The 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans is the 37th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 14 and 15, 1969. It was the eighth round of the 1969 World Sportscar Championship season.
As it turned out, 1969 was the last event in the traditional style of "Le Mans", where the driver ran across the track to enter their car, start it, and race. The year before, Willy Mairesse had fallen on the first lap while trying to close the car door at speed with Mulsanne Straight; the accident would have been completely avoided if not for Le Mans's early style, and that ended Mairesse's racing career. Jacky Ickx famously staged one person's own protest by walking in the beginning, and took time to work on his belt. As if to underline the points, privateer John Woolfe had an accident very similar to Mairesse in the lap of the opener near the corner of Maison Blanche. Not tied up properly, he was killed when his car overturned and broke up.
The race itself is one of the most exciting in the event's history. After wrapping up the World Sportscar Championship, Porsche became a strong favorite for the first win. Indeed, the Porsche car made over a third of the start and 917 strong lead for 90% of the race. But when the Elford/Attwood car gearbox broke at 11am that morning, it was Ford Ickx and Jackie Oliver who took over the leadership. It then became a 3 hour sprint race with Ford struggling to pursue Porsche 908 from Hans Herrmann and Gerard Larrousse nonstop. In the end it was the Ford GT40 - the same car that had won the previous year - that took a checkered flag with only 120 yards after 24 hours.
Video 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans
Rules
Noting the appeal of racing promoters who are worried about field depletion, the FIA ​​is trying to improve things by reducing the minimum production figures to run in Groups 4 from 50 to 25. Despite its unlimited engine capacity, it is reasoned that it will not be the difference since automakers typically do not sekompetitif Group 6 Prototype. Nevertheless, it left a major flaw in the system for large manufacturers with resources to exploit regulations. Porsche was able to build 25 chassis from their new 917 prototype, with its 4.5 liter engine, to gain homology for Group 4.
This year the Automobile Club de l 'Ouest (ACO) brings the start of the future to 2 pm, to allow most French people to vote in Sunday's Presidential Election. Armco's new crash barriers are installed around the circuit, including in Mulsanne Straight, where previously there was no protection from trees, houses and embankments if a car left the track. The sand edges are replaced by obstacles.
Maps 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans
Entries
In the second year of the new 3 liter rule, the initial entry closed with 109 applications - the largest number in the last decade. However, after the required withdrawal 60 cars were received, but a number of withdrawals meant only 51 were practiced with non-beginners who reduced the final grid to only 45, the smallest field in the decade. After a dominant season to date, Porsche has won the Sports Championship, and arrives easily with the largest representatives with 16 cars, one-third of the field.
Porsche has finished the championship after seven races to date. Beginning in July 1968, Porsche made a surprising and very costly effort to conceive, design and build a new car for the Group 4 Sport category with one underlying goal: to win its first overall victory at Le Mans. In just ten months, the first Porsche 917 prototype was developed with the fiberglass body and Porsche's first 12 cylinder engine. Bored to the 4.5-liter, made of titanium, magnesium and exotic alloys, produces 520 bhp. 917 includes other features that will prove controversial in the weeks leading up to the race: moving aerodynamic wings associated with suspension. It was banned by CSI (Sportive International Commission - FIA oversight body) at the Monaco GP in May as dangerous. Porsche team manager Rico Steinemann protested that their test session showed the car was inherently unstable without them and that the cars had been homologated for Group 4 with a flap. The last-minute decision of the day before Le Mans by FISA allowed them to race, although 908 had to lose the flap as they had previously done without them. Tim Matra was very disappointed with the decision, but in a statement said they had no intention of protesting. It is widely believed that if the ban is restored due to protests by other teams, Porsche will withdraw from the 1969 race entirely.
In May, 25 required chassis were completed for homologation, which were intended to be sold to private racing teams at a price of $ 35,000 each. The first was bought by personal interest at the time of the Le Mans race, the British rider John Woolfe. The cars had their first race in the Spa, and three entries were in Le Mans in the form of longitail for Vic Elford/Richard Attwood and Rolf Stommelen/Kurt Ahrens, with Herbert Linge in a spare car.
