24 hrs of Le Mans

[LateFan]

He built a really nice version of one of the Doolittle Raid B-25s, and hunted photos to verify the paint job. One of our neighbors is one of two surviving Doolittle Raid crew, and this is his plane, the Ruptured Duck (because it hit its tail on take-off in training).

Well, shit.....Dave Thatcher the Doolittle Raider died yesterday. Nothing to do with Le Mans and cars, sorry, but I thought I ought to post it...

http://missoulian.com/news/local/missoula-s-doolittle-raider-dead-at/article_02082abc-d078-5936-9111-3d6dc21192c0.html

[LateFan]

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[LateFan]

Some of my favorite engines at Le Mans....

The 3 liter screaming Matra V12. Maybe my earliest memory of Le Mans as a kid reading Road & Track - this weird french car with that shriek echoing off the trees.



The fantastic, howling Porsche 5-liter flat 12. He's not pushing it at all here, but god, that howl! Great overview of the track pretty close to the way it is now.
Gives me shivers!



ANY Ferrari racing V12 deserves mention of course.


"Lost" footage of GT40s at Le Mans, with some Ford marketing.....but good interview with Shelby about developing quick-change brakes.


With those 180º headers, the 289 Ford was a monster! I love this noise!

[LateFan]

Yep, you can see two little NACA vents right next to the air outlets on the green car, and one in front of the windshield. That's an interesting question - is the definition of a NACA vent that it faces forward, as an intake? Every one I've seen does.

The other thing about the kit is that the body shell didn't have the huge rear flairs that the later Gulf cars did, when they bumped up the rear wheel size. So #1079 it was.

My son researched and researched to find decal sets for one-of-a-kind WWII fighters, with the right fuselage (another cool French word!) details, to build a really nice model. His airplane collection is like a history lesson - Battle of Britain, Midway, North Africa, a Free French fighter, and a SWISS air force Messerschmidt, which shot down both German and American planes.

He built a really nice version of one of the Doolittle Raid B-25s, and hunted photos to verify the paint job. One of our neighbors is one of two surviving Doolittle Raid crew, and this is his plane, the Ruptured Duck (because it hit its tail on take-off in training).

Next he's building a nice version of Mitchell's P-38 Lightning that hunted down and shot down Yamamoto's Betty bomber while he was on an inspection tour in the south Pacific. Full speed at sea level - a bit like Le Mans!

[ELVA164]

that is really cool. i think the triangular vents you mention above are called "NACA" vents. i only know this because we have them on airplanes.

Many cars did and do use NACA vents, but I believe he's talking about the dual air exits for the nose:

You can see they're similar, but don't have that distinctive NACA shape.

He wanted this type nose:

[flyboyx]

I built a scale model with my son of a particular yellow GT40 from 1968, #1079. Privateer, French team. I just liked the looks of it, and it was different from all the Gulf blue models everyone builds.

This car's only claim to fame was that it crashed on the very first lap because the driver hadn't latched the door correctly or put on his belts. The door ripped off at high speed, the car became unbalanced, and he crashed badly. It nearly killed him, and ended his career. That running start / first lap thing was real.

BTW, does everyone know that the reason Porsches have the ignition key on the left side of the wheel, was so that the driver could jump in and start the car with his left hand while putting it in gear with his right hand? Still there and that's why.

We used an airplane wing tank to make a Gurney bubble, just cuz. I made a custom straight air outlet on the hood because the kit only came with the triangular split vents. I found a company that makes decal sets for obscure race cars so it would all be authentic.

that is really cool. i think the triangular vents you mention above are called "NACA" vents. i only know this because we have them on airplanes.

[LateFan]

I built a scale model with my son of a particular yellow GT40 from 1968, #1079. Privateer, French team. I just liked the looks of it, and it was different from all the Gulf blue models everyone builds.

This car's only claim to fame was that it crashed on the very first lap because the driver hadn't latched the door correctly or put on his belts. The door ripped off at high speed, the car became unbalanced, and he crashed badly. It nearly killed him, and ended his career. That running start / first lap thing was real.

BTW, does everyone know that the reason Porsches have the ignition key on the left side of the wheel, was so that the driver could jump in and start the car with his left hand while putting it in gear with his right hand? Still there and that's why.





We used an airplane wing tank to make a Gurney bubble, just cuz. I made a custom straight air outlet on the hood because the kit only came with the triangular split vents. I found a company that makes decal sets for obscure race cars so it would all be authentic.


