24 hours of Le Mans

   

24 hours of Le Mans (24 heures du Mans) is a famous sports car endurance race held at a course near Le Mans, France, near river La Sarthe. It is organised by the Automobile Club de L'Ouest (A.C.O). The first race was held on May 26 and 27, 1923 and has since been run annually in June, with the exceptions of 1956 (July) and 1968 (in September, due to nationwide political turmoils in spring), and was cancelled only in 1936 (economy) and from 1940 to 1948.

Traditionally, the race starts at 16:00 on the Saturday, although in 1968 the race started at 14:00 and in 1984 the race started at 15:00 due to the conflicting French General Election.

The race is run on a non-permanent track which is over 13 km long, using mostly normal country roads. Over the years, several purpose-built sections replaced the normal roads, especially the Porsche Curves section which bypasses the dangerous former Maison Blanche section between buildings. The permanent Bugatti Track surrounds the facilities at start/finish.

Usually 46 cars race simultaneously in a number of different classes, from dedicated prototypes to street cars, the overall winner being the car that has covered the greatest distance in 24 hours of continuous racing. This rule appears obvious, but the 1966 race saw a surprise winner, despite two Ford GT40 crossing the line nearly next to each other in a staged finish. Not the leader, but second of these two was pronounced the winner, as it had started further behind on the grid and thus covered a bigger distance in the same time! In addition, a car must cross the finish line after 24 hours to be classified, which often leads to dramatic scenes when damaged cars leave the pits to crawl around the track one last time in order to finish.

Nowadays, each car has a team of three drivers. Before 1970 only two drivers per car were allowed, and even solo driving was permitted in the early decades. Until the early 1980s most of the cars were raced with a two driver team. In 1950, Louis Rosier won the race with his son Jean-Louis Rosier who drove the car during only two turns. In 1952, Frenchman Pierre Levegh competed alone and looked like the winner but made a shifting mistake in the final hour which handed victory to a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.

This driver is also known for the worst accident in the history of motor racing. In 1955, Pierre Levegh was invited to drive a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Racing for the lead, he hit the back of an slower Austin-Healey which had to serve left in order to pass the Jaguar of Mike Hawthorn who suddenly moved over to the pits. The much faster Mercedes couldn't avoid the Austin-Healey, got catapulted upwards by the sloped rear end and crashed into the huge crowd opposite of the pit lane, disintegrating into parts. The driver and more than 80 spectators were killed, many others were injured. The race was continued to prevent leaving spectators from crowding the roads which would have slowed down ambulances. The Mercedes team retired later on as a sign of respect to the victims, while Jaguar continued, with Mike Hawthorn winning.

In the shock following this disaster, many major and minor races were cancelled in 1955, like the Grand Prix races of Germany and Switzerland - the latter country banned circuit automobile racing, a ban which still remains in place today.

At the end of the season, having won world championships in Formula One and Sports Cars, Mercedes withdrew from motor racing generally, and did not return until 1987. That today's DaimlerChrysler Corporation, owner of the Mercedes marque, is still aware of and sensitive to this incident was evidenced by their re-withdrawal from sports car racing in 1999 after their CLR sports prototypes caught air and backflipped three times at Le Mans. Aerodynamic modifications made to the #4 car after a practice crash couldn't prevent it from becoming airborne again during the warm-up, this time at a different section of the track. The remaining two slightly different cars started the race, but the #5 car took off like an airplane and somersaulted into the forest, in front of a live TV audience. Luckily, driver Peter Dumbreck escaped without injury, just like Mark Webber did twice before. Car #6 retired immediately. Similar accidents involved a Porsche and a BMW while racing in the USA, and had happened in the 1980s.

The 24 hours of Le Mans race was also famously featured in a 1971 movie, titled simply Le Mans, produced by and starring Steve McQueen. This film remains a classic which is still appreciated by racing fans. It was filmed on the circuit during the 1970 race using genuine racing cars of the day, and a Porsche 908 equipped with heavy movie cameras competed there, providing actual racing footage from the track. It finished the race despite having to stop often to change films.

"Le Mans start"

The races used to begin with what became known as the "Le Mans start": cars are lined up on one side of the track, drivers on the other. When the French flag dropped at 16:00, the drivers ran across the track to their cars, entered and started them. This became risky after the introduction of safety belt harnesses, which needed to be properly strapped by mechanics. So pilots competed the first turn, about one hour, without their belts. A young talent and F1 GP winner, Jacky Ickx, made a pointed demonstration of the danger of this start in 1969, when instead of running across the track to his machine, he slowly walked, then entered in his car and locked the safety belts properly. Despite this delay, he managed to win the race later on, by only 120 meters though. Sadly, in the first lap of the race, a privateer racer was killed. So the traditional Le Mans practice was discontinued in 1970, when the drivers started while being seated, with the belts fastened properly. Later on, the standing start from the side of the track was replaced with a rolling start, as in Indianapolis.

The Le Mans start is also the reason why Porsche street cars continue to have their ignition switches on the left of the steering column rather than the more customary location on the right — this was easier to reach and enabled the driver to start the car more quickly.

The circuit

The Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe itself has undergone many modifications over the years. It is most famous for its long straight, known locally as Ligne Droite des Hunaudières, or in English as the Mulsanne Straight.

Unlike many other races where the speed in curves is more important than top speed, top speed was a critical parameter for being competitive in Le Mans. This led to special body designs like the "Long Tail" bodies pioneered by Charles Deutsch and Robert Choulet. Braking at the end of the straight is also critical; the first use of disc brakes on a car was in a Jaguar's racing in Le Mans.