In the Prototype class, Porsche has three works of 908, also in the form of langheck , including regular team driver Gerhard Mitter/Udo SchÃÆ'¼tz. This season's version is at least 20% lighter than the 1968 car. The new Spyder 908/2 version that has been very successful throughout the season is run by team's main drivers, Jo Siffert and Brian Redman, through Siffert's sponsor, Hart Ski with strong work support. There is also a pair of privateer 910 in Prototype 2 liter class.
After a tight season last year, Ford was no longer as competitive as their Porsche rivals. Although GT40 shows its age, five are included. John Wyer's J.W. The automaker, run by David Yorke, opted not to run the disappointing Group 6 Mirage M2 and instead entered two cars that they ran in the previous year's race. They maintain their driving combinations: Jacky Ickx/Jackie Oliver and David Hobbs/Mike Hailwood. There is also an entry for Alan Mann Racing and a race debut for Reinhold Joest, as a driver.
After a bad debut in 1967, the Lola T70 Mk 3 has gradually improved, and with sufficient production now finished for inclusion in the Sports category, it can run a much more reliable 5-liter Chevrolet V8 engine, proven racing, proven. The new Mk 3B, designed by Eric Broadley, is the first racing car that uses ultralight, ultra-strong, carbon fiber. The win in the opening round of the championships in Daytona for Roger Penske's team was excellent. Lola pulled her entry after Paul Hawkins was burned to death in an accident in May driving Lola at the RAC Tourist Trophy. Without a working team, Scuderia Filipinetti manages the car for Jo Bonnier/Masten Gregory.
The SEFAC-Ferrari work team returned to Le Mans after a one-year hiatus, with a new 312P prototype, a design very similar to Can-Am 612P. It runs a 3 liter V12 engine based on a Ferrari Formula 1 engine, developing 430 bhp. Two cars were included, for former race winners, Chris Amon and Pedro Rodriguez, partnering with hilltop specialists Peter Schetty and David Piper. The North American Race Team (NART) once again has three different options that fall into the Sports category: its 275LM racing car back in 1965, with a new 365 GTB/4 in the over-2-liter class, and 206 Dino in the class below 2 liter.
Alpine) back with its A220, Gordini has now injected Renault's 3-liter fuel to produce a still-disappointing 330 bpp. Mauro Bianchi, who was seriously injured in the 1968 race, is now manager of the work team after he failed a medical test at Monza. As well as three car works, there is one for their regular customer team, Ecurie Savin-Calberson. Both teams, along with other French privateer teams, TrophÃÆ' Â © e Le Mans, run four of the A210s in smaller Prototype classes including one for French ski champions Jean-Claude Killy and Bob Wollek.
After a strong showing in the 1968 race, French team Matra halted the development of Formula 1 (handed it to Ken Tyrrell Matra International) to focus on his sports car program. The aerodynamic engineer Robert Choulet designed a special low-tensile coupe for Le Mans, Matra 640, which resembles the Panhard CD design but with a 3-liter V12 Matra engine. Not ready in time for the March weekend test, Matra can get a special test in April. Henri Pescarolo climbed onto the track, but at the first kilometer on Mulsanne Straight, the car hovered in the air, doing a 360 Â ° spin, before crashing into the trees on the roadside and on fire. Pescarolo was pulled out alive but had two vertebral fractures and severe burns to his face and arms. The project was canceled; But the development also runs at 630. This leads to a new open-top car, 650. Only one has been completed (just before scrutineering) for Jean-Pierre Beltoise/Piers Courage, while two former 630 chassis are changed (baptized). 630/650) to Johnny Servoz-Gavin/Herbert MÃÆ'¼ller and 'Nanni' Galli/Robin Widdows. There is also MS630 for Nino Vaccarella/Jean Guichet who won the 1964 race together for Ferrari. Meanwhile, Pescarolo made a racing comment for French TV from a hospital bed.
