24 Heures Du Mans: The Post War Years

24 Heures Du Mans : The Post-War Years

Copyright 2018 Laurence Buxton

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Contents.

Introduction

Race Reports:

The 1940s

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

Overall Winning Manufacturers

About The Author And Other Books

Introduction

Headlights temporarily blinding you as they sear through the gathering gloom, another car whistles past at stunning speed, too fast to focus on yet too silent to anticipate it. Then comes the shrill wail of a twelve cylinder engine, and the ground-shaking rasp of a V8. There are still spectators around even though the race has gone on for six hours (and is only a quarter of the way through) and those who are here are enjoying not just the racing but candyfloss, a pint, the Le Mans-themed museum or the famous funfair…

This is the world famous 24 Heures du Mans.

Having attending the great race three times myself – in 1998, 2000 and 2001 – I can genuinely say there is a vibe, a multiculturalism and a chaos beyond any other motorsport event. Fans flock from all over the world to follow not just the ultra-fast LMP1 prototypes but also their more affordable, less powerful ‘little brothers’ in the increasingly-supported LMP2 category, or in the professional and amateur GT car categories – effectively giving four 24 hour races for the price of one and creating a constant challenge for all of the drivers coping with the speed differences throughout.

The same drivers and cars appear in many series all over Europe, America and the Far East through the year. Yet every June nearly 60 machines, their pilots competing to be the best in their class at near F1 speeds, make the annual pilgrammage for the honour of winning one of the great races to rank with the Monaco GP or the Indy 500. F1 might often be seen as the pinnacle for auto racing, but then no F1 race takes more than 2 Hours, let alone 24. Indeed the unique challenge of the Le Mans 24 Hours remains one of the great achievements in any drivers' career, the feat of success, despite the enormous changes that the sport has undergone, as great as its pre-war equivalent. Gone, too, may be the days of foolhardy if fearless attempts to win by driving solo, and gone may be the days of hammering down an uninterrupted Mulsanne Straight at speeds of over 230mph, but the multiple success of drivers such as Tom Kristensen, Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell marks them out as true legends of motor racing. The likes of the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours require great skill and talent, but the French classic remains a one-off.

When the circuit de la Sarthe was heavily damaged during the latter part of World War Two, having been in both the control of the RAF and the Germans as the conflict wore on, the prospects of the race ever running again seemed impossible as both the allies and the axis powers had left the ACO with a major rebuilding exercise. Yet though it took nearly five years since its liberation in August 1944, the ACO, aided and abetted by the BRDC, were able to raise the capital to begin rebuilding and were able to reopen the track the same year. 1949 would see the first post-war running of the Le Mans 24 Hours race, which has continued without break up to the present day.

The opening editions of the race pointed to a completely different future, even as the appearance of the old Bentleys harked back to the thirties. Most prominent of the 'new breed' was the Ferrari, the little red cars winning in their first race at the circuit and immediately showing the way forward with their small engines and nimble handling. Over the next few years, the success of the Italian team attracted a wonderful set of rival teams – including Jaguar, Mercedes and Aston Martin – which arguably made the decade one of the most thrilling in motorsport.

Yet the notorious tragedy in the opening stages of the 1955 race horrified the world, leading to the downside of motor racing – its inherent risk to drivers, marshals and worst of all spectators – being thrown into sharp relief. With several countries banning motor racing in the subsequent uproar, significant work was done to the track to prevent a repeat, most notably the dangerously cramped pit area, and yet the unique challenge of the track was preserved. Indeed by the end of the decade a new, more powerful era seemed to beckon, with Ferrari's Testa Rossa starting the sixties the strongest…

American giant Ford had been impressed by the Italian marque's run of successes both at Le Mans and in the American classic races, and made an attempt to buy the carmaker. That was doomed to fail, so Ford built their own challenger – the wedge-shaped, rasping GT40. Spectators were fascinated by the clash of two such polar opposite approaches, and the furious battle between the two big-engined rivals characterised the mid sixties.

Despite the big capacity efforts of Ferrari and the striking, high-winged Chaparrals it was Ford who eventually came out on top, though the arrival in the top flight of Porsche, who since the mid fifties had been racing smaller capacity giant-killing machines and took advantage of a change in the regulations limiting capacity to 5.0l maximum, almost claimed victory in 1969 only for its 917 to falter during the late morning, and Jacky Ickx claiming the last major win for the GT40 by a few car lengths from a 908 in an absolute thriller...

