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TEAM QUAIL AT LE MANSThe History - The Eighties |
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TEAM QUAIL AT LE MANSThe History - The Eighties |
1980
1980 was all about one man – Jean Rondeau, who was born in Le Mans and still lived there. He achieved the feat of not only winning, but also doing it in a car he built and that bore his name - the Rondeau M379B. In 1980 he was having his fifth attempt at the race, having been the man behind the Inaltera team. From 1976 Inaltera had developed from GTP to Group 6, and when the Inaltera sponsorship was withdrawn the cars became Rondeaus. He arrived at Le Mans with two cars for himself with Jaussaud and Pescarolo and Ragnotti.
The 1980 Rondeaus
He faced unusually weak opposition. There were no major Group 6 factory entries. There was one Porsche 908/3, and a handful of Cosworth powered cars including ones for ACR and Dome. Group 5 was dominated by 935s with two Lancia Beta Monte Carlo Coupes. Porsche entered three 924 Carreras in GTP.
New rules restricted fuel flow at pit stops, making them longer, so the more fuel-efficient a car the longer it would spend on the track.
The Group 6 Porsche driven by Ickx and Joest led off and was fast, but it was dogged by fuel pump and gearbox problems. It ran first for half the race, but at the end finished second. Several other cars led the mainly wet race, including two 935s and Rondeau, who had been on pole.
Near the end Rondeau and Jaussaud were leading but Ickx was catching them fast. It rained heavily and Ickx went in for wet tyres and the Rondeau stayed out on the track. The rain stopped and Rondeau won. It was the first non-turbo car to win since 1975, and it was tremendously popular. The other Rondeau finished third.
Some years later Rondeau was killed, but his name lives on at Le Mans: the Jean Rondeau trophy being awarded to the young driver who shows both speed and talent.
1981
Another change of rules removed the 3-litre (or 2.14 turbocharged) limit from Group 6 prototypes and led to Group C reviving sports car racing. Group C had challenging technical limits. It did not impose capacity or weight limits, but cars had to be closed, and their performance was related to a fuel allowance of 2600 litres, and a maximum fuel tank size of 100 litres. The new gravity fuel rigs had a maximum flow rate of 50 litres per minute, implying minimum fuel stop times of 2 minutes. This was several times longer than before, so designers had to get the most out of their fuel. This tended to favour turbocharged cars, as they were both powerful and fuel-efficient.
The Porsche 936 of Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell
Porsche were already masters of this technology, and in 1981 they brought two 936/81 cars. The Mass/Schuppan/Haywood car had minor problems, was second for the first half of the race, but fell back with clutch problems to finish 13th. The Ickx and Bell car had no problems. It took pole easily and although it swapped the lead with the Joest 908 and Whittington’s 935 K3 during pit stops, it led from the fourth hour to the end, and took an easy win. It never had its engine cover raised during the race, and no pit stop exceeded four minutes. Winner Derek Bell collapsed on the podium from the effort of driving the 936 in boiling heat.
Two Rondeaus took second and third, due to endurance rather than speed. But another of their cars turned head-on to the barriers on the Mulsanne straight, and killed Jean-Louis Lafosse instantly and injuring several Marshals. Another Marshal was killed on the Mulsanne, in a separate incident, when Thierry Boutsen was lucky to escape from a crash in his WM Peugeot.
1982
This was the 50th running of the race, and Porsche were back with a Group C 956 coupe which had a 2.65 litre twin turbo flat six and the latest under body aerodynamics, using airflow to create down force, rather than just wings.
Ford powered 16 of the 28-car Group C entry; but they could not compete with the 956 that became the new starting point for all other manufacturers. Only Joest’s 936C offered any real fight, staying in the top three overnight when the third works 956 struggled with several problems, including losing a door on the Mulsanne.
By the time the 936C blew its engine on Sunday afternoon, the 956s were first, second and third, and lined up to take the finish in formation. Ickx and Bell won again followed by Mass and Schuppan, and Heywood and Holbert. The next Group C car was the Aston Martin Nimrod of Mallock, Phillips and Salmon.
Porsche also won all the classes for a truly dominant year.
