John Woolfe

In 2009, a French-language book on Woolfe was published, written by Michel Boixière and Michel Fournier and entitled Qui se souvient de John Woolfe ? ("Who remembers John Woolfe?"). Woolfe's Chevron went missing for thirty years, but has recently been discovered in a German barn and is currently being restored.

For the 1970 event, the traditional Le Mans start was replaced by a standing start with the drivers already in their cars, a procedure which was later replaced by a rolling start.

Woolfe was dissatisfied with the reliability of the Chevron-Repco, and opted to buy a significantly more powerful Porsche 917 for the 1969 event. The 917 was a new car, built by Porsche to exploit a loophole in the entry requirements for the race, and was the fastest vehicle to take part in the event up to this point in its history. It was capable of 220 miles per hour (350 km/h) on the long Mulsanne Straight, but, with minimal downforce, suffered from an aerodynamic imbalance that made it challenging and unstable to drive at high speed. Woolfe paid DM140,000 (£16,000) for the car, which was delivered to him at the Circuit de la Sarthe ahead of practice.

The 1969 Le Mans race began with a traditional standing start: the drivers stood opposite their cars in the open pit-lane before running to them as the French flag was dropped to signal the start of the race, starting the engines and driving away as soon as possible. In the scramble to start, many drivers did not fasten their seat belts or close their doors properly to save time, and in 1968 Willy Mairesse had been seriously injured after crashing on the first lap when his unsecured driver's door flew open on the Mulsanne Straight. Woolfe was advised by Porsche to let Linge start the race, as he had more experience with the 917, but Woolfe wanted his family to see him start, and was wary of a possible early retirement preventing them from seeing him in action.

After his death at the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, John Woolfe Racing was kept going by Arnold Burton and David Riswick in drag racing, and still operates in Bedford as an importer of parts for American vehicles.

Woolfe was born in London. He was a gentleman driver, and had several years' experience of racing sports cars. He formed his own team, John Woolfe Racing, with his business partner, Arnold Burton, and in 1968 he bought a Chevron B12, specially adapted to be fitted with a Repco V8 engine, similar to the unit which had won the Formula One World Championships in 1966 and 1967. Woolfe was successful in domestic racing, and also entered several international races. The climax of his season was the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he entered himself alongside Digby Martland, but retired after only 27 laps, persistent overheating problems causing an engine failure. He also owned a Lola T70-Chevrolet.

John Woolfe (23 March 1932 – 14 June 1969) was a British racing driver from England, who specialised in sports car racing. He was killed as a result of crashing on the first lap of the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans race, an event which caused the traditional "Le Mans start" to be abolished the following year.