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TEAM QUAIL AT LE MANSThe History - The Seventies |
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TEAM QUAIL AT LE MANSThe History - The Seventies |
Looking over the pits from the ACO Press Tower
1970
Between their first entry in 1951 until 1969 Porsche had nearly 120 Le Mans
entries, over fifty finishes and thirty class wins. They had won every category
from GTs to sports cars to prototype. The best overall results had been second
and third in 1968 and second in 1969. Now Porsche wanted the overall crown, and
the works Fords and Maserati were there to stop them.
The 917 shocked the FIA, but the had left a loophole with the 25 built car
requirement, and the biggest Porsche challenge yet seen arrived in 1970. They
entered 24 cars, including seven 917s, the rest being made up of 907s, 908s,
910s, 911s and a 914. One 908 driven by Linge and Williams included a camera to
firm the feature film ‘Le Mans’ staring Steve McQueen. Three short tailed 917s,
two 4.9s and a 4.5 in the pale blue and orange Gulf colours were entered by John
Wyer on behalf of the factory. The works supplied a 4.5 long tailed 917 to
Martini racing, and a 4.9 long-tailed to Porsche Salzburg.
The JW Engineering Gulf Porsche three car team in the pits.
Of the other cars there were 3-litre Matra and Alfa Romeo prototypes and a big
Lola T70 Chevrolet. But it was a straight race between Porsche and Ferrari.
Ferrari, with Fiat’s help, produced the required 25 examples of their 5 litre
V12 512S, and eleven were entered, making a third of the grid either 917s or
512s. The grid lined up Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Ferrari Porsche, and Ferrari.
The race was mainly wet. Only seven cars finished from 51 starters, the worst in Le Mans history. Porsche started from pole, took a 1-2-3 lead, established a new lap record and won every capacity class, plus Sports, GTs and Prototype categories. It was a unique clean sweep.
The start
Safety was again a concern. The cars lined up in echelon along the pit lane, but
instead of running across to them, drivers were already in the cars belted in.
That followed Jack Ickx’s protest in 1969 where he had slowly walked across the
track and belted himself in before starting, and he still won.
The pattern was set early when two of the three works 512s crashed at White
House, and all three Matras had engine problems by quarter distance. After four
hours Porsche held the first five places, with the last works 512 in sixth. The
latter crashed in the wet and Ferrari was gone.
Jack Brabham in the Matra 650
But Porsche also had problems. None of the JW 917s finished. After seventeen
hours there were just two 917s left, but the kept going. Hermann and Attwood
took the lead after eleven hours and stayed there. Martini’s Larrousse and
Kausen were second almost five laps down. Third overall, first prototype and
first 3 litre was Martini’s 908 Spyder.
1971
By now teams knew that the days of the big cars were over. New rule changes were
on the cards for 1972, the 5 litre monsters would be outlawed and Le Mans was
returning to a 3 litre maximum.
The number 19 Gulf Porsche 917 brakes at the end of the Mulsanne straight
However, there was one more race left to the old rules, and 1971 remains the
fastest Le Mans ever, thanks to the 917s, a fast track, good weather, and a hard
fought race.
Porsche had 33 of the 49 starters, dominated by the 911s but with one 4.5 and six
4.9 litre 917s. The smaller 917 was a private entry, and although it lasted
longer than some of the works cars it retired with gearbox problems after 20
hours. JW Gulf and Martini both entered 917s. Ferrari had nine privately entered
512s.
The Martini 917
For the first time, Le Mans used a rolling start. The first stages were a close
battle between the 917s and 512s. Rodriguez and Oliver led for the first eleven
hours, except for the periods they were in the pits, when Siffert and Bell took
over. Both those 917s retired, the first during the night, the second on Sunday
morning. The experimental Martini 917/20 crashed at half distance. The single
Matra had been as high as second, but failed at breakfast time. By half way the
Vaccarella and Juncadella Ferrari led, but lasted only two more hours before its
gearbox broke. Now the short-tail Martini 917 of Marko and van Lennep inherited
the lead and dove to victory.
The winning distance of 3334.6 miles and average lap time of 138.9mph remain
records, as does Oliver’s fastest lap of 152.7mph.
Attwood and Muller took second in the JW Gulf 917. Posey and Adamwicz was third
in a NART 512.
