1970 24 Hours of Le Mans

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The 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 38th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 13 and 14, 1970. It was the eighth round of the World Sportscar Championship.

Much of the racing footage shot for the motion picture Le Mans was from this event, including the use of a Porsche 908 mounted with movie cameras.

[edit] Pre-race

During June 1969, Enzo Ferrari sold half of his company to Fiat. Ferrari used some of that money to build 25 cars in order to compete with the Porsche 917; the Ferrari 512, powered by a 5.0L V12, was introduced for the 1970 season. Despite a lack of factory drivers, as Ferrari had only two F1 pilots permanently under contract, a total of eleven Ferrari 512s were entered in Le Mans.

Disappointed by the poor results of the 917 in 1969 and facing a new competition, Porsche contracted John Wyer and the Gulf Team to become the official Porsche team, and also the official development partner. During tests in Zeltweg, Wyer's engineer John Horsmann had the idea to increase downforce to the expense of drag, a new tail was molded with aluminum sheets taped together. This worked well as the new short tail gave the 917 better stability. The new version was called 917 K (Kurzheck).

Wyer was surprised to discover that another team was carefully preparing Le Mans with close support from Porsche. As in 1969, the Porsche-Salzburg team was a de facto second works team under control of members of the Porsche family. The Martini Racing team also gained some support from Porsche AG; obviously Porsche had made major efforts to win the race with competing teams.

A new low drag version of the 917 was developed for Le Mans with support from the external consultant Robert Choulet. The 917 LH (Langheck) featured a spectacular new "Long Tail" body with a wing, which had very low drag and better stability than the 1969 version.

Two 917 LH were entered in Le Mans, one by Porsche-Salzburg, the other by Martini Racing. The spectacular livery of this car was an elaborate whirls and swoops of light green on a dark blue background. The car gained the nickname of the Hippie Car or the Psychedelic Porsche from the team and media. The Porsche-Salzburg's LH was powered by a new 4.9L engine that Porsche had introduced at Monza. This car had broken lap records on every track it had run before.

Wyer lined up three 917Ks, two with the 4.9L engine and one with the 4.5L unit. Porsche-Salzburg also entered a 917 K with the standard 4.5L engine for Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood.

Matra entered two MS650s (roadsters with tubular chassis) and a new MS660 (a roadster with monocoque chassis). Except for Jack Brabham all the drivers were French.

[edit] Race

Unsurprisingly, one the low drag, high power Porsche-Salzburg 917 LH won the pole position with Vic Elford.

For the first time the traditional "Le Mans start" was replaced by an "Indianapolis start". For Porsche's 20th participation, Ferry Porsche himself dropped the tricolor flag at 16:00.

At 17:30 all the Ferraris had already lost touch with the leaders, when the rain began to fall. Soon after, Reine Wisell was running at reduced speed in White House in his "coda lunga" Ferrari 512 S, when Derek Bell came in another 512 S going around 160km/h (100mph) faster. Bell produced a miracle in avoiding the crash. The following Works 512 S of Clay Regazzoni hit Wisell's, and Mike Parkes hit both cars, setting his own 512 S on fire. Firemen came quickly and no drivers were seriously hurt. To complete Ferrari's disaster, Bell's engine took excessive RPMs in the adventure and broke on the Mulsanne straight, meaning that four Ferrari were out.

The rain became heavier around 20:00. The last works Ferrari was driven by Jacky Ickx and Peter Schetty. Ickx, probably the most talented driver of this era under the rain, managed to bring the car from sixth at 20:00 to second at midnight. But Ferrari lost its last chance tragically when Ickx had an accident that killed a corner worker at the Ford chicane.

Jack Brabham and François Cevert led the prototypes in the Matra roadster, but the V12s were using too much oil, and all the Matras broke piston rings at quarter distance. This wasn't the year either for Wyer; Pedro Rodríguez had a connecting rod fail, Mike Hailwood crashed in Dunlop Curves and Jo Siffert blew his engine by missing a shift while passing slower cars. The Porsche-Salzburg 917 LH had problems with its 4.9L engine, leaving only the 4.5L Porsche. All the major players were gone during the night.