1983
Porsche were even better in 1983. The works team was as strong as ever, but the 956 had become a customer car and there were several strong private teams giving real strength in depth. Porsche took the first eight paces and tenth, with the works tram first and second.
The winning Porsche 956
There was a three-car Lancia team, moving to Group c with its LC2 coupes. There were fast enough to qualify on the front row, but they were new and unreliable, causing all three to retire. Rondeau’s works Ford –powered cars all suffered engine failures.
The only car to prevent Porsche getting a clean sweep of the top ten was a six cylinder 3.5 BMW powered Sauber in ninth.
Porsche lost the third works car in the 22nd hour with a blown engine that stopped what could have been a win for Mass, Bellof and Barth. But the other team cars finished 1-2 with Holbert, Haywood and Schuppan winning from Ickx and Bell. The winners had lost a door, oil pressure and finally its engine just yards after the finish. The second placed car had hit a private 956 on the second lap, and had electrical problems on Sunday morning, and the fuel restrictions had stopped them from pushing hard enough to make up the minute difference. The father and son Andretti team was third.
1984
The Jaguar team
were back in 1984 with naturally aspirated 6 litre V12 XJR-5 GTP cars entered by
the American Group 44 Team. They attracted lots of publicity and many British
fans, but this was only the start of a campaign.
The 1984 Jaguar
Porsche did not have a works team, but did have plenty of private entries. But pole went to one of the Martini sponsored Group C Lancia LC2-84s, driven by Wollek and Nannini. There was another LC2 behind driven by Baldi/Barilla/Heyer before the fastest Porsche of Johamsson/Schlesser/de Narvez.
The Lancias led, but the VW Peugeot took the lead on the first lap. It swapped places several times with the lead Lancia but halfway through the third lap, it lost its nose on the Mulsanne corner, putting itself out of contention before retiring.
The winning Joest Porsche
Wollek and Nannini retook the lead and for sixteen hours they were never below third, and for nine hours they led. The second Lancia recovered from a slow start to climb through the field and eventually took the lead from its teammate before falling back with engine and gearbox problems.
Gearbox problems also affected Wollek and turned his potential victory into an eight place.
The Jaguars ran well, both in the top six, and even led briefly during a round of pit stops. But one went out following an accident and the other suffered gearbox failure.
So the Porsches fell into the top places, and the private teams fought out a close battle for the last eight hours. Pescarolo and Lugwig in the Jouest 956 had recovered from 30th position to lead by the end. The latter fell away to finish sixth as Pescarolo won his fourth Le Mans with Henn’ 956 second. Lancia had the fastest lap, by Wollek at 145.2mph.
Porsche had now won four in a row and equalled Ferrari’s total of nine.
1985
Tighter fuel limits for 1985 promised to narrow the gap between the Porsches and the Jaguar and Lancia cars. In addition, thirty years on from their darkest hour, Mercedes came back in partnership with Sauber in the 5 litre V8 Sauber C8. However it was business as usual with Porsche 1-2-3-4-5.
The 962C of Ickx and Mass which finished tenth
Qualifying at the front of the grid became much more important than ever because of the television exposure the teams could expect. So the front running Porsches and Lancias treated qualifying as a race in itself. Porsche won and took pole with a brilliant drive from Hans Stuck, beating Jacky Ickx’s record with 155mph. Porsche put Ickx and Mass in the second car on the grid. Lancia could only manage third for Wollek and Nannini and sixth for Pescarolo, Baldi and Cesario, and Porsche had the rest of the top 12 places. Jaguar only qualified 16th and 17th.
The Lancias survived to finish sixth and seventh, the Porsches overwhelming them. Jaguar finished 13th, 50 laps down on the winners. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the Aston-powered Emka driven by Tiff Needell, Nick Faure and Steve O’Rourke that out qualified the Jaguars, led briefly and finished as the top non-Porsche/Lancia in 11th.
After the first couple of hours just one car was going to win. It was a Porsche, but not a works entry. This was the same car that won last year, Jouest’s NewMan 956B, having a near faultless run after taking the lead in the third hour. It was driven by Ludwig, Barilla and ‘John Winter’ (a pseudonym).
It was challenged briefly by the Canon 956 of Palmer and Weaver, but this developed electrical problems, then it recovered to finish second. The top works car was Stuck and Bell in fourth, and Ickx and Mass just made the top ten.
