1969 24 Hours of Le Mans

37th 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race

The 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans was a motor race staged at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France on 14 and 15 June 1969. It was the 37th Grand Prix of Endurance and was the eighth round of the 1969 International Championship for Makes. The race was open to Group 6 Prototype Sports Cars, Group 4 Sports Cars and Group 3 Grand Touring Cars. It was the last year with the traditional "Le Mans" style start, in which the drivers run across the track to enter their cars, start them, and race away. The previous year, Willy Mairesse crashed on the first lap while trying to properly close the door of his car at speed on the Mulsanne Straight; the crash would have been avoided entirely if not for the Le Mans style start, and it ended Mairesse's racing career. During the 1969 start, eventual winner Jacky Ickx famously staged his own one man protest by walking to his car, and taking his time doing up his belts. Meanwhile, privateer John Woolfe ran with the other drivers, flipped his car on the opening lap near Maison Blanche corner, and not yet strapped in properly, was killed when the car broke up. The race was one of the most exciting in the event's history. Porsche had already wrapped up the International Championship for Makes, and were strong favourites to achieve their first outright win. More than one third of the starting cars were Porsches, and the mighty 917s held the lead for 90% of the race. But when the Elford/Attwood car's gearbox broke at 11 a. m., it was the Ford of Ickx and Jackie Oliver that took over the lead. The race ended in a 3 hour sprint, with the Ford battling the pursuing Porsche 908 of Hans Herrmann and Gérard Larrousse non stop. In the end, the Ford GT40 – the same chassis that had won the previous year – took the chequered flag just 120 metres ahead of the Porsche after 24 hours of racing.

Heeding the calls of race promoters worried about diminishing fields, the FIA sought to fix things by reducing the minimum production figure to run in Group 4 from 50 to 25. Even though they had a 5 litre engine capacity limit, it was reasoned that it would not be a difference as the cars were not usually as competitive as the Group 6 Prototypes (which were limited to 3 litres). This however, left a large flaw in the system for big manufacturers with the resources to exploit the regulations. Porsche were able to construct 25 chassis of their new 917 prototype, with its 4.5 litre engine, to get it homologated for Group 4. This year the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) brought the start time forward to 2pm, to allow time for the largely French crowd to still be able to get to vote in the Presidential Elections on the Sunday afternoon. Sandbanks were replaced by barriers.

Into the second year of the new 3 litre regulations for Group 6 Prototypes, the initial entries closed with 109 applications – the biggest number in the past decade. However, after the requisite culling 60 cars were accepted, but a number of withdrawals meant only 51 practiced with non starters reducing the final grid to only 45, the smallest field in the decade. After a dominant season to date, Porsche had already won the 1969 International Championship for Makes and arrived with easily the biggest representation with 16 cars, a third of the field. Category Classes PrototypeGroup 6 SportsGroup 4 GTGroup 3 TotalEntries Large engines >2.0L classes14 (+1 reserve)11 (+3 reserves) 1 (+1 reserve)26 (+5 reserves) Medium engines 1.6 / 2.0L classes 5 (+2 reserves) 1 (+1 reserve) 4 (+4 reserves)10 (+7 reserves) Small engines 1.15 / 1.3L classes 5 0 0 5 (+0 reserves) Total Cars23 (+2 reserves)13 (+5 reserves) 5 (+5 reserves)41 (+12 reserves)