At dawn the weather turned from heavy rain to storm. Three 917s were leading, followed by a 908. The remaining Porsches just had to make it home safely, driving almost all day in the heavy rain without losing concentration.

Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood in their red and white No. 23 Porsche-Salzburg 917 K won while Gérard Larrousse and Willi Kauhsen finished second with the Hippie Car. Only seven finishing cars were ranked, and a few others did not cover enough distance compared to the winner. Hans Herrmann, a veteran at age 40 which had survived the dangerous Mille Miglia and Carrera Panamericana races of the 1950s, had driven for Mercedes in F1 and won the Targa Florio plus many other major races for Porsche, had promised his wife to quit racing if he should finally win the big one at Le Mans, a success which he had missed narrowly in 1969. So he retired with immediate effect, much to the surprise of his team and its boss Louise Piëch.

Porsche had won Le Mans for the first time, the last and most sought after triumph for the former underdog which managed to win all others sports car races and titles during the 1960s.

[edit] Official Results

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1	S 5.0	23	Porsche KG Salzburg	Hans Herrmann Richard Attwood	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.5L Flat-12	343
2	S 5.0	3	Martini Racing Team	Gerard Larrousse Willy Kauhsen	Porsche 917L	Porsche 4.5L Flat-12	338
3	P 3.0	27	Martini Racing Team	Rudi Lins Dr. Helmut Marko	Porsche 908/2L	Porsche 3.0L Flat-8	335
4	S 5.0	11	North American Racing Team (NART)	Ronnie Bucknum Sam Posey	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	313
5	S 5.0	12	Ecurie Francorchamps	Hughes van Fierlandt Alistair Walker	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	305
6	GT 2.0	40	Établissement Sonauto	Claude Ballot-Léna Guy Chasseuil	Porsche 914/6 GT	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	285
7	GT 2.5	47	Écurie Luxembourg	Erwin Kremer Nicolas Koob	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.3L Flat-6	282

[edit] Not Classified

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
8	GT +5.0	2	Greder Racing	Henri Greder Jean-Pierre Rouget	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	286
9	P 3.0	29	Solar Productions	Herbert Linge Jonathan Williams	Porsche 908/2 (Camera Car)	Porsche 3.0L Flat-8	282
10	P 3.0	57	North American Racing Team (NART)	Tony Adamowicz Chuck Parsons	Ferrari 312P Coupe	Ferrari 3.0L V12	281
11	GT 2.5	62	René Mazzia	René Mazzia Pierre Mauroy	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	275
12	GT 2.0	42	Wicky Racing Team	Sylvain Garant Guy Verrier	Porsche 911TH	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	271
13	GT 2.5	67	Jacques Dechaumel	Jean-Pierre Parot Jacques Dechaumel	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	271
14	GT 2.5	45	Claude Laurent	Claude Laurent Jacques Marché	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	262
15	GT 2.0	64	Claude Haldi / Hart Ski Racing	Jean Sage Pierre Greub	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	254
16	GT 2.0	66	Raymond Touroul	Jean-Claude Lagniez Claude Swietlik	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	231