1986
This year Jaguar made a serious attempt to win. The car was backed by the works, run by Tom Walkinshaw’s TWR and sponsored by Silk Cut. The new XJR-6s were state of the art Group 6 cars, lighter and smaller than the previous car.
The circuit had changed at Mulsanne corner, to bypass a new roundabout where the old escape road started.
In qualifying two of the works 962s and two privateers put the Jaguar back to fifth and sixth.
In the race Ludwig in the Joest 962 took the early lead, but the fist six were very close. The Jaguars harried the Porsches for four hours, but had lost Heyer’s car with fuel problems. Another Jaguar went in the middle of the night, but Cheever’s car was holding second on Sunday morning until an exploding tyre caused its retirement.
This left Porsche clear to win. But they had some problems too. Mass’ car spun off during the night. Jo Gartner’s 962 crashed on Mulsanne, killing the driver, and bringing the pace car out for two hours. By the time the race restarted Ludwig’s engine had blown and Joest’s hopes of a hat trick had ended. Once the last Jaguar went, Bell, Stuck and Holbert went on to win. This was Bell’s fourth Le Mans win and his first without Jacky Ickx.
The Circuit 1986
Length: 13.574 km
Mulsanne corner was modified to avoid a new roundabout that had been installed
to reduce accidents at the junction. The new layout kinked right just before the
original corner, with the new corner slightly offset.
Distance record set by the 1986 winners: 4,972.73 km, average speed: 207.197
km/h.
Fastest lap was set during the 1986 race by the number 7 Joest Porsche 956 of
Ludwig, Barilla and ‘Winter’ with a time of 3:23.3, an average speed of 239.551
km/h.
1987
Again Jaguar arrived as favourites to stop Porsche, and Porsche looked as if they were helping Jaguar’s efforts when they lost two of their three works cars during the first hour. They also lost one Kremer and both Joest cars, and the Palmer/Cobb/Weaver car caught fire. But the surviving works car was a 962C driven by Bell, Stuck and Holbert, last year’s winners, so there was still much for Jaguar to do.
The 1987 winning Porsche
The 7-litre XJR-8LMs showed promise in first, third and fourth as the Porsches fell out. However only one finished, the Cheever/Boese/Lammers’ car, in fifth. Win Percy, doing a stint in the Lammers/Watson XJR-8, was lucky to survive when it crashed on the Mulsanne after a tyre failure at 230mph. The car lost its entire rear bodywork, gearbox and wheels, on the first impact, continued airborne and upside down for several hundred yards, and then rolled for several more hundred yards before it stopped. The second, Brundle/Neilsen car went out with engine failure, and the third one fell from second the fifth with a damaged gearbox.
The Bell/Stuck/Haywood Porsche kept flying around the circuit, and its fuel economy was helped by the time spent behind the pace car after Percy’s accident.
The Sauber Mercedes had gone to transmission and suspension problems and another high-speed tyre burst. The Nissans made no impact, and Toyota were quick, but did not finish.
When Bell took the flag he was 20 laps ahead of the second placed 962 of Lassig, Yver and de Dryver.
The Circuit 1987-1989
Length: 13.535 km
Due to excessive speeds attained by the bikes on the approach to the Dunlop
bridge during their races, the Dunlop curve was altered and a chicane installed
before the bridge, slowing speeds dramatically.
Distance record set by the 1988 winners: 5,332.79 km, average speed: 221.622
km/h.
Fastest lap was set during the 1989 race by the number 4 TWR Silk Cut Jaguar of
Alain Ferte with a time of 3:21.27, an average speed of 242.093 km/h.
1988
After 31 years Jaguar finally won Le Manson 12 June 1988. The winner was the Silt Cut XJR-9 driven by Andy Lammers, Andy Wallace and Johnny Dumfries. They beat the Suber Mercedes before the race began when the team was withdrawn shortly before the race after one of its cars burst a tyre on the Mulsanne straight at more than 220mph.
TWR raced five 7-litre 700 bhp V12 XJR-9s, three from the team’s UK headquarters, and two from the team’s self-contained IMSA operation in Indiana. They also brought a complete spare car, and enough spares to re build all five cars and a private plane on standby in case they ran out. They also brought a14 drivers and a team of over 100 people, and 2500 tyres. To pass scutineering they had to make minor bodywork changes to shorten the tails and to amend the under-car aerodynamics.