In addition to Lola, British cars are limited to small manufacturers. Chevron B8 has been homologated into Group 4, with a 2-liter BMW engine. Donald Healey has returned with a prototype SR 2 liter, upgraded from extensive testing at Silverstone. The Unipower GT has a 1275cc Mini Cooper S engine, while the Piper GTR has a 1300cc Ford engine. The smallest car on the field is the Abarth 1000SP
After their remarkable results in the previous year's race, the work team of Autodelta Alfa Romeo was a favorite for the class victory. However, the team resigned after the death of their leader-rider and 1968 winner Lucien Bianchi on a March test weekend to test the new Tipo 33/3, the third driver's death for the team in testing after Jean Rolland and Leo Cella in 1968. On the contrary falling into the Belgian VDS customer team to run two older Tipo 33/2 models, one with a 2.5-liter V8 engine.
The GT category is still a limited field. Scuderia Filipinetti has a lock on the class of more than 2 liters, with both entries - Corvette Stingray and Ferrari 275 GTB/C. Classes under 2 liters are only contested by 911 privateers - Porsche has proven to be the car of choice in this class.
Alfa-Romeo and Abarth factory entries break up due to customs strikes, and Ferrari North America also scratches some entries.
Practice
The weekend test was held on 29/30 March and was dominated by a fatal accident to Lucien Bianchi in the new 3-liter Alfa Romeo. A real mechanical failure crashed into a car on the straight HunaudiÃÆ'¨res, coming on top of a hump approaching the Mulsanne corner at over 305 km/h (190 mph). The car hit a telephone pole and a transformer station and exploded. Bianchi was killed instantly by impact.
From the weekend of Rolf Stommelen's trial, on the new Porsche 917, recorded 3: 30,7 three seconds faster than Servoz-Gavin at Matra. Paul Hawkins in Lola's works is the third fastest with 3: 35.2.
Porsche 917's new power was demonstrated by Stommelen on the first night of training when he did a 3: 22.9 blistering round to take the lead. It's 2 seconds faster than a sister car from Vic Elford. It was also 0.7 seconds ahead of the lap record held by the great Mark IV of Denny Hulme and Mario Andretti in 1967 (without the presence of a Ford chicane). Although the top speed is more than 20 kp/h slower than Ford, this is achieved with great progress in downforce. In the end, Porsche chose to only race two of their three 917s. Woolfe has damaged his machine in a 1st instead of 3rd practice but can get a replacement from Porsche.
Porsche 908 from Jo Siffert and Rudi Lins came third and fourth came Ferrari Rodriguez and Amon with 3:35 laps. The best Matra is Servoz-Gavin in 11th place (3: 36.4) and Ickx puts Ford top in 13th place. The less-powerful Alpines are far behind those who compete with qualifying laps at 3:45, putting them in midfield. The top 2-liter car is Gosselin/Bourgoignie Alfa Romeo on the 27th (4: 09.8) with the first 911 performing 4: 28.2 to qualify for the 35th.
NART had a bad habit when Ferrari Dino collided with Daytona stablemate which approached Mulsanne corner, putting the two cars out for the race. The curious incident occurred in practice when Bonnier complained of her Lola and came out with blood and feathers. Apparently he hit a bird and it has been sucked through the cooling hole into the cockpit. Provided that all cars must be eligible in 85% of the average speed of polar sat cars for safety reasons, it means that some cars fail to qualify.
Race
Start
After a sunny week, the day race is cloudy, but dry with a large crowd present to start. When dropping the flag, Stommelen, with a large power-slide, was first under the Dunlop bridge. In another lethal year of motorsport Jacky Ickx, aware of the accident that killed former teammate Willy Mairesse on the first lap of last year's race, protested one man himself. He rebelled against the traditional Le Mans procedure to run across the track to their car, climb in, turn on the car, and move the car as fast as possible to withdraw from the grid. Instead Ickx walked slowly to his car, fastened his seat belt, and then moved the car. Perform Ickx that is effectively degraded to the back of the starting grid.