Porsche had already wrapped up the championship after the seven races to date. Starting in July 1968, Porsche made a surprising and very expensive effort to conceive, design and build a whole new car for the Group 4 Sport category with one underlying goal: to win its first overall victory at Le Mans. In only ten months, the first Porsche 917 prototype was developed with a fibreglass body and Porsche's first 12 cylinder engine. Bored out to 4.5 litres, made from titanium, magnesium and exotic alloys, it produced a mighty 520 bhp. The 917 included another feature which would prove to be controversial in the week leading up to the race: movable aerodynamic wings linked to the suspension. These were banned by the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale – the FIA's regulatory body) at the Monaco GP in May as dangerous. Porsche team manager, Rico Steinemann, protested that their test sessions had shown the car was inherently unstable without them and that the cars had been homologated for Group 4 with the flaps. A last minute decision the day before Le Mans by the FISA allowed them to race, although the 908s had to lose the flaps as they had previously run without them. Team Matra was particularly upset by this decision, but in a statement said they did not intend to protest. It was widely believed that if the ban was again reinstated because of a protest by other teams, Porsche would have pulled out of the 1969 race entirely. By May the necessary 25 chassis were completed for homologation, intended to be sold to private racing teams at $35,000 each. The first was purchased by a private interest by the time of the Le Mans race, that of Briton John Woolfe. The cars had their first race at Spa, and three works entries were at Le Mans in langheck (longtail) form for Vic Elford/Richard Attwood and Rolf Stommelen/Kurt Ahrens, with Herbert Linge in the reserve car. In the Prototype class, Porsche had three works 908s, also in langheck form, including regular team drivers Gerhard Mitter / Udo Schütz. This season's version was at least 20% lighter than the 1968 car. The new 908/2 spyder version that had been very successful through the season was run by the team's lead drivers, Jo Siffert and Brian Redman, through Siffert's sponsor, Hart Ski with strong works support. There were also a pair of privateer 910s in the 2 litre Prototype class. After a tight season last year, Ford were no longer as competitive as their Porsche rivals. Although the GT40 was showing its age, five were entered. John Wyer's J. W. Automotive, managed by David Yorke, chose not to run the disappointing Group 6 Mirage M2s and instead entered two of the cars they ran in the previous year's race. They kept their regular driving combinations: Jacky Ickx / Jackie Oliver and David Hobbs / Mike Hailwood. There were also entries for Alan Mann Racing and a race debut for Reinhold Joest, as a driver. After an inauspicious debut in 1967, the Lola T70 Mk 3 had gradually improved, and with sufficient production now completed to put it into the Sports category, it could run the far more reliable, race proven, Chevrolet 5 litre V8 engine. The new Mk 3B, designed by Eric Broadley, was the first racing car to use the new ultralight, ultra strong, carbon fibre. A victory in the opening championship round at Daytona for Roger Penske's team boded well. Lola withdrew its entries after Paul Hawkins burned to death in an accident in May driving a Lola at the RAC Tourist Trophy. Without the works team, it was Scuderia Filipinetti who ran a car for Jo Bonnier/Masten Gregory. The SEFAC Ferrari works team returned to Le Mans after a year's absence, with the new 312P prototype, a design strongly akin to the Can Am 612P. It ran a 3 litre V12 engine based on the Ferrari Formula 1 engine, developing 430 bhp. Two cars were entered, for former race winners Chris Amon and Pedro Rodriguez, partnered with hill climb specialist Peter Schetty and David Piper respectively. The North American Racing Team (NART) once again had three different options entered in the Sports category: its 1965 race winning 275LM car was back, with a new 365 GTB/4 in the over 2 litre class, and a Dino 206 S in the under 2 litre class. Alpine returned with its A220, Gordini had now fuel injected the Renault 3 litre to produce a still underwhelming 330 bhp. Mauro Bianchi, badly injured at the 1968 race, was now the works team manager after he failed the medical at the Monza round. As well as the three works cars, there was one for their regular customer team, the Ecurie Savin Calberson. The two teams, alongside another French privateer team, Trophée Le Mans, ran four of the A210 in the smaller Prototype classes including one for French ski champions Jean Claude Killy and Bob Wollek. After a strong showing in the 1968 race, the French team Matra gave up its Formula 1 development (leaving it to Ken Tyrrell's Matra International) to focus on its sports car program. Aerodynamic engineer Robert Choulet designed a low drag coupé specially for the Le Mans, the Matra 640, bearing a resemblance to his Panhard CD designs but with the Matra 3 litre V12 engine. Not ready in time for the March test weekend, Matra was able to get a special test in April. Henri Pescarolo took to the track, but at the first kilometres on the Mulsanne Straight, the car got airborne, doing a 360° loop, before smashing into roadside trees and catching fire. Pescarolo was pulled out alive but had two broken vertebrae and severe burns to his face and arms. The project was cancelled; however development was also proceeding on the 630. This led to a new open top car, the 650. Only one had been finished (just before scrutineering ) for Jean Pierre Beltoise / Piers Courage, while two former 630 chassis were converted (christened 630/650) for Johnny Servoz Gavin/Herbert Müller and 'Nanni' Galli/Robin Widdows. There was also an MS630 for Nino Vaccarella/Jean Guichet who had won the 1964 race together for Ferrari. Meanwhile, Pescarolo did race commentary for French TV from his hospital bed. Aside from the Lola, British cars were limited to the small manufacturers. The Chevron B8 had been homologated into Group 4, with a 2 litre BMW engine. Donald Healey had returned with its SR 2 litre prototype, improved from extensive testing at Silverstone. The GT category was still a limited field. Scuderia Filipinetti had a lock on the over 2 litre class, with both entries – a Corvette Stingray and Ferrari 275 GTB/C. The under 2 litre class was only contested by 911 privateers – the Porsche already proving to be the car of choice in this class. Alfa Romeo and Abarth factory entries dropped out because of a customs strike, and Ferrari North America also scratched some entries.