The race went off like a sprint and continued like one for 24
hours, to set records for distance and speed for the Group C generation of cars.
It was between Jaguar and Porsche, with half a dozen cars in contention for most
of the race. Porsche had the first three places on the grid led by Hans Stuck.
He led from the start chased by Lammer’s Jaguar. On the seventh lap Lammers took
the lead. The lead changed 22 times between the Jaguar and the three
factory Porsches. Jaguar lost two cars and
Porsche lost
one. And it rained. But the number 2 Jaguar led at the 18 hour mark, was second
for five more
and only fell to third once. The lead was never more than a
lap, often being less than half a minute. After 3313 miles there were 2 minutes
36 seconds in it. But Lammers, Andy Wallace and Johnny Dumfries had claimed
victory. It was the second
fastest Le Mans ever (the fastest being in 1971 before circuit changes to
slow the
race). Bell, Stuck and Ludwig were second, and the Joest Porsche 962 third. The
Porsche
that finished second could not chase any harder after it suffered mechanical
problems because of the need for fuel economy – and it finished with just 1.5
litres in the tank.
The 1988 winning Jaguar XJR-9
The 3 Jaguar XJR-9LMs about to take the chequered flag, finishing 1st, 4th and 16th
1989
Two Saubers lead from the start followed by three Jaguars
As Jaguar set out to defend their crown, there were no works Porsches entered. However several private entries, including those from Joest, Kramer, Richard Lloyd Racing and Respol Brun were almost as good. There was an official Aston Martin team with a 6-litre V8 mid-engined AMR-1 Group C cars, and the Japanese teams from Toyota, Nissan and Mazda continued their interest in Le Mans. Nissan had Lola-built R89Cs with twin turbo 3.5 V8s that produced massive power. The Mazdas had 4-litre Wankel engines and were looking for reliability. Toyota was chasing speed and first-lap glory.
Mercedes, chasing their first win in 37 years, again collaborated with Sauber. They were fastest in first practice, pushing Jaguar down to second, who in turn were ahead of another Sauber-Mercedes and the fastest Toyota. When it came to official qualifying it was Schlesser who took pole for Sauber with a record time for this track configuration of 155.3 mph. The second Sauber was next, then the two Jaguars with Toyota well down the field.
The race was a thrilling contest between the silver Saubers and the Jaguars. The Sauber of Schlesser and Baldi took the lead ahead of the Davy Jones’ and Jan Lammers’ Jaguars, the Wollek Porsche and the rest.
The winning Mercedes of Mass, Dickens and Reuter
Jones led after the first lap as Lammers was in the pits with a puncture. It seemed that Jones’ Jaguar was out to break the Mercedes, but the German team did not rise to the bait and dropped off the pace as the Neilson Jaguar the Nissan and Wollek’s Porsche passed by. And as Mercedes waited, the leaders began to drop out. First to go was Bailey, his Nissan hitting Neilson’s Jaguar at Mulsanne corner. The Nissan retired, but the Jaguar carried on for a while.
There were two Jaguars down the field, but two in front, and pulling away from the Mercedes, but being hounded by Wollek’s Porsche. After the first pit stops the Porsche led, until Jones stole it back and Mercedes and the two Porsches fought for second.
Jones’ Jaguar lost half an hour after limping back to the pits with a problem. This allowed Wollek’s Porsche to take the lead, and it stayed there for over four hours until they were slowed by mechanical problems. This put Lammers’ Jaguar back in front, with the Mercedes still waiting. By breakfast time on Sunday the Jaguar was struggling with a gearbox problem that caused it to slip back. Now a Mercedes, driven by Acheson, Brancatelli and Baldi took the lead.
A mistake by Baldi, having a spin through the Dunlop curves, cost just long enough to let their teammates Mass, Dickens and Reuter into the lead and this time they stayed there to win by five laps from the Baldi car. Behind then came Wollek’s Porsche and Lammer’s Jaguar, with the third Mercedes fifth. One of the Aston Martins survived to finish eleventh.
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