His tragic attention was born almost immediately. On the first lap, the restless handling of the Porsche 917 and the experience of one of his drivers resulted in a major accident: the death of British male driver John Woolfe. Woolfe's bought 917 for Ã, £ 16000 (US $ 40,000) just days earlier and was quoted by a colleague as saying his strength was "fearing my pants". Porsche racing manager Steinemann was quoted as praising Woolfe before the race to allow his teammate, Herbert Linge, to drive the first task, but he objected. Woolfe fell close to Maison Blanche when he got two wheels on the grass and lost control. He was thrown freely from the car as it spun, rolled over, crashed into a dike, and exploded. Woolfe was taken by helicopter to the nearest hospital, but died on arrival.
The almost full fuel tank from Woolffe's car was dislodged and landed, on fire, in front of the oncoming Ferrari 312P Ferrari. Amon ran on it, and the Woolfi fuel tank jammed beneath it caused Amon to burst and explode as well. Amon powered an on-board fire extinguisher and was not injured but was forced to withdraw from the car. Debris virtually blocked roads and affected cars including Healey, Gardner's Ford and Jabouille's Alpine. The rest of the field was completely stopped and slowly broke through the massacre.
Stommelen led the race to the first pitstop, leading the five Porsche trains (Stommelen, Elford, Siffert, Mitter, Herrmann). Bonnier's Lola was sixth, but then Stommelen was delayed due to an oil leak from the transmission. Gardner took Alan Mann Ford in a few times with too much heat because the debris from the accident had punctured the radiator. Jo Siffert and Brian Redman took over the leadership until they were also paralyzed by an oil leak in the gearbox after four hours. This moves Elford/Attwood 917 to lead, ahead of the 908 team Mitter/SchÃÆ'¼tz, Herrmann/Larrousse and Lins/Kauhsen cars, pursued by Matra of Beltoise/Courage and Wyer Ford from Ickx/Oliver in 6th position. In the sixth hour a number of cars had problems: Herrmann was delayed for 20 minutes to fix the front suspension with parts of the Siffert car (down to 12th position), and Matra lost two laps fixing the damaged taillights. Leading Alpine de Cortanze/Vinatier (ran 11) lost wheels at the corner of Indianapolis. With a large crowd of observers, he 'accidentally' found the right equipment on the verge of grass but fell back well. The Matra was running very hard and at dusk, at 9 o'clock, had made it to seconds to be postponed repeatedly by a slow pitwork.
Night
As night falls, Porsche's three works are in front of two Wyer Fords and also run on the top-3 of the Performance Index. Bonnier and Gregory ran well in Lola, running sixth, until the problem was too hot at 11 pm prompting a 3-hour pit stop to replace heads and gaskets. 'Taf' Gosselin is wrong in approaching the Ford chicane, straight and crashing even though the driver escaped unhurt. Large Alpines have been plagued by engine problems, and just after the last midnight have failed head gasket. At 2 am, Elford/Attwood has 192 rounds, four ahead of SchÃÆ'¼tz/Mitter and Lins/Kauhsen (187), then back to Ford (both 184 laps) and Vaccarella/Guichet Matra (183). Disaster struck Porsche at 2.45 am when the SchÃÆ'¼tz (run 3) team car and Larrousse (now 8) collided in the Mulsanne kinks. The SchÃÆ'¼tz car rolled over, burned and nearly broke in two. But the driver escaped unharmed. Larrousse's car made it into the pits with bodywork damage and quickly repaired.
Morning
Dawn saw 917 Elford/Attwood driving inside her and still leading 908 Lins/Kauhsen. The Wyer Fords are 3 and 4 with Herrmann/Larrousse Porsche motors back through the field, up to the 5th. 312P The remaining Ferraris are in position 8 with an ongoing oil leak problem splitting the remaining three Matras until it finally stops after 5 am. All night long Matras had their problems: Galli spent an hour to get a new fuel pump installed and Courage had a broken lamp then cut Porsche 911 in Mulsanne, getting bodwork damage. But come by day he and Beltoise pushed hard to get closer to Ford. At 6 o'clock in the morning, when the heavy fog drops off the circuit, leaders lead 5 rounds and there are only 19 cars still operating.
