventually ground to a stop after ten hours with clutch damage. However, on the 10th August he and Jo Siffert won the 1000km Zeltweg in a privately entered Porsche 917 of Freiherr von Wendt. This first triumph for the 917 came after extensive testing and development work and Kurt was involved in the crucial test drives in Zeltweg, which ultimately resulted in the successful short-tail version for the upcoming season. There was a scheduled drive in a Mercedes Benz 300 SEL at the 24 Hour Spa but he did not start as the car was withdrawn while contesting F2 with a BT30 his best results were fourth at Hockenheim and third at Nurburgring.

There was another busy schedule in 1970 and starting the season off with Vic Elford in a 917 there were retirements at Daytona, Sebring and Monza though they came home third at Spa. Later in the month they won at Nurburgring with a 908 while at Le Mans they drove the 917 long tail, with Kurt now comfortable in the developed car. In its early form the Porsche works drivers found its handling performance was tricky and he stated that in the previous year “it was an absolute nightmare-the car fishtailed excessively at 350 km/h and the rear lifted when braking hard. Rolf Stommelen and I had to ease off the throttle around 380 km/h.”

Although the JWA team fielded three 917Ks for Le Mans, Kurt and Vic Elford’s 917L was entered by Porsche Salzburg and their time of 3:19.08 put them in pole position. The traditional Le Mans start had been abolished and this year the drivers were in the cars and strapped in for the start. At the end of the first lap Elford led and later set a new lap record. As dusk fell the rain became torrential and some hours later their car had to pit with handling problems (which was traced to a slow puncture) and dropped them to fifth place though around 2am they were back up to third. In the morning the weather turned from heavy rain to a storm and at 6am they were running second behind the Herrmann/Attwood Porsche. The two cars featured in an exciting battle but unfortunately at 8.30am, after 18 hours, they were stopped by engine problems. Afterwards, recalling the disastrous weather, Vic Elford said it was sometimes impossible to overtake, even on the long straights while Kurt described it as being like sitting in a boat. Further drives brought sixth place with Richard Attwood in a Can-Am race at Watkins Glen then two races later in the year saw a retirement with Helmut Marko at Zeltweg and second at the 9 Hour Kyalami with Jo Siffert. Outings in the 908 produced a victory at Nurburgring with V.Elford, third with H.Marko in a Martini Racing car at Imola and fifth in a solo drive at Wunstorf. Away from Porsche he contested two European Sports Car Championship for Makes rounds in an Abarth 2000 SP, finishing low down the field at Nurburgring but despite qualifying second in his heat at Hockenheim he retired due to engine problems. Porsche considered Kurt to be an excellent test driver with a pronounced technical awareness for the car but ironically, having competed in more than 300 races his only serious accident occurred in April 1970 while testing on a wet VW test track at Ehra-Lessien. Running at almost 250 km/h the long tailed 917 aquaplaned and went under the Armco barrier and broke in half, leaving him strapped in the back. Fortunately he was uninjured.

1970 would be his final racing season before retirement though there was a ETCC 2 Hour Brno race in 1971 with a Ford Capri and he finished fourth. Kurt retired from motorsport to spend more time with his family and to concentrate on building up the family’s car dealership and a scrap metal business though he continued accompanying the Porsche Museum to historical motorsport events all over the world.