The test weekend was held on 29/30 March and was marred by the fatal accident to Lucien Bianchi in the new 3 litre Alfa Romeo. Apparent mechanical failure hit the car on the Hunaudières straight, coming over the hump approaching the Mulsanne corner at over The car crashed into a telephone pole and a transformer station and exploded. Bianchi was killed instantly by the impact. From the test weekend Rolf Stommelen, in the brand new Porsche 917, recorded a 3:30.7 over three seconds quicker than Servoz Gavin in the Matra. Paul Hawkins in a works Lola was third quickest with a 3:35.2. The power of the new Porsche 917 was shown by Stommelen on the first night of practice when he put in a blistering lap of 3:22.9 to take pole position. Woolfe had busted his engine in practise grabbing 1st instead of 3rd but was able to get a replacement one from Porsche. The Porsche 908s of Jo Siffert and Rudi Lins were third and fourth then came the Ferraris of Rodriguez and Amon with 3:35 laps. The best Matra was Servoz Gavin in 11th (3:36.4) and Ickx put the top Ford in 13th. The underpowered Alpines were well off the pace of their contemporaries with qualifying laps in the 3:45s putting them midfield. The top 2 litre car was the Gosselin/Bourgoignie Alfa Romeo in 27th (4:09.8) with the first 911 doing 4:28.2 to qualify 35th. NART had a bad practice when its Dino collided with its Daytona stablemate approaching the Mulsanne corner, putting both cars out for the race. A curious incident happened in practice when Bonnier pitted his Lola and got out covered in blood and feathers. Apparently he had hit a bird and it had been sucked through a cooling vent into the cockpit. it meant that several cars failed to qualify.

