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24 Hours of Le Mans

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24 hours of Le Mans is a famous sports car endurance race held at a course near Le Mans, France, near river La Sarthe, usually in early to mid June. The first race was held on May 26 and 27, 1923 The first race was in 1923 and has been run annually in since June, with the exceptions of 1956 (July) and 1968 (September), cancelled only in 1936 and from 1940 to 1948.

Traditionally, the race starts at 16:00 on the Saturday, although 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 roads and a part of the permanent Bugatti track which surrounds the facilities at start/finish, plus the Porsche Curves section which bypasses the former Maison Blanche.

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 sounds obvious, but the 1966 race saw a surprise winner, despite two Fords crossing the line nearly next to each other in a staged finish. The latter of the two was pronouced the winner, as it had started behind on the grid and thus covered a bigger distance in the same time.

Nowadays, each car has a team of three drivers. Before 1970 only two drivers per car were allowed, and 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 2 turns. In 1952, Frenchman Pierre Levegh competed and nearly won the race alone, making a mistake in the final hour which handed victory to a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.

The race is sadly known for the worst accident in the history of motor racing. In 1955, Pierre Levegh's Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR hit the back of an 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.

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 sportscar racing in 1999 after their CLR sports prototypes caught air and backflipped three times at Le Mans. Similar accidents happened to a Porsche and an BMW while racing in the USA, and had happened in the 1980s. 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 air plane 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.

Levegh's 1955 accident also prompted the government of Switzerland to ban circuit automobile racing, a ban which still remains in place. Several other races were cancelled in 1955.

The 24 hours of Le Mans was also famously featured in a 1972 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 using genuine racing cars of the day, and one Porsche equipped with heavy movie cameras competed and finished the race, providing actual racing footage from the track.

"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, with the drivers running across the track to their cars as the race commences. This became risky after the introduction of safety belt harnessess, which should be properly strapped by mechanics. 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 belt. Despite this delay, he managed to win the race by only 100 meters later on. The practice was discontinued in 1970, when the drivers started while being seated.

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 Deustch 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 Jaguars 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 P88 driven by Roger Dorchy reached the speed of 405 km/h during practice, the next year a Sauber Mercedes C9 reached the speed of 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 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

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.

1964-1967 Ford/Ferrari duel

1968-1969 The Gulf Ford GT-40 years

1968

In 1968, cars with engines that displaced over 5 liters were banned from the World championship and thus from Le Mans. This was the end of the for the big block Fords and for the Chevrolet-powered Chaparral in Le Mans. Cars with less tahn 5 liters engine were allowed to compete in the Sport category if they were at least 25 cars built. Less than 3 liters engines were allowed to compete with no minimal production in the Prototype category. This rule allowed cars powered by stock-block engines like the Ford GT-40 and the Lola T-70 to compete against prototypes powered by sophisticated 3 liters engines.

Enzo Ferrari was disapointed to have to bring his P4s to the museum and refused to compete in endurance for 1968. John Wyer had to renounce to compete with his GT-40 derived 5,7-liters Mirage and choosed to compete with 5 liters Ford GT-40. The Wyer GT-40s received some of the improvement of the Mirage, they were sigficantly updated and lighted in comparison of the stock GT-40.

For Le Mans the competition between was between Wyer's Ford GT-40 and the new 3-liters prototypes Matra 630 and Porsche 908. The 2-liter Alfa-Romeo 33 were ousiders.

Porsche was favorite. Wyer team wasn't at best : Jacky Ickx had broken his leg practicing for the Canadian GP, and Brian Redman was still out after a in the Belgian GP at Spa.

While a litany of problems plagged the new Porsche 908s, 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 Pescorolo drove the car to the second place under the rain despite a windshield wiper failure while his teamate Johnny Servoz-Gavin had definitely refused to drive the car in such conditions. However during one of the last pitstops the car caught fire, and could not continue.