The cars were reaching impressive speed in the straight, in 1971, during night practice, a Porsche 917 LH reached a top speed of 396.004 km/h.

During the 1970s top speeds decreased after new rules reduced the size and power of the engines while the evolution of aerodynamics allowed the engineers to improve the speed on a lap by increasing speed in curves and reducing top speed. This evolution was also favored by the drivers because it made the car easier to drive, giving to less violent in acceleration and braking and require less attention in the straight, this also bring less stress on the car. On 24 hours these are important benefits.

By the late 1980s the fastest cars were again reaching impressive top speeds. In 1988 a WM P87 powered by a turbocharged PRV engine and driven by Roger Dorchy reached the speed of 405 km/h during the race. This performance is generally considered as non-significant by connoisseurs because the car was tuned for top speed with all air orifices taped, as a result the engine broke soon after. But the next year a Sauber Mercedes C9 reached the speed around 400 km/h during the race, and the FIA felt that it had grown unsafe. Two chicanes were consequently put in place in time for the 1990 race to lower top speeds. Near the end of this straight was an infamous hump, which gave flight to one of the Mercedes CLR mentioned previously. This hump was lowered during the winter before the 2001 race, again in the interest of safety. Although the hump remains, it is greatly diminished from what it was.

Other changes have included the replacement of the Maison Blanche ("white house") section with today's Porsche Curves, and the introduction of a new chicane in the Dunlop curve for 2002.

Marques

The most successful marque in the history of the 24 hour race is Porsche, with 16 overall victories (including seven in a row, from 1981 to 1987), followed by Ferrari with nine (including six in a row, from 1960 to 1965). The early years were dominated by Bentley, with four consecutive wins from 1927 to 1930.

In a personal spat between the two companies' owners, Ford won the race four times (1966-1969) with its GT40, built for the express purpose of defeating Ferrari, after founder Enzo Ferrari backed out of a deal to sell his company to Ford.

The only Japanese company to win the race so far has been Mazda, which won the 59th race in 1991 with its rotary-engined 787B prototype.

History

1927-1930 The Bentley years

These years were dominated by the big Bentley Blowers, driven by the Bentley Boys. After 70 years, this marque returned to Le Mans, to win again in 2003.

1931-1934 The Alfa-Romeo years

1955 The worst accident in racing history

In 1955, Pierre Levegh was allowed to drive a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR after his excellent previous efforts. He was chasing Mike Hawthorn, when Hawthorn's Jaguar passed a slower Austin-Healey before suddenly entering the pits on the right. This forced the Austin-Healey to move over to the left were the faster Mercedes was approaching with high speed. It ran into the back of the Austin-Healey, got catapulted upwards and crashed into the crowd, disintegrating into parts, killing the driver and 80 spectators, while injuring many others. The race was continued to prevent leaving spectators from crowding the roads which would have slowed down ambulances.

Mike Hawthorn and the Jaguar team continued and won the race while the remaining Mercedes cars (driven by Fangio, Moss and others) were withdrawn from the race as a sign of respect to the victims.

1963

Rover and the BRM Formula 1 team joined forces to produce a Gas turbine powered coupe, driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther. It averaged 107.8mph (173km) and had a top speed of 142mph (229km). Ludovico Scarfiotti and Lorenzo Bandini won in the Ferrari 250P.

1964-1967 Ford/Ferrari duel

After Ferrari had dominated since the late 1950s, Ford first try to buy the Italian company, and then decided to beat the in Le Mans instead. 1965 saw the last win of the Red cars. 4 consecutive victories for Ford-powered cars followed in the next years.

1968-1969 The Gulf Ford GT-40 years

1968

In 1968, the rules of sports car racing were changed, and like in Formula One, 3-litre engines were adopted in order to use similar engine for both kinds of racing. So dedicated race cars built only in small numbers were now limited to 3 litre engines. Cars with engines that displaced over 5 liters were banned from the World championship and thus from Le Mans, which was the end for the Big Block Fords and for the Chevrolet-powered Chaparral in Le Mans. For cars with up to 5 litre engines were still allowed to compete in the Sport category if there were at least 50 cars built. This mercy rule allowed old customer cars powered by stock-block engines like the Ford GT-40 and the Lola T-70 to compete against factory prototypes powered by sophisticated 3 liters engines.

Enzo Ferrari was disappointed to have to bring his P4s to the museum and refused to compete in endurance for 1968 despite having a suitable F1 engine. John Wyer had to renounce to compete with his GT-40 derived 5.7-liter Mirage M1. Wyer chose to dismantle his M1s and to build new GT-40s on the Mirage chassis. Gulf GT-40s received some of the improvements of the Mirage, and a significant work was made to reduce the weight of car, using high-tech materials, for instance a large part of the body was made of a very thin polyester sheet reinforced with carbon fiber.

The 24 hours were cancelled in June after the May 1968 events, instead the race was ran in September being the last race of the championship.

A new section was added between Maison Blanche and the starting line to slow the cars between the pits and tribunes. The new section was called pavement Virage Ford. The changes added around 10sec to a lap.

The competition was between Wyer's Ford GT-40 and the new 3-liter prototypes Matra 630, Alpine A220 and Porsche 908. The 2-liter Alfa-Romeo 33 were outsiders.

The Renault-Gordini 3 liter engine that powered the Alpine A-220s was disappointing giving no more than 300 hp (220 kW). With 350 hp (260 kW) the new 3 liter air-cooled flat-8 that powered the Porsche 908 was underpowered in comparison to the new Matra V12, but the car was light, Porsche was much more experienced in Le Mans and had an advantage in number, thus Porsche was favorite.