1972
Again there were big changes to the circuit. The stretch of public roads by the
White House had become far too dangerous, with cars like the 917 approaching at
200mph. So the road between Arnage and the pits was by-passed with a new 3km
stretch of dedicated track including a new corner into the Ford chicane to slow
the card before the start-finish straight. This cost the ACO some £600,000. It
was supposed to be followed within a couple of years by even bigger changes,
creating a purpose built straight parallel to the Mulsanne. The further changes
never happened. The 1972 changes added about 170 metres to the track and put
more than 30 seconds on lap times/.
The new rules meant the end of an era, but the dawn of a period when it was
hoped that French cars, after22 years could win again. Matra was the
manufacturer that was expected to deliver. Porsche had turned to other forms of
racing, Ferrari pulled out two weeks before the race, and JW Gulf-Mirages were
not developed in time.
The three Matras lead the field way at the start
Matra entered three new MS670s and an older MS660, as back up. Each has
different body shapes to cover various race scenarios. They ran on 3 litre
450bhp F1 engines, and had much endurance testing. They also had excellent
drivers with Graham Hill and Henri Pescarolo, Cevert and Ganley, Jabouille and
Hobbs and Beltoise and Amon.
The toughest challenge to Matra came from Alfa Romeo, but their 3 litre cars
were not fast enough. There was a challenge from Lola and a new entry, the
Cosworth-engined Duckhams Ford, based on the Brabham F1 car which held sixth for
many hours until a minor accident dropped it to eleventh with only 2 hours left.
The race was marred by the death of Jo Bonnier, who had just announced his
retirement from F1 racing. On Sunday morning his Lola collided with a Ferrari
Daytona and flew into the trees. The two Lola T280 spyders had been the quickest
of all on Mulsanne and both had led briefly, before falling back.
The Matras now dominated, but had their own scares. Beltoise had taken the lead
but lasted only two laps before his engine failed, and Jabouille and Hobbs lost
many laps with fuel problems. Matra established themselves as 1-2-3 by halfway,
but Jabouille and Hobbs stopped almost at the finish with a broken gearbox. Hill
and Pescarolo won from Cevert and Ganley. A Porsche 908 driven by Joest, Weber
and Casoni took an unexpected third An Alfa limped in fourth ahead of five
Ferrari Deytonas.
The Circuit 1972-1978
Length: 13.640
km
Starting on the Arnage to Maison Blanche stretch, a new section was constructed,
by-passing Maison Blanche completely. This joined the existing track with
another slow corner at the Ford chicane.
Distance record set by the 1978 winners: 5,044.53 km, average speed: 210.188
km/h.
Fastest lap was set during the 1978 race by Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the A443
Renault with a time of 3:34.20, an average speed of 229.244 km/h.
1973
The Mantra win was just what the organisers wanted to get large patriotic crowds for the 50th Anniversary of the first Le Mans, marked by a parade of past winners.
Ferrari announced their return at the last minute, but Alf Romeo withdrew because their new engine was untried over 24 hours, and they were represented by just one privately entered T33.
The key battle was to be between Ferrari and Matra. The former having three works 312PBs, the latter three revised MS670Bs and one earlier MS670. Porsche had three 908s and two Carrera RSRs. Ligier returned with three Maserati-engined cars.
It became a great race between the Ferraris and the Matras. Ferrari sent Merzario and Pace off at a ferocious pace that was meant to break the Matras. They led for two hours until they suffered with fuel problems. The Matras of Beltoise and Cevert and Depailler and Wolleck (in the older MS670) swapped the lead until the former had tyre problems and the latter engine failure. The Ferrari of Reutemann and Schenken then led for five hours, backed by team mates Redman and Ickx, chased by the Matra of Pescarolo and Larrousse.
Nearing half distance, the leading Ferrari’s engine broke leaving Redman and Ickx fighting off Pescarolo and Larrousse, while the Beltoise/ Cevert Matra crashed.
On Sunday morning Pescarolo and Larrousse snatched the lead back when Redman and Ickx suffered a broken exhaust. Then the Matra lost most of its lead with brake problems. The Ferrari closed to within seconds but the suffered a fuel leak; the Matra's starter motor jammed in the pits. By midday it was anybody’s race. Ferrari attacked again but the Matra held on and at 2.30pm the Ferrari suffered a broken engine. Pescarolo and Larrousse were left clear to win ahead of the Merzario and Pace and Jaussard and Jabouille Ferraris.