Yet Porsche, and the raucous, legendary 917, were clearly destined to be major players come the seventies, and back-to-back wins subsequently resulted, the German marque fending off a major challenge from Ferrari's equally iconic 512 model in both 1970 and 1971, the era immortalised in Steve McQueen's movie, Le Mans. Yet the removal of the 5.0l upper limit saw the end of both cars' European careers for 1972, and allowed the wailing blue Matras – the pride of France – to take the ascendancy. The V12 engined spyders took a hat-trick of wins, with Ferrari – who had dominated the championship in 1972 but had been eclipsed the following year – being bested again, this time with its 312. The firm had elected not to go to Le Mans in 1972 but found the French firm too strong for it in 1973, and withdrew to concentrate on its highly successful F1 campaign.

The loss of Ferrari, coupled with the world energy crisis, saw a temporary slump in the strength of the championship, and its fragmenting into two different series would have confused all but the aficionados. Yet the turbocharged Porsches and Renaults, with their muffled drones, would soon have as competitive a rivalry as anything before, and Jacky Ickx – the man who had denied Porsche their first win in 1969 – had now joined the factory team, and helped them fight the growing the French threat. Alpine Renault finally did defeat Porsche at the third attempt, but upon their pullout Porsche were in the ascendancy, with numerous privateers running both the 936 and the 935 models as the eighties approached...

It all pointed to an era of German domination. But despite this proving to be the case, the French would first take another, totally unexpected victory at the beginning of the decade, with Jean Rondeau winning the 1980 encounter in a Cosworth-powered car bearing his name. This was merely the prelude to a period of Porsche supremacy, though : the German carmaker steamrolling through most of the decade. A stunning SEVEN wins in succession, no less : BMW could do little about it, nor Lancia, nor could a short-lived effort from Ford.

The 956 and 962 models seemed completely invincible, but Jaguar, which had initially been run by the American Group 44 concern but latterly by Tom Walkinshaw Racing, began to take world championship victories, the title and finally success in France in a classic race in 1988. That opened the way for Sauber Mercedes to claim a victory of its own in a fine three-way fight between Mercedes, Jaguar and Porsche the following year, triumphing with its brutal C9. With Group C in full swing, and entries from Japanese manufacturers Nissan, Toyota and Mazda to add colour, sound and spectacle, the nineties looked as if they would continue the good times...

Yet the health of top-line post-war sportscar racing has a habit of mirroring that of the world economy, for better or for worse. Jaguar's win in the 1990 race came against almost full opposition, but the new Sportscar World Championship, run primarily for 3.5 litre (3.5l) F1-engined machines, did not prove a success, for though Peugeot and Toyota both ran works teams, once the turbo cars such as the 962s stopped bolstering the field it was left shockingly threadbare. The plug was pulled after two years, though Le Mans still had its moments – Mazda shocked the motorsport world with its rotary-engined car triumphing in 1991, and Peugeot pleased the home nation with back-to-back successes over the next 2 years.

That was the end for the 3.5l dream – and it was significant that Porsche, again taking advantage of a tiny rule loophole, won the following year. Many wondered if the German manufacturer would now dominate once more – and McLaren's success with a GT car in the wet in 1995 only strengthened its hand in the long run. The firm ran its new GT1 competitor as a works machine, formidably backed by Joest's open top prototype ( which the factory had discarded ). When the ( WSC95 ) took back-to-back wins, however, it was recalled – although ironically it was now the GT1 that proved victorious. In a glorious period of competitive racing – with potentially frontrunning cars from BMW, Toyota, Mercedes, Nissan, Panoz, Riley&Scott and Ferrari all going for glory – Porsche bowed out of top level motorsport for the best part of a decade with their 1998 win, whilst the likes of the ORECA Vipers finally overhauled the dominance of the Porsche 911 GT2. The following year, won by BMW, was just as closely fought even in their absence, though it would be best remembered for the Mercedes CLR 'flipping' dramatically off the circuit – an alarming reminder of the 1955 accident and the dangers of motor racing...

The most significant car in the 1999 running, however, had been one of the less outwardly remarkable, and certainly one that although a quick and steady runner in the top class showed little sign of outright victory. The Audi R8R, an open top racer run by the crack Joest team, had been significantly more successful than the Audi Sport UK R8C, a coupe that had also run that year, and after taking 3rd and 4th placed finishes with the R8Rs, Audi went for a full-blown Le Mans assault with the Joest run silver R8s for 2000. The resultant domination by the marque saw a hat-trick of wins for the team from 2000 - 2002, a 1-2 for the green Audi-engined Bentleys in 2003, and constant success for the firm either as engine manufacturer or constuctor, or both, right up to the 2009 race.