The victory went the GT-40 driven by Lucien Bianchi and Pedro Rodrigez. Porsche’s best finisher was a 2.2-liter 907 second, followed by the new 908 in third: both just one lap behind the winning GT40.

1969

Starting in July 1968 Porsche made the very expensive effort to 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 25 Porsche 917 were built to meet the FIA production minimum. The 917 incorporated remarkable technology : Porsche’s first 12-cylinder engine and a lot components from titanium, magnesium and exotic alloys. According to many sources this drove Porsche AG close to bankrupcy. 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 . 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 frame. At its competition debut at the Nurburgring 1000km , all works drivers preferred the 908 over the 'unsafe' 917.

Despite the fact that no solution was found yet, three 917s entered Le Mans. Two where Porsche team and the third was entered by the getlemen-driver John Woolfe.

Ahrens/Stommelen 917 qualified on pole.

Before the race Jackie Ickx had expressed to journalists that he considered the Start procedure unsfe. When the start was given instead of running across the track to his GT-40, he slowly walked, then entered in his car and locked the safety belt, thus he was the last to start his engine.

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

Woolfe's crash had dislodge the gas tank the spit the flaming tank was spit into the road where Amon's Ferrari 312 hit it.

After an interruption the race restarted. The 2 official 917s were put out of the race by clutch bell housing problems.

1970-1971 The Posche 917 years

1970

During June 1969 Enzo Ferrari sold half his stock to Fiat. Ferrari used some of that money to decided to build a car to compete with the 917. To comply with the rule Ferrai built as fast a he could 25 Ferrari 512 powered by a 5 liter V12 for the 1970 season.

Disapointied by the result of the 917 in 1969 and facing a new competition Porsche concluded an agreement with John Wyer and the Gulf Team became the official Porsche.

The aerodynamic doctrine of the 917 was minimum drag for highest top speed. At the test track a new tail was molded with aluminum sheet and taped together. The new tail favored downforce over drag. This new version became the 917 K.

Wyer had the surprise to discover that despite the agreement an other team was carefully preparing le Mans close support from Porsche. The Porsche Salzburg team was under control of members of the Porsche family. It was clear that Porsche did want to share the glory of victory in Le Mans with a British team.

A new version of the 917 was develloped for Le Mans with support from the external consultant Robert Choulet. The 917 LH (Lang Heck) featured a spectacular new "Long Tail" body. Two 917 LH were entered in Le Mans, none was suplied to Wyer.

One of the 917 L was entered by Porsche-Salzburg. The other 917 L was supplied to the semi-official team Martini Racing. The spectacular livery of this car was an elaborate whorls 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.

For Porsche’s 20th participation Ferdinand Porsche himself dropped the tricolor flag at 4:00 p.m.

All the race was run under a pourring rain.

Hans Hermann and Dick Atwood in a Porsche-Salzburg 917K while Gérard Larousse and Willi Kauhsen finished second with the “Hippie Car”.

1971

During the 1971 season the FIA decided to ban the Sport category for 1972.

Running out of money Ferrari choosed to give priority to Formula 1 and gave up any official effort with the 512. To prepair the 1972 season a new prototype, the 312 PB was presented and engaged by the factory in several races. Roger Penske buyed a used 512 M chassis that was totally dismantled and rebuilt. The car specially tuned for long races receiving many unique features, among then was an aviation inspired quick refueling system. As of today it's impossible to know if Penske's initiative was backed in some way by Ferrari. This 512 M, painted in a blue 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 a 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 developpement on the 917 : The 917 K tail was modified, and the 917 LH aerodynamics received further improvements. New Magnesium chassis were develloped. A entirelly new car, the 917-20 nicknamed the "Pink Pig" was built as test-bed for future Can-Am parts and aerodynamic "low-drag" concepts.

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. Ferrari and Matra were favorite but had different priorities. Matra cut down its participation in endurance-racing to just "Le Mans", while Ferrari preferred to compete for the World Championship and bypass le Mans.

This brought Matra in the favourite 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 as seriouly outdated.