Wyer entered 3 GT-40s but the team wasn't at its best, it's fastest driver Jacky Ickx had broken his leg practicing for the Canadian GP, and Brian Redman was still out after a crash in the Belgian GP at Spa.

Ferrari was represented only by privateers, the best Ferrari was a 250 LM entered in the Sport category by David Piper most of body of this car was made of polyester/fiberglass intead of aluminium.

Two turbine-powered Howmet TXs where also entered in the prototype class.

The start was given at 14:00pm by Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli.

The Porsche were in front, Siffert took the lead at the fourth lap. Then a litany of minor problems slowed the new Porsche 908s. One of Wyer's cars had clutch failure at 5:00pm the other had engine failure at 10:00pm. By midnight, Wyer had only one car still in race, but it was leading.

Henri Pescarolo made a noted performance the new Matra 630 powered by the Matra V12 engine. The car started the race with mechanical problems, which sent it down to a 14th place in the race. But Pescarolo drove the car to the second place under the rain despite a windshield wiper failure while his teammate Johnny Servoz-Gavin had defiantly refused to drive the car in such conditions. However during one of the last pitstops the car caught fire, and could not continue.

The Porsche were still in trouble with alternators, belts and bearings while everything was just fine for the leading GT-40.

The victory went the GT-40 driven by Lucien Bianchi and Pedro Rodrigez. Porsche’s best finisher was a private 2.2-liter 907 second, followed by a works 908 in third, both were just one lap behind the winning GT40. Alfa-Romeo performance was impressive with three cars finishing the Nanni Galli/Ignazio Giunti T33 being fourth overall and winner of the 2-liter class, the two other fifth and sixth.

1969

During the 1969 the minimal production figure to compete in the Sport category was reduced from 50 to 25. Starting in July 1968 Porsche made a surprising and very expensive effort to conceive, design and build a whole new car for the Sport category with one underlying goal: to win its first overall victory in the 24 Heures du Mans. In only ten months the Porsche 917 was developed, which incorporated remarkable technology: Porsche’s first 12-cylinder engine and a lot components from titanium, magnesium and exotic alloys. Porsche built 25 917 and according to many sources this drove Porsche AG close to bankruptcy. In need of cash, Porsche sold the 917 to anyone who wanted to pay for.

It soon appeared that the Porsche 917 didn't work well on the racing track, as its aerodynamics were developed for low drag rather than downforce. This was necessary for all former underpowered Porsches in order to do well on the fast straights of Le Mans but as the car was 30kmh faster than anything previously built for le Mans the body was generating a significant lift. Brian Redman recalls that "it was incredibly unstable, using all the road at speed." Many thought that the 4,5 liter engine was too much for the frame. At its competition debut at the Nurburgring 1000km, all works drivers preferred the 908 over the 'unsafe' 917, which was driven by two hired drivers.

Matra ordered the aerodynamic engineer Robert Choulet to conceive a Long Tail Coupe specially designed for the track, the Matra 640. This car was first Matra's monocoque design. For the test weekend, the 16 April, Matra brought the car to the Sarthe circuit. Henri Pescarolo took it to the track, at the first kilometres in the Hunaudières the car took off, and was pulverised, Pescarolo was pulled out alive but severely burned.

In parallel, Matra was experimenting with roadster bodywork. This lead to a new car, the 650. Some 630 chassis were converted in roadster, they were christened 630/650.

Despite the fact that no solution was found to fix the instability of the car, three 917s entered Le Mans. Two were Porsche team and the third was entered by the gentleman-driver John Woolfe. The Ahrens/Stommelen 917 qualified on pole.

Matra entered four cars: a new 650 roadster, a 630 coupe and two 630/650.

Ferrari made his come-back with the 3-liter 312.

Before the race Jacky Ickx had expressed to journalists that he considered the start procedure unsafe as it was not possible to fasten the seat belts properly. When the start was given, he slowly walked across the track to his GT-40 instead of running, then entered his car and locked the safety belt carefully before starting last.

Soon after the start the poor handling of the 917 and the inexperience of the driver resulted in a drama: John Woolfe had a fatal accident at the Maison Blanche with his private 917. He had not taken time to belt himself in, proving that Ickx was right.

Woolfe's crash had dislodged the gas tank from car. The burning tank was thrown onto the road where Amon's Ferrari 312 hit it. After an interruption the race was restarted. The 2 official 917s were put out of the race by clutch bell housing problems, but the 908 of Hans Hermann and Gerard Larrousse remained a serious candidate for the victory.

In a dramatic finish, Ickx managed to beat Hans Herrmann by a few seconds, as the Porsche 908 had brake problems.

Jackie Ickx and Jackie Oliver won with the GT40 chassis 1075, the same car that had won the previous year, this was second time the same car had won two in a row; a Bentley Speed Six had done it in 1929 and 1930

1970-1971 The Porsche 917 years

1970

During June 1969 Enzo Ferrari sold half of his stock to Fiat. Ferrari used some of that money to build 25 cars in order to compete with the Porsche 917: the Ferrari 512, powered by a 5 liter V12, was introduced for the 1970 season.

Disappointed by the poor results of the 917 in 1969 and facing a new competition, Porsche concluded an agreement with John Wyer and the Gulf Team, which became the official Porsche team, and also the development partner. During tests in Zeltweg Wyer's engineer John Horsmann had the idea to increase downforce to the expense of drag, a new tail was molded with aluminum sheets taped together. This worked well as the new short tail gave the 917 better stability. The new version was called 917 K (Kurzheck).

