24 hrs of Le Mans

[LateFan]

Alfa TZ1s and TZ2s!
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Who knew a D-type Jag came with a top...
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[LateFan]

917

Safety First! (or is that an oil tank on the left side?) I think this is the David Piper 917
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All the old photos I've seen of Le Mans, the pits were insane - officials and photographers and TV camera people and friends of the family and lookyloos and whoever, were allowed out on the pavement with the cars. Now it's much better controlled, the hoses are overhead, there's good lighting, and you have to shut the car off. I like that part of endurance racing - that's the definition of a reliable car, that it will start again on it's own every time.
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Martini long tail, with the Pink Pig beyond. Note, on the closest car - that shelf behind the right rear wheel? That holds your regulation suitcase - the rules say it's a sports car, and must have two seats, lights, a spare tire, tools, and a suitcase! What would Smokey Yunick do with THAT rule?! (They didn't actually put a suitcase in there, just measured it)
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The "hippy car", which was one of the Martini entries, but I read the execs were pissed and after that they were pretty conventional.
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The long tail was an attempt to make them more slippery and increase top speed, but they were unstable and dangerous. Vic Elford managed to get one in contention with skill, but the now-famous wedge 917K had way more downforce in the rear, was quite stable, and went faster.
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[LateFan]

These sound crazy on start-up
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Pink Pig. I've never understood why someone thought this might have aero advantages by being really wide. Maybe it was a stability thing? But it didn't do well, so that solves that.
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This is a cool shot coming down from Dunlop to the Esses. There are long tails, short tails, 908s, a Ferrari, and GT40 - sweet.
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A long tail leading a short tail K. 25 may be Elfords car. (wait...where is this turn? This isn't Spa, is it?)
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1971 winner - Martini 917K with Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep. 4.9L flat 12 of course. For '71 they added those winglets / vertical stabilizers on the back.
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[LateFan]

1964 - Ford sends three early GT40s with wire wheels up against the Ferraris. All three retire early. The best one, driven by Hill and McLaren, lasts 14 hours and sets a lap record.



In 1965, Shelby Amercan entered big block Mk II GT40s, but their mileage was way less than the 289 Mk I's. Fuel consumption and overheating did them all in, is my understanding.

[LateFan]

1966, Shelby-American and Holman-Moody entered cars, as well as several privateers. Two of the Shelby-American cars dominate the race, but Ford makes Ken Miles slow way down so the 2nd place car can catch him and they can stage a 3-across finish with the 3rd place car, which was 12 laps further back. This cost Miles the win he earned, and 7 weeks later he was killed testing the J-car at Riverside.

Miles backs off at the last second and sort of messes up the formation. Was it spite? He was going to lose anyway, so... No one will ever know.





Something I never knew -
The winning black car was painted that way because of the two New Zealand drivers, as a tribute to their All Blacks national rugby team. It had a white New Zealand fern painted on it.

[LateFan]

1967, the All American year, as Elva said.

The 427 big block Mk IV was designed and built in the US, run by Shelby-American, and the winning car was driven by AJ Foyt and Dan Gurney. People thought this was a bad idea as they were arch rivals and would compete or at least not cooperate. They'd try to beat each other's lap times and wear the car out. They'd blow the car up so they wouldn't have to deal with each other for 24 hours.

All wives tales - they got along fine, they worked out ways to conserve the brakes since the car was heavier than the Ferraris, and the car was so reliable it could handle anything. It led the entire race after the first hour and a half, and cruised in many laps ahead of the 2nd place Ferrari.

On the winners podium, Gurney got a wild hair and shook up the champagne and sprayed it all over everyone, which is where that tradition came from.

Side note - the safety re-design of the Mk IV Elva mentioned probably saved Mario Andretti's life, when he crashed badly in the Esses with only minor injuries.

Side note 2 - bump in the roof is the "Gurney bubble" as he was 6'-3" and his helmet wouldn't fit inside the roof.

[LateFan]

1968

Rules change to reduce speeds. No more 7-liter Fords. New rule is 3 liters, but they didn't give manufacturers enough time to comply, so they decided you can use your old 5 liter if you've built 50 of them. Bingo, 289 GT40s! But they're getting old.

Ford has withdrawn factory support. Shelby and Holman-Moody don't enter teams. Only 5 cars are entered. One of them is lucky #8 which crashes on the first lap.

John Wyer with Gulf Oil sponsorship enters three of the cars. The only one that finishes, with Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi, wins the race by 5 laps over the closest Porsche. The car is chassis #1075.

[ELVA164]

Whew, you've been busy! Great photos.


There's the White Elephant beached where I believe it remained.


Dad used to load cars onto this very rig! Iori and Luigi trusted him the most and didn't want to do it themselves, so there he was.

[LateFan]

1969

This is the year Porsche decides they're going to win the overall. They've brought a truckload of 908s, open and closed. They're brought the new powerful 917, but with teething problems and high speed stability concerns.

The GT40 would soon be swallowed up by newer, more efficient cars, but it still did well on a fast, long-distance course like Le Mans with its high top end.

Five Mk I's were entered, two by John Wyer in Gulf blue. Jackie Ickxx staged his walking protest at the start and was nearly hit. He buckled in carefully and drove off in last place.

After 24 hours, there was a neck and neck race between Ickxx's GT40 and the great Hans Hermann in a closed 908 Porsche, and they traded the lead several times. Hermann chose to stay out and fight the Ford and not change brakes when he was due, so he had to be more gentle on them as the laps wore down. The Ford could pull him on the straights, while he did well in the twisties, but his brakes were going.

At the end, the Jacky Ickxx / Jackie Oliver GT40 won by about 400 feet. The winning car's chassis # was 1075, the same car from 1968.

By 1970, the GT40 was obsolete, and Hans Hermann would be back to win in the new 917K

[LateFan]

Whew, you've been busy! Great photos.

I had to study up! Fun to re-learn and learn new things about it.


There's the White Elephant beached where I believe it remained.

I wondered if that was it!


Dad used to load cars onto this very rig! Iori and Luigi trusted him the most and didn't want to do it themselves, so there he was.

Is he still alive...because several of us would like to come visit and kiss his ring! Did he live over there?

[LateFan]

The very first winner, a "blower" Bentley, in 1923. Not as old as Indianapolis, but that's back there! My memory is that the founders organized this endurance event to showcase engineering improvements in reliability, speed, stability, and lighting. The great Cibie and Marchal lights were developed in France and are part of Le Mans history.

Dig those pit facilities! Where's those overhead fuel hoses? Where's the jack man with the helmet cam? Where's fox sports ONE?!

[ELVA164]

Is he still alive...because several of us would like to come visit and kiss his ring! Did he live over there?

Yes, we're in a photo together on the shop website in my sig! :D

[ELVA164]

Dig those pit facilities! Where's those overhead fuel hoses? Where's the jack man with the helmet cam? Where's fox sports ONE?!

If it helps, riding mechanics in those days had to manually prime the fuel system with a lever near the tank. Very safe.

[LateFan]

If it helps, riding mechanics in those days had to manually prime the fuel system with a lever near the tank. Very safe.

So that's what the girl in the two-seater Indy car with Mario Andretti is doing!

[ELVA164]

So that's what the girl in the two-seater Indy car with Mario Andretti is doing!

Hah, that's probably all she'd be doing these days...