Even when the R8 began to struggle for outright speed against the new breed of 'hybrid' sportscars such as the Pescarolo, it was still able to win thanks to the Midas touch of Tom Kristensen, who has gone on to take a record 9 victories at La Sarthe, 7 of them with Audi. But whilst the mostly privateer opposition could only chase shadows against the German marque, Peugeot's 908 coupe was proving more and more competitive, and as Le Mans' 'diesel' age continued, with the prototypes at the front became almost totally silent, in 2009 Peugeot finally managed to topple Audi from their perch, in a decade they had virtually made their own.

The following year, however, proving that the squad had the ability to bounce back from rare defeat to add to all its other remarkable qualities, Audi crushingly reclaimed its crown with a clean sweep of the podium, and whilst playing second-fiddle to the French lions in the shorter races, beat them again in 2011 in a remarkably close contest.

Peugeot's shock withdrawal in early 2012 rocked the sport, which seemed to now be the preserve of Audi. But the arrival of Toyota with its petrol-powered TS030 boded well for a competitive future, the cars showing great speed in 2012 before a couple of accidents forced them to retire from the 24 Hour race. The cars also won several of the shorter rounds later in the year before pushing Audi all the way in 2013 thanks to a rules break, showing superior fuel economy and finishing a relatively close second.

Toyota, on the other hand, seemed to have no answer to Audi, regularly being beaten for the WEC manufacturers’ Championship as well as at La Sarthe, and for 2014 things were seemingly about to get even tougher. The arrival of Porsche, Audi’s VW stablemate, meant that not only did the Japanese firm have to conquer the most dominant team of recent years, they would also have to beat the marque which had historically pretty much made Le Mans its own. The TS040 actually showed very impressive pace that year, winning 5 of the 7 shorter races and did take the manufacturers title, but the 24 hour classic once again fell to their Ingolstadt rivals, who took a one-two despite their cars being stricken by turbocharger failures. It was another example of what the competition would need to do to beat the seemingly invincible Audi.

If there was one team that could, it was Porsche. The 919 hybrid had led in the late stages in 2014 and shown it could win the shorter races, and it was a serious proposition the following year when it took the front three slots on the grid. With quicker pitstops the cars proved impossible even for the Audis to shake off and made a successful return, following this up with a last-gasp win over the luckless Toyota team the next year. The new TS050 Hybrid was not particularly successful in the championship but seemed to have tactically done enough to outmanoeuvre Porsche, but Kazuki Nakajima’s lead car slowed with just one more lap left to run and halted in front of the pits. Toyota were no luckier in 2017, when a Porsche 919 recovered from the decimation of the meagre LMP1 contingent to take a narrow win, but in 2018 they benefitted from the departure of Porsche (Audi had already left endurance racing at the end of 2016) and finally got the overall win that had been evading them for decades. It was a somewhat one-side affair and drew as much criticism as praise, but it was a worthy return after years of investment and heartbreak. The question now remained – would the longserving likes of Rebellion and SMP Racing be able to go for overall honours in the future, and is this the future for the 24 Heures du Mans?

Race Reports

The 1940s

1949. Ferrari win the first post-war Le Mans.

The rebuilding of the Circuit de La Sarthe would not be the work of a moment. The stationing there of a German air base had seen it bombed by the Allies, and the track needed renovation work to be ready by June for the first post-war running of the event. Having succeeded, the ACO welcomed back the teams who had been such a part of the pre-war events – the French Talbots, Delahayes, and Delages, along with the British Bentleys – along with a newcomer, Ferrari...

Enzo Ferrari had been a former driver and team manager at Alfa Romeo in the 1930s, leaving the team in 1938 to work on his own cars. Along with other former Alfa Romeo staff, a V12 powered 166 was designed, which was increased to 2.0l capacity and won both the Targa Florio and the Mille Miglia in 1948 and 1949, taking advantage of its light tubular cage design to display better driveability than the big old machines it was taking on. Chinetti/Selsdon were entered in one open-top 166, the other by Dreyfus/Lucas...