Wyer was surprised to discover that an other team was carefully preparing le Mans with close support from Porsche. The Porsche-Salzburg team was de facto a second works team under control of members of the Porsche family.

A new low drag version of the 917 was developed for Le Mans with support from the external consultant Robert Choulet. The 917 LH (Langheck) featured a spectacular new "Long Tail" body which had very low drag better stability than the 1969 version.

Two 917 LH were entered in Le Mans, one by Porsche-Salzburg, the other by team Martini Racing. The spectacular livery of this car was an elaborate whirls and swoops of light green on a violet background. The car gained the nickname of the Hippie Car or the Psychedelic Porsche from the team and media. The Porsche-Salzburg's LH was powered by a new 4.9-liter that Porsche had introduced at Monza.

Wyer lined up three 917Ks, two with the 4.9-liter engine and one with the 4.5-liter unit. Porsche-Salzburg entered a 917 K with the 4,5-liter engine.

A "non-racing" Porsche 908 was driven by Jonathan Williams and Herbert Linge; the roadster was equipped with three 35 mm movie cameras to record the race for Steve Mac Queen’s movie "Le Mans".

A total of eleven Ferrari 512s were entered in Le Mans.

Matra had two MS650s and a new MS660 (a roadster with monocoque chassis), except Jack Brabham all drivers were French.

For the first time the traditional "Le Mans start" was replaced by an "Indianapolis start". For Porsche’s 20th participation Ferry Porsche himself dropped the tricolor flag at 4:00 p.m.

At 5:30 all the Ferraris had already lost touch with the leaders, when the rain began to fall. Soon after Reine Wisell was running at reduced speed in White House in his "coda lunga" Ferrari 512 S. Derek Bell came in another 512 S going around 160kmh faster. Bell produced a miracle in avoiding the crash but Clay Reggazoni’s works 512 S hit Wisell’s car Mike Parkes managed to hit both cars, setting his own 512 S on fire. The firemen came quickly and no drivers were seriously hurt. To complete Ferrari's disaster Bell's engine took excessive RPMs in the adventure and broke in the Mulsanne straight.

The rain became heavier around 8:00 pm. The last works Ferrari was driven by Jacky Ickx and Peter Schetty. Ickx, probably the most talented driver of this era under the rain, managed to bring the car from sixth at 8:00 pm to second at midnight. But Ferrari lost its last chance tragically when Ickx had an accident that killed a corner worker at the Ford chicane.

Jack Brabham and Francois Cevert led the prototypes in the Matra roadster but the V12s were using too much oil, as all the Matras broke piston rings at quarter distance. This wasn't the year either for Wyer: Rodriguez had a connecting rod go, Hailwood crashed in Dunlop Curves and Siffert blew his engine by missing a shift while passing slower cars. The Porsche-Salzburg's 917 LH had problems. All the major players were gone during the night.

At dawn when the weather turned from heavy rain to storm three 917s were leading followed by a 908. The remaining Porsches just had to finish at reduced speed.

Hans Hermann and Dick Atwood in their red and white No. 23 Porsche-Salzburg 917 K won while Gérard Larousse and Willi Kauhsen finished second with the Hippie Car, only seven cars finished. Hans Hermann, a veteran at age 40 which survived the dangerous Mille Miglia and Carrera Panamericana races of the 1950, drove for Mercedes in F1 and won the Targa Florio plus many other major races for Porsche, had promised his wife to quit racing if he should finally win the big one at Le Mans, a success which he had missed narrowly in 1969. So he retired with immediate effect, much to the surprise of his team.

Porsche had won Le Mans for the first time, the last and most sought after triumph for the former underdog which managed to win all others sports car races and titles during the 1960s, and even a F1 race.

1971

At the end of the 1970 season Ferrari had entered in some races a new version of the 512, the 512 M (Modificata). The 512 M had a new bodywork built on the same aerodynamics doctrine than the Porsche 917K. At the end of 1970 the 512 M was faster than the 917s, at least on some tracks.

During the 1971 season the FIA decided to ban the loop hole Sport category for 1972, so the the big 917s and 512s would have to retire at the end of a year which they would surely dominate again.

Surprisingly Ferrari decided to give up any official effort with the 512 in order to prepare the 1972 season a new prototype, the 312 PB was presented and engaged by the factory in several races. But many 512s were still raced by private teams and most of them converted to M specification. Being cheaper than the 917 K the 512 M appeared as a bargain for customers at the end of 1970.

Roger Penske bought a used 512 M chassis that was totally dismantled and rebuilt. The car was specially tuned for long races receiving many unique features, among them were a large rear wing and an aviation inspired quick refueling system. The engine was tuned by Can-Am V8 specialist Traco, this engine was probably able to deliver more than 600 hp (450 kW). As of today it's impossible to know to what extend Penske's initiative was backed by Ferrari works. This 512 M, painted in a blue and yellow livery, was sponsored by Sunoco and the Californian Ferrari dealer Kirk F. White. This car made the pole position for the 24 hours of Daytona and finished second despite an accident. For the 12 hours of Sebring the "Sunoco" made the pole but finished the race at the sixth position after making contact with Pedro Rodrigez's 917. Despite this misfortune the car had proved to be a serious opponent for the 917. Not only this car was the fastest on track in Daytona and Sebring but it was also the car that had the shortest refueling time.