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Tyre Laps Reason DNF S5.0 12 Porsche System Engineering Vic Elford Richard Attwood Porsche 917LH Porsche 4.5L F12 327 Gearbox, clutch (22hr) DNF P3.0 22 Porsche System Engineering Rudi Lins Willi Kauhsen Porsche 908LH Coupé Porsche 3.0L F8 317 Gearbox (22hr) DNF P1.6 45 Société des Automobiles Alpine Jean Claude Killy Bob Wollek Alpine A210 Renault Gordini 1470cc S4 242 Shock absorber mounting (20hr) DNF GT2.0 66(reserve) J. Egreteaud(private entrant) Jean Edreteaud Raymond Lopez Porsche 911T Porsche 1991cc F6 241 Accident (20hr) DNF P3.0 18 SpA Ferrari SEFAC Pedro Rodriguez David Piper Ferrari 312P Coupé Ferrari 3.0L V12 223 Gearbox (16hr) DNF P3.0 29 Ecurie Savin Calberson Patrick Depailler Jean Pierre Jabouille Alpine A220/69 Renault Gordini 3.0L V8 209 Conrod (18hr) DNF P3.0 23 Porsche System Engineering Udo Schütz Gerhard Mitter Porsche 908LH Coupé Porsche 3.0L F8 199 Accident (14hr) DNF S5.0 2 Scuderia Filipinetti Joakim 'Jo' Bonnier Masten Gregory Lola T70 Mk. IIIB Chevrolet 5.0L V8 196 Engine (13hr) DNF GT+2.0 1 Scuderia Filipinetti Henri Greder Reine Wisell Chevrolet Corvette C3 Chevrolet 7.0L V8 196 Gearbox (16hr) DNF GT2.0 63(reserve) Marcel Martin(private entrant) René Mazzia Pierre Mauroy Porsche 911T Porsche 1991cc F6 174 Gearbox (16hr) DNF P3.0 31 Société des Automobiles Alpine Jean Pierre Nicolas Jean Luc Thérier Alpine A220/68 Renault Gordini 3.0L V8 160 Head gasket (12hr) DNF P3.0 34 Ecurie Matra – Elf Johnny Servoz Gavin Herbert Müller Matra Simca MS630/650 Matra 3.0L V12 158 Electrical (12hr) DNF S5.0 14 Porsche System Engineering Rolf Stommelen Kurt Ahrens Jr. Porsche 917LH Porsche 4.5L F12 148 Oil leak (15hr) DNF P3.0 28 Société des Automobiles Alpine Jean Vinatier André de Cortanze Alpine A220/69 Renault Gordini 3.0L V8 133 Oil pipe (12hr) DNF S5.0 8 P. Sadler(private entrant) Peter Sadler Paul Vestey Ford GT40 Ford 4.7L V8 106 Electrical (10hr) DNF S2.0 43 J. C. Bamford Excavators Ltd Roger Enever Peter Brown Chevron B8 BMW 1991cc S4 100 Piston (8hr) DNF P1.3 49 Trophée Le Mans Alpine Jacques Foucteau Patrice Compain Alpine A210 Renault Gordini 1296cc S4 97 Chassis /suspension (10hr) DNF P2.0 38 Racing Team VDS Gustave 'Taf' Gosselin Claude Bourgoignie Alfa Romeo T33/B Alfa Romeo 1996cc V8 76 Accident (8hr) DNF P3.0 20 Hart Ski Racing Porsche System Engineering Jo Siffert Brian Redman Porsche 908/02LH Porsche 3.0L F8 60 Gearbox (6hr) DNF P3.0 30 Société des Automobiles Alpine Jean Claude Andruet Henri Grandsire Alpine A220/69 Renault Gordini 3.0L V8 48 Head gasket (6hr) DNF S5.0 9 Alan Mann Racing Ltd. Frank Gardner Malcolm Guthrie Ford GT40 Ford 4.9L V8 42 Driveshaft (6hr) DSQ GT+2.0 59(reserve) Scuderia Filipinetti Claude Haldi Jacques Rey Ferrari 275 GTBCompetizione Ferrari 3.3L V12 39 Premature oil replenishment (5hr) DNF P3.0 36 Racing Team VDS Teddy Pilette Rob Slotemaker Alfa Romeo T33/B Alfa Romeo 2.5L V8 36 Oil pressure (5hr) DNF GT2.0 42 Wicky Racing Team (private entrant) André Wicky Edgar Berney Porsche 911T Porsche 1991cc F6 34 Piston (4hr) DNF P2.0 62(reserve) M. Konig(private entrant) Mark Konig Tony Lanfranchi Nomad Mk 2 BRM 1998cc V8 28 Gearbox (4hr) DNF P2.0 37 Donald Healey Motor Company Clive Baker Jeff Harris Healey SR Coventry Climax 1998cc V8 14 Radiator (4hr) DNF P1.15 51 Ecurie Fiat Abarth France Maurizio Zanetti Ugo Locatelli Abarth 1000SP Abarth 1001cc S4 9 Ignition (2hr) DNF P2.0 60(reserve) Robert Buchet(private entrant) Jean de Mortemart Jean Mésange Porsche 910 Porsche 1991cc F6 4 Engine (2hr) DNF P1.6 46 Ecurie Savin Calberson Alain LeGuellec Bernard Tramont Alpine A210 Renault Gordini 1470cc S4 1 Head gasket (2hr) DNF P3.0 19 SpA Ferrari SEFAC Chris Amon Peter Schetty Ferrari 312P Coupe Ferrari 3.0L V12 0 Accident / fire (1hr) DNF S5.0 10 John Woolfe Racing(private entrant) John Woolfe Herbert Linge Porsche 917 Porsche 4.5L F12 0 Accident (fatal) (1hr)Sources:

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Reason DNS S5.0 15 Porsche System Engineering Herbert Linge Brian Redman Rudi Lins Porsche 917LH Porsche 4.5L F12 Spare car DNS S5.0 16 North American Racing Team Sam Posey Bob Grossman Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Ferrari 4.4L V12 Practice accident DNQ P1.3 58(reserve) Ecurie ASA – ESCA Jean Pierre Hanrioud Dominique Martin Ford GT40 Ford 4.9L V8 Engine DNS S2.0 61(reserve) North American Racing Team Robert Mieusset Ricardo Rodriguez Cavazos Dino 206 S Ferrari 1986cc V6 Practice accident DNQ P1.3 47 Unipower Cars Piers Forrester Stanley Robinson Unipower GT BMC 1293cc S4 Did not qualify DNQ P1.3 48 Piper Cars Ltd Tim Lalonde John Burton Piper GTR Ford 1300cc S4 Did not qualify DNA S5.0 57(reserve) Lola Cars Ltd Ulf Norinder Lola T70 Mk. III Chevrolet 5.0 L V8 Did not arrive DNA P1.15 69(reserve) J. Bourdon(private entrant) Jacques Bourdon Christian Ethuin Alpine A210 Renault Gordini 1005cc S4 Did not arrive