Side note - someone saved the bent-up tub of 1079 in a shop somewhere, and 30 or 40 years later it was restored into a functioning race car, still yellow, and it runs in vintage races to this day.

[ELVA164]

Jacky Ickxx, 1969 - "Screw that shit, I'm walkin'" And he did, and he started last, in protest, and then he won. That was the last year they did the running start.

It was an effective and necessary protest. A number of people had died as a result of taking off without buckling up--that very year a privateer in a 917 died because he crashed and was thrown from the car because he hadn't buckled up yet.

[LateFan]

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White House - re-routed around it now at the Porsche Curves
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This little orange restaurant has always been there as far as I know...along this quiet country road...
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Jacky Ickxx, 1969 - "Screw that shit, I'm walkin'" And he did, and he started last, in protest, and then he won. That was the last year they did the running start.
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[2mAn]

Fun fact: When Luigi Chinetti won Le Mans in 1949 (his third time), he drove 23.5 of the 24 hours. The only reason he stopped at all was his co-driver was contracted to drive a minimum of 30 minutes.

Thats fucking insane!

[ELVA164]

Fun fact: When Luigi Chinetti won Le Mans in 1949 (his third time), he drove 23.5 of the 24 hours. The only reason he stopped at all was his co-driver was contracted to drive a minimum of 30 minutes.

[LateFan]

I've thought it interesting that there were different eras of winners at Le Mans.

The 20s were the Bentley era, with the big blower Bentley's driving from London to win, then drive back.

The early 30s were Alfa Romeo (yay). Then a short Bugatti period before WWII.

1949, some upstart named Ferrari won once with a V12. But the post-war through the 50s was mostly Jaguar, with a couple of Ferraris, Astons, and one Mercedes win.

1960 was the start of the Ferrari domination, which ended after Henry Ford II and Enzo had a little financial disagreement. Ford of course won through the mid to late 60s.

Then the great Porsche 917s, which would have lasted longer in my opinion if the rules weren't changed to kill them. So they took their flat-12 toys and went to crush everyone in Can-Am.

Matras won three times in a row in the mid-70s. (The screaming Matra V12s were something). Then a crazy, winged 911 thing called a 936 with a turbocharged flat 6 started to crush everything. It won many times until the 956 / 962 became an amazingly reliable, unbeatable race car. Through the late-80s, with the last win in 1994. A crazy successful car.

The 1988 Peugeot set the all-time top speed record of 251 mph on the Mulsanne. I think the 917s could do about 245 in 1970. The current track configuration produces about 200 mph max between chicanes.

Then a jumbled period in the late-80s / early 90s of Jaguar / Sauber / Mazda / Peugeot and one McLaren until the open cockpit Porsche WSCs won twice, and the GT-1 once in 1998.

That brings us to the long dominance of Audi, roughly 2000-2014, with one Peugeot win in there. Diesels, hybrids, electric cars, spaceships - the future is here!

And welcome to 2015-2016 and the Porsche 919. (sorry Toyota)

[ELVA164]

I'm not going to lie I was really routing for Audi, but I don't know why. Maybe its because I grew up watching them win. That makes me sound sooooo young, lol.

Probably no older than I am, haha.

And didn't the Le Mans effort kind of help lead to the era of factory supported Nascar teams, and some crossover with Holman & Moody building engines for Cobras and GT40s?

You've got me there as I know very little about NASCAR, but I do know the GT40 was the first car designed almost entirely in a wind tunnel, and its engine was the first tested on a special dyno which simulated laps around a race track (Le Sarthe, of course).

[LateFan]

If you're not a Ford fan yet, I suggest you look into the history of the Kent block, the Ford connection to Cosworth and the DFV, the MkI and MKII Escort (one of the best rwd rally cars of all time)...they're pretty cool.

And didn't the Le Mans effort kind of help lead to the era of factory supported Nascar teams, and some crossover with Holman & Moody building engines for Cobras and GT40s?

[stonea]

I saw the Porsche guys went over to the Toyota garage to shake their hands, and the Toyota people went over to Porsche and were applauded - that stuff is nice.

They also sent out a tweet to them, you could tell Porsche felt bad for them, but I guess if you win 18 overall victories you start to feel guilty. I'm not going to lie I was really routing for Audi, but I don't know why. Maybe its because I grew up watching them win. That makes me sound sooooo young, lol.

Keep up the history lessons! The race looks so much cooler back then.