The presence of the 512 M "Sunoco" forced Porsche to pursue his effort of research and development on the 917: The 917 K tail was modified, and the 917 LH aerodynamics received further improvements. New Magnesium chassis were developed. An entirely new car, the 917/20 was built as test-bed for future Can-Am parts and aerodynamic "low-drag" concepts.

The 917/20 was painted in pink for the 24 hours race with names of pieces of meat written across it, the car earned the nickname "Pink Pig".

A modified Ferrari 512 featuring a narrowed cockpit (built around a Porsche 917 windshield) was entered by the Scuderia Filipinetti, for Mike Parkes and Henri Pescarolo, the car was christened 512 F.

Matra entered only one 660 for Chris Amon and Jean-Pierre Beltoise.

The Ford Cosworth DFV made his Le Mans debut in Guy Ligier’s new JS-3. The engine was limited to 8800 rpm. Available power was around 400 hp (300 kW).

The "Sunoco" Ferrari was unable to break the 200mph (320km/h) barrier on the straight while the 917 LH were lightning quick at speeds of over 380 km/h (240 mph). Mark Donohue qualified fourth anyway, which was obviously the result of an aerodynamic configuration that favored downforce over drag, which helped in the twistier sections.

Rodriguez/Oliver's 917 lead the first hours.

At 7:00 p.m. the Sunoco was third.

At 8:16 p.m., Donohue pitted the Sunoco Ferrari early. The Traco-tuned engine died.

At dawn the Matra was in an amazing second position.

At 9:40 a.m., Amon stopped in the long straight and stepped out of the Matra roadster. He had ran out of fuel, the fuel-metering unit was wrong, and the pits were too far away to push the car.

Despite the extremely high speeds of the long tail versions (Vic Elford's silver Martini car was clocked at 386 km/h) the 1971 Le Mans race was again won by a short tail car but with magnesium chassis, the white No. 22 Martini of Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep.

1972-1974 The Matra 670 years

1972

In 1972 5 liters cars were banned from the World championship and thus from Le Mans. This left the game open for the best 3 liters cars with F1-like engines. Ferrari and Matra were favorite but had different priorities. Matra cut down its participation in endurance-racing to focus on "Le Mans", while Ferrari preferred to compete for the World Championship and had to bypass Le Mans, as their F1-engine was not reliable enough for 24 hours of racing.

This brought Matra in the favorite position for the 24 hours, with four cars enrolled — 3 brand new Matra 670 specially constructed and designed to race in Le Mans, and an older but updated Matra 660. They faced opposition consisting mainly of three Alfa Romeo 33 TT3s, two semi-official Lola T280s, and one private Porsche 908 L enrolled by Reinhold Joest. This car was similar to the Porsche that finished second in 1969 and was considered seriously outdated and underpowered.

The Alfa-Romeos appeared in Le Mans in their high downforce 1000 km configuration. The reliability of the Ford-Cosworth DFV that powered the Lolas was questionable on a 24-hour race. It was thus not surprising that the Matra 670s lead the race, while Jo Bonnier established a lap record early in the evening pursuing Matras. Just before 8:30 Bonnier’s Lola came upon a Ferrari GTB4 before Indianapolis curve. The witnesses are not entirely sure what Bonnier hit first, the spinning Ferrari or the barrier, but the Lola got over the barrier and into the trees killing Bonnier.

The Matra 670 "Short Tail" piloted by Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill took the first place, and the 670 "Long Tail" driven by François Cevert and Howden Ganley the second. This was the first victory of a French car since 1950 and made Graham Hill the first and so far only driver to win the Triple Crown of the Indianapolis 500, the 24 hours of Le Mans and the Formula One World Championship (including the Grand Prix of Monaco which he won several times, too).

In such a context the third position of the Porsche 908 L driven by Reinhold Jöest, Michel Weber and Mario Casoni that was mainly the result of careful preparation by Joest and his team was largely unnoticed, yet remarkable. It appears in retrospect as the first demonstration of Joest's "savoir-faire" in Le Mans.

1973 Duel with Ferrari

In 1973 Matra competed against Ferrari for the World Champion title for constructors and Ferrari came to Le Mans as the race could be decisive for the title. For this year the Matra were updated to the 670B specification consisting mainly of larger spoilers and new gearboxes especially built for Matra by Porsche. The Ferrari 312PB had a previously unseen longtail bodywork.

John Wyer was back with two Cosworth-powered Gulf Mirage M6 roadsters.

Ferrari sent the Arturo Merzario/Carlos Pace 312 out first as a rabbit but Matra raced its plan and let the Ferrari go.

The first two hours featured Ferraris in front with Merzario/Pace leading. Ferrari swapped the lead with Matra through the next four hours, but Pescarolo could repeat his victory with Gérard Larrousse as co-driver.

1974 Last victory for Matra

In 1974 Matra had developed the 670 into a more aerodynamic version, the 680. Three 670 and one 680 were entered.

John Wyer entered two Gulf-GR7s.

Henri Pescarolo/Gerard Larousse's Matra 670 was leading at dawn.

Around 10:00am the 911 Turbo Carrera that had held second place lost its fifth gear, that made the car lose around 40 seconds per lap to the leading Matra.

But just before 11:00 a.m., Pescarolo had a gearbox failure. The Matra gearbox problem was easy to repair, but the diagnosis had consumed 30 minutes. When Pescarolo returned to the race, he had lost 45 minutes. The Porsche 911 Turbo was now in the same lap, which was a great achievement for a road-car derivative car against all those prototypes.

It rained during the final hour. Pescarolo managed to build a six-lap lead over the Porsche by the end. It was Matra’s and Pescarolo's third consecutive Le Mans victory. At the end of the season Matra announced its retirement from racing.