The 1.5L Alpine, from Killy/Wollek, has been running very fast and continues to move up to as high as 11 who leads a medium-powered engine and the Thermal Efficiency Index. But as soon as at 8 o'clock that morning, retired with a broken suspension caused the Frenchmen disappointment.
Then around 10:15, with almost 3 hours left to run, the two leading Porsche's come with scheduled pitstop. The mechanics inspect them but to no avail - the Lins/Kauhsen car stops at Mulsanne with a broken clutch. The 917 limped for half an hour before the cracked weld in the gearbox stopped it for good. Within minutes, Ickx/Oliver Ford now finds himself leading. The Herrmann/Larrousse Porsche had driven so hard that time and when the other Wyer Ford lost two laps the rear brake convert up to second place.
Done and post race
Entering the final hour after their last pit stop, both teams put their best racers in the car. Ickx and Herrmann are now in the same lap, nearly 10 seconds apart. The Porsche 908 has a faded brake and the engine is now 400rpm under power and the Ford GT40 suffers from exhaust problems, made for a very flat contest. In a dramatic settlement, Ickx and Herrmann repeatedly took over each other. Ickx knows if he leads straight to Mulsanne, Herrmann will pass, but he can sneak past him back again before the Mulsanne corner and then hold the lead for the rest of the lap. But with a strange time the cars cross the line with less than a minute to go and have to go around once more. Ford has only done 23 laps on the fuel tank, but now requires an extra turn. So in the last round, Ickx let Herrmann through it at the start of Mulsanne Straight, faking the lack of power from starvation of fuel. Ickx uses Herrmann's slipstream to pass it again before the end of 5 km straight. Ickx then managed to survive and beat Herrmann a few seconds, and a distance of about 120 meters (390 feet). Ickx and Oliver won with the GT40 # 1075 chassis (nicknamed 'Old Lady'), the same car that had won the previous year. It's only the second time that the same car has won two consecutive years; Bentley Speed ​​Six did it in 1929 and 1930. Ickx presented the team's victory to Lucien Bianchi, who had been killed earlier in the year, and has helped the Wyer team win Le Mans the year before.
The Hobbs and Hailwood Wyer Ford, after a delay, completed a third lap four behind, right in front of Matra of Beltoise/Courage. The older Matra of Vaccarella/Guichet is in 5th position on nine laps behind and Ford Germany Kelleners/Joest 6 and even 18 laps behind them. Ferrari 275LM Veteran NART occupies the eighth position, which covers 250 km (155 million) lower than his racing performance in 1965. With eight cars coming in, Alpine has great expectations but the only thing to be solved is the smallest: A210 1-liter from Serpaggi/Ethuin finished 12th, 80 laps behind Ford, but won a profitable Performance Index covering almost 30% more distance than its small engine target. For the first time since 1926 there was no all-British entry among the late players.
So once again Porsche, Matra and Renault went without the Le Mans win they coveted. This is the first win of six for Jacky Ickx (a record that stood until 2005 when beaten by Tom Kristensen). He has walked across the lane at the starting line and is still winning. The ACO's response to it is proactive and the start of the iconic Le Mans is stopped. Ironically Ickx himself had an accident near Chartres while driving to Paris on Monday morning after the race. A car pulled up in front of his Porsche 911. Ickx's car finally fell on a power pole. Ickx unbuckled his seat belt and walked unscathed from broken Porsche.
Later in the month, Enzo Ferrari sold sufficient equity stake in his company to Fiat S.p.A. to increase its share by up to 50%. In another bad year for motorsport accidents, the Porsche team managed to lose two of their drivers at the German Grand Prix in August Gerhard Mitter, driving a BMW F2 that was killed in training. Then Vic Elford suffered a major accident on the first lap with Mario Andretti. He survived but had broken his arm in three places. The race also marked the return of Henri Pescarolo's race, at F2 Matra, after a test crash.