A Ferrari Daytona won the GT class from Porsche and Corvette. In the Touring category a BMW outlasted the Ford Capris.
1974
In
1974 Matra completed a hat trick in a far from memorable race which had only 49
starters. Ferrari and Alfa did not enter works teams. The threat coming from the
Cosworth powered Gulf Fords and Porsche 911s with turbocharged 2.1 litre engines
and huge tyres.
Matra lead from start to finish, despite engine problems for three of their four
entries. The JW Gulf-Ford GR7 spyders were closest to the pace of the Matras,
but the suffered fuel problems, virtually from the start, still one, driven by
Hailwood and Bell finished fourth behind the second placed Porsche coupe and the
third placed Matra. Pescarolo’s win was the hat trick for both Matra and
himself.
A Daytona won the GTs again as all the Porsches failed: and a BMW was the sole
finisher in the touring category.
Pescarolo in the winning Matra
1975
If anything the 1975 race was worse than 1974. Matra, Ferrari and Alfa did not
enter and the race was a contest between Porsche and the variety of
Cosworth-engined cars.
In light of the world fuel crisis, Le Mans introduced a fuel limit, which meant
that cars sacrificed performance just to last the distance.
Gulf-Ford led the prototype entry with two Cosworth-powered GR8 spyders driven
by Ickx and Bell and Schuppan and Jaussaud. They were the quickest in practice
and led all the way.
Schuppan and Jaussaud led first but gave way to Ickx and Bell at the first pit
stop. Although the leaders had exhaust problems late on they held on. Their
team mates hovered between second and third with electrical problems, not helped
by the rain, eventually finishing third. Splitting the Gulfs was a Cosworth-powered
Ligier driven by Lafosse and Chassuil, which had closed to within a lap of the
winners.
1976
The 1974 Le Mans crowd was down to half that of 1967, it was smaller too in
1975. Le Mans tried to fight back by tempting the big names to re-enter with
more changes. They let in both prototypes (called Group 6) and GTs plus anything
else that fitted a FIA category. While the world sports car championship sank
lower, Le Mans began to bounce back.
For the first time since 1949 they was no Ferrari, and only a handful of
prototypes as front-runners. But there was a fine field behind them including
various GT classes and a small American contingent of IMSA and NASCAR racers who
were now eligible.
1976 Inaltera
The production based Group 5 GTs (heavier than the prototypes, with a minimum
production requirement, but no capacity limit) was well represented, and were
possible winners. Many of these were now up to 2142cc with turbochargers,
challenging the non-blown 3 litre cars head on. The Group six cars were
favourites, but if they failed to make the distance the Group five GT cars
should be able to win.
There were 26 Porsches entered, but only two were the turbocharged 936s, entered
by Martini. They faced just one Alpine Renault A442 with a 2-litre turbo.
The Renault took the early lead in fierce heat, but Ickx soon took it in his
Porsche 936, followed by his team mate Joest when the Renault pitted early. The
Alpine suffered electrical problems then fought back the third, before retiring
during the night. Joest was still holding second at halfway but its transmission
broke and the Mirage of Lafosse and Migault inherited second.
The leading Porsche had exhaust problems on Sunday afternoon, but it had a 120
mile lead and was not to be denied victory, Ickx’s third. The first ever win for
a turbo-charged car at Le Mans. Craft and Cadenet, with burnt feet, brought
their Lola home third,
A Porsche 935 came fourth and won Group 5, ahead of a Mirage.
The American cars failed because they were too slow (except in a straight line),
and too
unreliable
The race was marred when Andre Haller died in a crash in his Datsun 260Z on the
Mulsanne straight.
1977
Porsche had 25 of the 55 starters in 1977, two 936s in Group 6 and rest 911s in
groups 4, 5 and IMSA. Ferrari had on NART 512BB Boxer, and Aston Martin had a
privately entered 5.3 V8. There were BMWs in Group 5 and Group 2, and Inaltera
were back.
Although there were only two makes that would challenge of the overall win, it
was an incredible race between speed with strategy against pure speed.
The Jabouille/Bell Alpine Renault started from pole and took the lead, hounded
by Stommelen and Schurti in the 935 Porsche. The 935 failed and left Ickx and
Pescarolo second in their 936, with another 936 third, and two other works
Renaults chasing hard.