1975 Last victory of the Wyer team

In the wake of the Oil Crisis, Le Mans introduced rules in 1975 regarding fuel consumption, the CSI reacted by excluding the 24 Hours from the World Championship for Makes.

Running at lower RPM to match the fuel limitation a Cosworth DFV engine could be reliable on 24 hours. John Wyer had planned his retirement but he couldn't resist to the opportunity to win in Le Mans again and he chose not to retire this year and to make Le Mans the sole race of the Gulf team program for the 1975 season. Two new Gulf GR-8 were designed and constructed especially for Le Mans, these were largely a derivative of the Gulf GR-7 with a new bodywork giving an up-to-date aerodynamics optimized for Le Mans and fuel efficiency.

The new rule was also an opportunity for Guy Ligier who had previous experience in racing a Cosworth at Le Mans. As Matra had withdrawn from competition, Ligier managed to acquire the services of Matra's engineer Gérard Ducarouge, and the sponsorship of Gitanes. The team was preparing his entry in Formula 1 for 1976, this left limited financial and engineering means for Endurance racing. Ligier made the choice to run the race with the experienced Ligier JS-2's chassis retrofitted with DFV engines and Hewland gearboxes. In terms of performance the Gulf prototypes were clearly superior to the Ligier that were initially designed in 1971 as Maserati-powered road-cars and hacked as Cosworth-powered Prototypes in 1975. Achieving superior reliability was the sole chance for the team to gain advantage over the Gulfs. Ligier chose to run some races of the World Championship before le Mans as tests runs for the Cosworth-powered JS-2.

Gulf entered 2 GR-8's in Le Mans while Ligier entered 2 JS-2 Cosworth and one JS-2 Maserati. Both rivals had seriously downgraded their DFV engines: the Gulf had around 380 hp (280 kW) while the Ligiers had 420 hp (310 kW) to compensate some of their handicap.

Alpine-Renault entered one 2-liter A441 with an all women team. As 2-liter cars weren't much restrained by fuel limitation this car was a serious outsider.

The rest of the opposition consisted in brand new and very aerodynamic-looking Lola T380-Cosworth for Alain de Cadenet and Chris Craft and several Porsche 908s.

Without surprise the two Gulfs took the lead of the race. Schuppan and Jaussaud had an alternator failure and went six laps down to teammates Ickx and Bell.

Near midnight the de Cadenet Lola was in third position, when it lost its entire rear bodywork in the straight, Francois Migault hit it at full stride with a Ligier. After nearly an hour's repairs, the Ligier coupe retired. The Lola carried on; by luck the engine cover had missed the rear wing completely.

Not long after 2:30 p.m. Ickx pitted to repair a broken exhaust, the repairs were completed as the remaining Ligier entered the lead lap.

It was later revealed that the winning Gulf had also a serious differential problem but the experienced John Wyer managed to hide his anxiety. Ligier had the false conviction that everything else went as planned for the leading Gulf and missed the opportunity to put more pressure on the leaders to push them to mechanical failure.

The Gulf GR-8 driven by Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell finished the race at the first place having led the race during the 24 hours. The other Gulf had mechanical problem finished third leaving the second position to a Ligier piloted by Guy Lafosse and Guy Chasseuil. The gap between the winning Gulf and the Ligier was only one lap. Reinhold Joest, Jürgen Barth and Mario Casoni were fourth in their aged Porsche 908/3.

1976-78 Porsche vs. Renault victory

The new Porsche 936 turbo won in 1976 and 1977, with extraordinary driving efforts by Jacky Ickx. In 1978, the Renault V6 turbo finally managed to beat the German cars, and Renault concentrated on their F1 effort.

1979 Porsche 935's victory

The Porsche 935 turbo, a high-powered version of the Porsche 911 road car, dominated endurance racing in the late 1970s, being entered by many Porsche customer teams all over the world. The German-based Kremer team managed to win Le Mans, which is a remarkable success for a car based on a 15 year old road car design. Actor Paul Newman finished second in Dick Barbour’s Porsche 935.

The prototype opposition consisted mainly of Ford M10s but this wasn't an official return of Ford, these cars were derived from the 1975 Gulf GR-8: Ford France and a consortium of French Ford dealer funded the ex-Wyer Team, a Cosworth DFV V8 was installed in the chassis for the occasion.

1980 Rondeau's victory

Porsche again sent no works Group 6 cars, in order to not compete against their many customers in their 935 Group 5 cars. The lone Group 6 Porsche, a Martini-sponsored roadster entered by Joest for Reinhold Joest himself and Jacky Ickx, was christened the 908/80, but looked much like the 1977 version of the 936. For a long time it was believed to be a hack on a 908 chassis but it was recently discovered that it was in fact built on a real 936 replacement chassis, the 936-004. As Porsche didn't wish to be in the business of selling 936 to customers the secret was kept by using a 908 chassis number plate.

The 908/80 was favorite but Porsche could also count on many 935, five Group 5 plus eight IMSA GTX, including three cars from the Sebring-winning Dick Barbour team. Most of the opposition was in the GTP class: three WM Peugeot and a trio of local heros, the Le Mans-built Rondeau-Cosworth.

The start was the probably wettest ever in Le Mans. Ickx lay back in his roadster until he could actually see something else than the fog created by closed-cabin cars: Porsche 935, BMW M1 and Rondeau coupes.