Finally, Jacques Loste, director of the ACO race since 1957, retired later this year. His replacement was the manufac- turer/engineer, and the veteran of Le Mans, Charles Deutsch.
Hasil resmi
Finishers
Results taken from the Quentin Spurring book, the official license by the ACO Class Winner is in the Thickness text.
Not Completed
Not Start
Class Winner
- Note : Set a new Remote Recording.
Thermal Efficiency Index
- Note : Only the top nine positions are included in this set of standings.
Performance Index
Taken from Moity's book.
- Note : Only the top ten positions are included in this set of standings. A score of 1.00 means meeting the minimum distance for the car, and a higher score exceeds the nominal target range.
Statistics
Taken from Quentin Spurring, licensed by ACO
- Fastest lap in practice - R. Stommelen, # 14 Porsche 917 LH - 3: 22.9secs; 238.98 km/h (148,50 mph)
- Fastest Lap - V. Elford, # 12 Porsche 917 LH - 3: 27.2secs; 234.02 km/h (145.41 mph)
- Distance of Win - 4,998.00 km (3,105.61 mi)
- Average Speed ​​of Winners - 208.25 km/h (129.40 mph)
- Attendance - almost 400,000
International Championships for Positioning
As calculated after Le Mans, Round 8 of 10
- Quote
References
- Armstrong, Douglas - English Editor (1969) Car Year # 17 1969-70 Lausanne: Edita S.A.
- Clarke, R.M. - editor (1997) Le Mans 'The Ford and Matra Years 1966-1974' Cobham, Surrey: Brooklands Books ISBNÃ, 1-85520-373-1
- Clausager, Anders (1982) Le Mans London: Arthur Barker Ltd ISBNÃ, 0-213-16846-4
- Henry, Alan (1988) Fifty Famous Motor Racing Northamptonshire: Patrick Stephen Ltd ISBNÃ, 0-85059-937-7
- Laban, Brian (2001) Le Mans 24 Hours London: Virgin Books ISBNÃ, 1-85227-971-0
- Moity, Christian (1974) The Le Mans 24 Hour Race 1949-1973 Radnor, Pennsylvania: Chilton Book Co. ISBNÃ, 0-8019-6290-0
- Parker, Paul (2016) Sports Racing Car In Camera Vol 2 1960-69 Wincanton: Behemoth Publishing ISBNÃ, 978-0-99287-694-4
- Spurring, Quentin (2010) Le Mans 1960-69 Yeovil, Somerset: Haynes Publishing ISBN 978-1-84425-584-9
External links
- Racing Sports CarsÃ, - Le Mans 24 Hours 1969 entries, results, technical details. Retrieved 4 May 2018
- Le Mans history - Le Mans history, hour by hour (including images, YouTube links). Retrieved 4 May 2018
- World Sports Racing Prototypes - results, backup entries & amp; chassis number. Retrieved 4 May 2018
- Danà team, - results & amp; backup entries, describes the list of drivers. Retrieved 4 May 2018
- Unique & amp; Sections - results & amp; backup entries. Retrieved 4 May 2018
- Formula 2Ã, - Le Mans & amp; backup entries. Retrieved 4 May 2018
- Motorsport MemorialÃ, - details fatal accident. Retrieved 4 May 2018
- YouTubeÃ, - Color recording with music overlay (5 minutes). Retrieved 15 May 2018
- YouTube - Brief interview with Henri Pescarolo about crash in testing (90 seconds). Retrieved 15 May 2018
- YouTube - A brief interview with Frank Gardner about John Woolfe's accident (30sec). Retrieved 15 May 2018
- YouTube - B/w footage, in Dutch, news reports (1 minute). Retrieved 15 May 2018
In media
The Infernal Round: Le Mans 1969 (commissioned by Castrol)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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