In the fourth hour Ickx’s car suffered a broken engine, the other 936 down the
field in 41st place with fuel pump problems. Renault was 1-2-3.
The rules not only allowed three drivers per car, but also for a driver to
transfer from one car to another. Porsche put Ickx into the surviving 936 and
told him to drive flat out. He started with a three-hour stint, regularly taking
10 seconds a lap from the leaders, and clawed back up the field.
And the Renault had helped with their own troubles. By midnight he had the 936
back in fourth place ahead of the Mirages, behind the Alpines. Then the Alpine
of Jaussaud and Tambay blew an engine, and Jabouille/Bell’s engine failed at
nine on Sunday morning. Depailler and Lafitte stopped with engine problems at
midday.
With less than two hours remaining the leading Porsche limped into the pits with
a holed piston. It couldn’t go much further but the rules said that if they were
running at the end and if its last two laps were within a percentage of each
other, it would be a finisher. Porsche knew that its lead was so great that if
it finished, even with two slow laps, it would win. So the 936 staid in the pits
until the clock neared 4pm, the second place Mirage of Scuppan and Jarier
steadily reducing its lead. With ten minutes to go the Porsche limped out of the
pits running on five cylinders, pouring smoke, it completed its two laps and
won. It still had eleven laps in hand. The Mirage was second and a 935 third.
Inaltera finished fourth ahead of the Lola.
1978
Renault were determined and focused for the 1978 race, brought two A442s, a 442B and a 2.1 turbo 443. They were nominally spyders but their Perspex windscreens virtually turned them into coupes. Porsche brought a long-tailed development of the 935 (nicknamed Moby Dick). While Porsche set up for a fast race, Renault opted for the long haul.
The winning Renault of Pironi and Jaussaud
The 936s of Ickx and Pescarolo and Heywood and Greg immediately had engine problems and lost time. The Renaults of Jabouille and Depailler, Pironi and Jaussaud led the 936 of Wolleck and Barth. The Mirage-Renaults were the best of the rest but they fell out after 3 hours. After four hours Renault were 1-2-3 with Jarier and Bell joining the leaders.
Then a 9pm Porsche again changed Ickx putting him in Wolleck and Barth’s fourth placed car, and by 1.30am they were second.
Jabouille and Depailler’s Renault holed a piston and Freuelin, Ragnotti and Dolhem were slowed by gearbox problems in their's. But Pironi and Jaussaud stayed ahead of Ickx’s 936, which had its own gearbox problems. Freuelin, Ragnotti and Dolhem were forth behind Haywood, Gregg and Joest's Porsche. Renault had finally won Le Mans, and they promptly retired from racing at Le Mans.
1979
Porsche finished 1-2-3-4 in 1979, with film star Paul Newman driving the second placed car with Barbour and Stommelen. They had 12 finishers from 20 starters, and the had the only Le Mans winner from a rear-engined car.
The winner was Kremer Racing’s twin-turbo K3, an extreme=me version of the Group 5 935, which out ran and out-survived the Group 6 entries.
Le Mans started at 2pm because of an European election the next day. Essex Petroleum had sponsored two updated 936s, and these led for the first two hours, until they had problems. Derek Bell and Mike Hailwood took over in a Mirage until its exhaust broke, losing it time and condemning it to a chasing role.
Sunday was wet, and the 935s assumed dominance, with the Kremer, Gelo and Barbour cars disputing the lead through the middle stages. Kremer and Barbour had the edge and their cars took the top three places, while a 934 took fourth. The winner was Klaus Ludwig and Bill and Don Whittington, seven laps ahead of the barley rolling Barbour , Stommelen and Newman car , who had lost 23 minutes (about 6 laps) with a jamm3ed wheel nut.
This year the second placed car got all the headlines and 1979 will always be remembered as Paul Newman’s year.
The Circuit 1979-1985
Length: 13.626 km
Due to the construction of a new public road, Tertre Rouge corner had to be
reprofiled, changing it from a right angled corner to a faster, but more complex
double apex. Second Dunlop Bridge removed.
Distance record set by the 1985 winners: 5,088.51 km, average speed: 212.021
km/h.
Fastest lap was set during the 1985 race by Jacky Ickx in the works Rothmans
Porsche 962 with a time of 3:25.10, an average speed of 239.169 km/h.
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