John Fitzpatrick was leading with Dick Barbour's Porsche 935. Hans Stuck had shoved his BMW M1 from 26th to second by 5:00pm. At that time Jean Rondeau had two of his made-in-Le Mans homebrew cars in the top 10.

When the rain decreased Ickx and Joest picked off one car after another. By the end of the third hour Joest found himself in the lead. When Ickx was back in the car he broke the fuel injection pump belt. But Joest had planned wisely, there was a set of basic tools and a spare belt in the car. Ickx restarted just 14 minutes later but this was enough to lost the lead.

At nightfall a Rondeau was leading the race but Ickx began the chase. By 1:00 a.m. Sunday, the 908/80 was on the same lap as the leaders. Two hours later, they were ahead and began to leave the coupe behind. After numerous lead changes caused by refuelings and scheduled maintenance on the cars around 7:00 a.m., the Joest Martini Porsche had built a solid lead.

But the Joest team had underestimated the Rondeaus, they didn't expect the Cosworth to be reliable. As a result Joest and Ickx ran not fast enough and when the car had gearbox failure at 10:00 a.m., they had not built up a large enough advance and the Rondeau of Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud gained the lead with an advance of three laps. Ickx had to begin a third chase.

When Jaussaud took over from Rondeau with an hour and a half remaining, the Rondeau had still a two laps advance but the Porsche was running faster. With 35min to race, the rain returned. Ickx pitted for wet tyres while Jaussaud kept the slicks. Jaussaud had made the right choice and remained on the lead. However there was a final surprise : As the rain became heavier in the last lap Jaussaud lost the control of his car. By luck the Rondeau did not hit anything.

For the first time a driver had won Le Mans on a car bearing his own name. At the end of the race Ickx announced his retirement.

1981 Last victory for the Porsche 936

The great surprise of 1981 was that Ickx was back, the Porsche factory entered a 936 again with Ickx/Bell winning. Porsche had a new program for the future Group C regulations in 1982 and had persuaded Ickx out of retirement.

The main reason for entering Le Mans was to test a new engine for the upcoming new car. This engine was 2.6 litre engine which was derived from a never raced Indianapolis engine.

Ickx shared an updated 936 with Derek Bell.

All the race was run in very hot weather, but the engine test was successful : After the first hour, Ickx and Bell had built a large advance and remained at lead for the rest of the race. They won by an even greater margin than in 1976.

The sole incident for the winners occurred at the end of the race. In fact Derek Bell never crossed the finish line, he was removed from the car by fans and carried to the podium. On the the podium Derek Bell asked for water to refresh himself but the only beverage available was champagne, thus Bell drank champagne, at least until he lost conscious.

1982-1987 The Porsche 956/962 years

For 1982, the new FIA Group C rules were in effect. The new Porsche 956 was introduced just before scrutineering, and took all 3 podium places according to their starting numbers 1-2-3. In the following years, the 956 (later the longer 962 IMSA version) dominated, and the Porsche factory team was even beaten by its own customers, like the Joest team in 1984 and 1985.

1988-1990 The Jaguar and Mercedes years

Big names of the past, both Mercedes and Jaguar returned to Endurance racing, and won races.

1991 The Rotary engine Mazda

Surprisingly, Mazda's 787B, powered with a rotary Wankel engine, won in 1991. It is the only Japanese car to ever win overall at Le Mans. The Japanese car is remembered to have been very loud.

1992-1993 The Peugeot years

The Group C rules for endurance racing were in effect for many years. The fuel consumption was limited, and different kind of engines very used. Despite the success of these rules, they were changed: F1-like engines (3500cc normally aspirated) where introduced. Peugeot won twice at Le Mans, team leader [Jean Todt] left to become the team boss of Ferrari F1 team.

1994-1998 The GT years

Unhappy with the FIA rules that did not do much good to endurance racing, the ACO made its own rules. Racing cars based on road cars were allowed to race, in order to let Ferrari F40, McLaren F1 and other prestigious supercars take part, with a chance to win. Yet, the 1994 winner was a Porsche 962, which had been made road legal by Jochen Dauer in a surprise move. Also, since 1994, only German engines won. 1995 saw the victory of a BMW-powered McLaren F1 GTR. Despite efforts of Porsche with their 911 GT1, the Joest entered Porsche-powered TWR-prototypes won in 1996 and 1997.

The Porsche factory finally could win in 1998. This was a rather lucky win, and they were beaten by Mercedes in all FIA GT world championship races. The Toyota GT-One was faster, too. Mercedes had to retire with oil pump failure on their new untested V8 engines.

After 1998, Porsche retired from top class racing. According to rumors, this was a part of a deal with Volkswagen/Audi. VW boss Ferdinand Piech, former Audi boss, grandson of Porsche, co-owner of Porsche and developer of the famous Porsche 917, did not want Porsche to compete with the future Audi entry. In turn, Porsche developed the new Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg SUVs together with Volkswagen. The new race car, a mid engined V10, was shelved, and later developed for road use, as Carrera GT.

1999 The Race of the Century

With factory entries of Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Nissan and others, the 1999 eddition was expected to be one of the best ever. Mercedes retired after their spectacular crashes, Toyota were quickest but unlucky with crashes and punctures, the Joest-entered Audi R8R roadsters reliable (unlike the UK entered R8C coupes) but not fast enough yet, so the 2nd BMW #15 won in the end after the leading #17 crashed.

From 2000 on: the Audi years

In 2000, Audi introduced the new R8, developed and entered by Joest, and won 1-2-3 against weak opposition, as both BMW and Toyota moved to F1 while Mercedes had retired from sportscars to return to touring cars. 2001 was another easy win for Audi. Also in 2001, in the GTS Class, a heated rivalry began when Chevrolet's Corvette C5R defeated Prodrive's Ferrari 550 Maranellos.