[edit] Did Not Finish

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
17	P 3.0	34	Donald Healey Motor Company	Roger Enever Andrew Hedges	Healey SR XR37	Repco 740 3.0L V8	264
18	S 5.0	25	Porsche KG Salzburg	Vic Elford Kurt Ahrens Jr.	Porsche 917L	Porsche 4.9L Flat-12	225
19	P 3.0	36	Autodelta SpA	Piers Courage Andrea de Adamich	Alfa Romeo T33/3	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8	222
20	P 3.0	35	Autodelta SpA	Nanni Galli Rolf Stommelen	Alfa Romeo T33/3	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8	213
21	P 2.0	49	Paul Watson Racing Organisation / Chevron Racing Team	Ian Skailes John Hine	Chevron B16	Ford Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4	213
22	P 2.0	44	Paul Watson Racing Organisation / Chevron Racing Team	Clive Baker Digby Martland	Chevron B16	BMW 2.0L I4	187
23	P 2.5	61	Wicky Racing Team	André Wicky Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	Porsche 907	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	161
24	S 5.0	20	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Jo Siffert Brian Redman	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.9L Flat-12	156
25	S 5.0	5	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Jacky Ickx Peter Schetty	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	142
26	GT 2.5	63	Rey Racing	Jacques Rey Bernard Cheneviére	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.3L Flat-6	132
27	S 5.0	9	Escuderia Montjuich	José Juncadella Juan Fernandez	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	130
28	P 2.0	60	Guy Verrier	Daniel Rouveyran Willi Meier	Porsche 910	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	128
29	GT 2.5	65	Claude Haldi / Hart Ski Racing	Claude Haldi Artur Blanck	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	124
30	P 2.0	46	Christian Poirot	Christian Poirot Ernst Kraus	Porsche 910	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	120
31	S 5.0	18	David Piper Autorace AAW Racing Team	David Piper Gijs van Lennep	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.5L Flat-12	112
32	S 5.0	16	Scuderia Filipinetti Scuderia Picchio Rosso	Gianpiero Moretti Corrado Manfredini	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	111
33	S 5.0	4	Racing Team VDS	Teddy Pilette Gustave Gosselin	Lola T70 Mk. IIIB	Chevrolet 4.9L V8	109
34	GT 2.5	43	Jean-Pierre Gaban	Jean-Pierre Gaban Willy Braillard	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	109
35	P 3.0	31	Equipe Matra-Simca	Jean-Pierre Beltoise Henri Pescarolo	Matra-Simca MS660	Matra 3.0L V12	79
36	P 3.0	32	Equipe Matra-Simca	Jack Brabham François Cevert	Matra-Simca MS650	Matra 3.0L V12	76
37	P 3.0	30	Equipe Matra-Simca	Patrick Depailler Jean-Pierre Jabouille Tim Schenken	Matra-Simca MS650	Matra 3.0L V12	70
38	GT 2.5	59	Jean Egreteaud	Jean Egreteaud Jean Mésange	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	70
39	P 2.0	50	Écurie Intersports S.A.	Guy Ligier Jean-Claude Andruet	Ligier JS1	Ford Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4	65
40	S 5.0	10	Gelo Racing Team North American Racing Team (NART)	Helmut Kelleners Georg Loos	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	54
41	S 2.0	22	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	David Hobbs Mike Hailwood	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.5L Flat-12	49
42	P 3.0	38	Autodelta SpA	Teodoro Zeccoli Carlo Facetti	Alfa Romeo T33/3	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8	43
43	S 5.0	7	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Derek Bell Ronnie Peterson	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	39
44	S 5.0	8	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Arturo Merzario Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	38
45	GT +5.0	1	Écurie Léopard	Joseph Bourdon Jean-Claude Aubriet	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	37
46	S 5.0	15	Scuderia Filipinetti	Mike Parkes Herbert Müller	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	37
47	S 5.0	14	Scuderia Filipinetti	Joakim Bonnier Reine Wisell	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	36
48	S 5.0	21	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Pedro Rodriguez Leo Kinnunen	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.9L Flat-12	22
49	P 2.0	48	Levi's International Racing	Julian Vernaeve Yves Deprez	Chevron B16	Mazda 10A 1.0L Rotor	19
50	S 5.0	6	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Nino Vaccarella Ignazio Giunti	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V8	7
51	P 3.0	37	Autodelta SpA	Toine Hezemans Masten Gregory	Alfa Romeo T33/3	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8	5

[edit] Statistics

• Pole Position - #25 Porsche KG Salzburg - 3:19.08
• Fastest Lap - #25 Porsche KG Salzburg - 3:21.00
• Distance - 4607.810km
• Average Speed - 191.992km/h

[edit] Trophy Winners

• Index of Performance - #27 Martini International Racing Team
• Index of Thermal Efficiency - #3 Martini International Racing Team