The Alfa-Romeo appeared in Le Mans their 1000 km configuration and the reliability of the Ford-Cosworth DFV that powered the Lolas was questionnable on a 24 hour race. It was thus not surprising that the Matra 670s lead the race.

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.

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

1973

In 1973 Matra choosed to compete against Ferrari for the World Champion title for constructors and Ferrari choosed to come in Le Mans as the race could be decisive for the title.

For this years the Matra were updated to the 670B specification consisting mainly of larger spoilers and new gearbox especially built for Matra by Porsche. The Ferrari 312PB had an previously unseen longtail bodywork. It was clear that both team were there to win.

1974

1975 Last victory of the Wyer team

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 choosed not to retire this year and to make Le Mans the sole race of the Gulf team program for the 1975 season. made the choice, 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 an opportunity for Guy Ligier. 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 enginerering 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 initialy 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 choosed to run some races of the World Championship before le Mans to as tests runs for the Cosworth-powered JS-2. The of these race result were dispointing the hacked JS-2 was clearly to compete with the real prototypes.

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

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.

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 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 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 Jackie 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 round. The public that was aware of the difference between the two cars (and also probably slightly chauvinist) made an equal ovation to both teams. Reinhold Joest, Jurgen Barth and Mario Casoni were third overall in their aged Porsche 908/3

1980 Rondeau's victory

Porsche sent no works Group 6 cars, the lone Group 6 Porsche was a private Martini-sponsored roadster enterd by Joest's for Reinhold Joest himself and Jacky Ickx this 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 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 start was the probably wettest ever in Le Mans. Ickx laid back in the his roaster until he could actually see something else than the fog created by Porsche 935, BMW M1 and Rondeau coupes.

John Fitzpatrick was leading Dick Barbour’s Porsche 935. Hans Stuck had shoved his BMW M1 from 26th to second by 5:00 o’clock. 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 back in the broke fuel injection pump belt but Joest had planned wisely, including a spare belt. Ickx restarted just 14 minutes later but this was enough to lost the lead.

At nightfall a Rondeau was leading the race but Ickx when 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 coupe behind. After numerous lead changes caused by refulelings and scheduled maintenance on the cars around 7:00 a.m., the Joest Martini Porsche had built a solid lead.

But the Joest had 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 Jaussand gained the lead with an advance of three laps. Ickx had to began a third chase.

When Jaussaud took over from Rondeau with an hour and a half remaining. The Rondeau had still a two laps advance. With 35min to race, the rain returned. Ickx pitted for wet tyres while Jaussaud kept the slicks. Jaussaud had made the right choise and remained on the lead.

For the first time a diver had won Le Mans on a car bearing his name.

1981-1987 The Porsche years

2002

The 2002 edition, held on June 15 and 16, was won by Audi Sport Team Joest, with riders 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.

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

Bentley 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.

Winners

  • 1990 - John Nielsen / Price Cobb / Martin Brundle (Jaguar XJR-12)
  • 1991 - Volker Weidler / Johnny Herbert / Bertrand Gachot (Mazda 787)
  • 1992 - Derek Warwick / Yannick Dalmas / Mark Blundell (Peugeot 905)
  • 1993 - Gary Brabham / Christophe Bouchut / Éric Helary (Peugeot 905)
  • 1994 - Yannick Dalmas / Hurley Haywood / Mauro Baldi (Porsche 962LM)
  • 1995 - Yannick Dalmas / J.J. Lehto / Masanori Sekiya (McLaren F1-GTR)
  • 1996 - Manuel Reuter / Davy Jones / Alexander Wurz (TWR-Porsche)
  • 1997 - Michele Alboreto / Stefan Johansson / Tom Kristensen (TWR-Porsche)
  • 1998 - Laurent Aiello / Allan McNish / Stéphane Ortelli (Porsche 911 GT-1)
  • 1999 - Pierluigi Martini / Yannick Dalmas / Joachim Winkelhock (BMW V-12 LMR)
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