2002

The 2002 edition, held on June 15 and 16, was won by Audi Sport Team Joest, with drivers Frank Biela (Germany), Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Emanuele Pirro (Italy). The same team and the same drivers had already won the race in 2000 and 2001, making for a unique hat-trick. In GTS Class, the Corvette C5Rs again defeated the Ferrari Maranellos and were keen on a hat trick of their own.

The top 10:

  1. Biela/Kristensen/Pirro - Audi - 375 laps
  2. Capello/Herbert/Pescatori - Audi - 374 laps
  3. Krumm/Peter/Werner - Audi - 372 laps
  4. Wallace/Leitzinger/Van De Poele - Bentley - 362 laps
  5. Beretta/Lamy/Comas - Dallara Judd - 359 laps
  6. Sarrazin/Montagny/Minassian - Dallara Judd - 359 laps
  7. Ara/Dalmas/Katoh - Audi - 358 laps
  8. Lammers/Hillebrand/Coronel - Dome Judd - 351 laps
  9. Taylor/Angelelli/Tinseau - Cadillac - 344 laps
  10. Boullion/Lagorce/Bourdais - Courage Peugeot - 343 laps

2003

After 3 wins in a row, the Audi factory team officially did not take part, in order to let their newly acquired British sister marque win. Bentley, with an Audi engine and support from Audi works team Joest, won its first Le Mans title since 1930 and Danish driver Tom Kristensen set a record with his fourth straight victory in the 24-hour endurance race. The Bentley team of David Brabham, Mark Blundell and Johnny Herbert finished second, in front of customer Audis. In GTS Class, the Prodrive Ferraris spoiled both the Corvette's 50th Anniversary and the hat trick by winning GTS Class.

2004

Bentley did not return, so the race was left to the Audis customers teams, with managed a 1-2-3.

Once again, Tom Kristensen was in the winning car, an Audi entered by the Japanese team Goh, setting a record fifth straight victory in the 24-hour endurance race. He now ties Jacky Ickx with 6 overall wins.

The GTS Class Corvettes avenged their loss to Ferrari on their anniversary last year by winning GTS class in 2004. The Corvettes and Ferraris have proven to be huge fan favorites, but both cars are aging and will be retired either this or next year. Chevrolet has promised to return to Le Mans with the next-generation C6R Corvette when it is finished development.

Winners

  • 1923 - André Lagache / René Leonard (Chenard-Walcker)
  • 1924 - John Duff / Frank Clement (Bentley 3.0)
  • 1925 - Gérard de Courcelles / André Rossignol (Lorraine-Dietrich)
  • 1926 - Robert Bloch / André Rossignol (Lorraine-Dietrich)
  • 1927 - John Benjafield / Sammy Davis (Bentley 3.0)
  • 1928 - Woolf Barnato / Bernard Rubin (Bentley 4.4)
  • 1929 - Woolf Barnato / Tim Birkin (Bentley 6.6)
  • 1970 - Hans Herrmann / Richard Attwood (Porsche 917K)
  • 1971 - Helmut Marko / Gijs van Lennep (Porsche 917K)
  • 1972 - Henri Pescarolo / Graham Hill (Matra MS670)
  • 1973 - Henri Pescarolo / Gérard Larrousse (Matra MS670B)
  • 1974 - Henri Pescarolo / Gérard Larrousse (Matra MS670B)
  • 1975 - Jacky Ickx / Derek Bell (Mirage GR8)
  • 1976 - Jacky Ickx / Gijs van Lennep (Porsche 936)
  • 1977 - Jacky Ickx / Hurley Haywood / Jürgen Barth (Porsche 936)
  • 1978 - Jean-Pierre Laussaud / Didier Pironi (Renault-Alpine A 442)
  • 1979 - Klaus Ludwig / Bill Whittington / Don Whittington (Porsche 935)
  • 1980 - Jean Rondeau / Jean-Pierre Jaussaud (Rondeau M379B)
  • 1981 - Jacky Ickx / Derek Bell (Porsche 936)
  • 1982 - Jacky Ickx / Derek Bell (Porsche 956)
  • 1983 - Vern Schuppan / Al Holbert / Hurley Haywood (Porsche 956)
  • 1984 - Klaus Ludwig / Henri Pescarolo (Joest-Porsche 956)
  • 1985 - Klaus Ludwig / Paolo Barilla / John Winter (Joest-Porsche 956)
  • 1986 - Derek Bell / Hans-Joachim Stuck / Al Holbert (Porsche 962C)
  • 1987 - Derek Bell / Hans-Joachim Stuck / Al Holbert (Porsche 962C)
  • 1988 - Jan Lammers / Johnny Dumfries / Andy Wallace (Jaguar XJR-9LM)
  • 1989 - Jochen Mass / Manuel Reuter / Stanley Dickens (Sauber-Mercedes)
  • 2000 - Frank Biela / Tom Kristensen / Emanuele Pirro (Audi R8 LMP)
  • 2001 - Frank Biela / Tom Kristensen / Emanuele Pirro (Audi R8 LMP)
  • 2002 - Frank Biela / Tom Kristensen / Emanuele Pirro (Audi R8 LMP)
  • 2003 - Tom Kristensen / Rinaldo Capello / Guy Smith (Bentley Speed 8 GT)
  • 2004 - Seiji Ara / Tom Kristensen / Rinaldo Capello (Audi R8 LMP)

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