When Lord Selsdon, who himself had good form at the track including a 4th place in the final pre-war Le Mans in 1939, became unwell during the race, a huge burden was placed upon Luigi Chinetti – the good news being that the Italian-American was equal to the task of driving all but two hours unaided. The Ferraris moved into the lead when the lead Delahaye caught fire, and though the sister machine of Dreyfus/Lucas crashed just before nightfall, Chinetti was able to consolidate the marque's position at the front. He had run well up with the old French machines even before they had wilted, though an increasingly slipping clutch seemed to spell the end of his great run. Louveau/Jover's Delage closed as Chinetti eased off, but the Ferrari still had enough in hand to record a famous win for the 2.0l newcomer, entered under Selsdon's own name.

In total there had been 3 Talbots, 7 Delahayes and 4 Delages entered for the big race, but the big cars had largely wilted. Delage had at least come close to winning, the Louveau/Jover car coming within a lap of overhauling the Ferrari, but the next D6S-3L home, that of Gerard/Godier, was 4th, and well behind the 2.0l Fraser Nash Bristol of Aldington/Culpan. The first Delahaye 135CS to make the finish was 5th, that of Meyrat/Brunet, two other examples finishing 9th and 10th, whilst none of the Talbots made it home. Mairesse/Vallee had led for the marque in the opening quarter of the race, before ceding the lead to Ferrari and withdrawing when a con rod broke.

Yet the most popular car for the British fans of the race had to be the Bentley 4.4l Corniche. This was a private version entered by H.S.F Hay, who drove the car (whilst in the middle of his holidays) with Tommy Wisdom, and the Experimental Streamliner had a remarkably troublefree run. Apart from a puncture and losing the overdrive, the car experienced few problems, and though it conspicuously lacked the pace to even come near to a win, it came home a fine 6th – and on the same lap as the best of the Delahayes. Sadly the other major British firm, Aston Martin, were to suffer tragedy – the French-born British national Pierre Marechal losing his life when the car lost all brakes whilst lying 7th. Louis Gerard, whose Delage finished 4th, had stopped to try and help the stricken driver, the sad incident putting something of a cloud over the event.

But despite this regrettable accident it had been a successful restart for the famous race, with 49 cars starting and 19 finishing. Of particular excitement was the possibility that the attractive-sounding Ferraris could compete on relatively equal footing with the 3.0l, 4.5l and 5.0l opposition. In fact, it looked as if the 1950s might become the decade of the little red barchettas...

Race Reports

The 1950s

1950. Superb solo turn from Rosier.

Ferrari came into the 1950 event off the back of their surprise win last year, and with five of their barchetta models to take on the bigger capacity French cars. Of these it was the Talbot that looked its biggest rival, and on the evidence of practice, and various versions of the Lago looked set to go head to head with the Ferrari 195S.

60 cars represented a further move forward even from last year, but though it wasn't just the five Ferraris and the Talbot Lagos which had designs on outright victory. The likes of Allard and Briggs Cunningham's Cadillac powered Ford coupes were always going to be providing more of a supporting act than joining the battle at the front, though Jaguar looked as if they might spring a surprise. It was Raymond Sommer, however, that had been the fastest man in practice in the 195S, despite considering retirement from motor racing. The Frenchman also led the opening two hours, before alternator problems dropped him down the order, and eventually out of the race.

This allowed Talbot to take control, with Louis Rosier, nominally co-driving with his son, Jean-Louis, leading most of the way to a famous victory – famous due to Louis driving all but two laps single-handedly! The car had run virtually without problems, apart from a valver rocker shaft coming loose at the cost of 40 minutes around dawn. Louis himself had detected the problem with the engine, and mended it too. Then when the tiring Louis ate some bananas afterwards, his son finally got a turn at the wheel. Louis subsequently took over, having few dramas other than a bird hitting the windscreen and breaking it, going on to win in what, undoubtedly, had been one of the great drives in Le Mans history...

The only car that had ultimately threatened this extraordinary feat had been another Talbot, that of Mairesse/Meyrat, and the car had gotten ahead of the Rosiers after their problems in the morning. But Louis had managed to overhaul the car going into the final quarter of the race, and took a one lap lead he would be able to hold til the end. Ferrari had surprisingly wilted well before Sunday, with last year's winner Chinetti only able to run third behind the Talbot twosome before retiring with a broken axle in the late evening.

Yet Jaguar had caused a real stir with the strong performance of its 3.4l, aerodynamic XK120 models, even if ultimately they gained relatively slim reward for their efforts. The Johnson/Hadley example was particularly competitive, running toward the front of the field and as high as third at lunchtime. Brake troubles were a bother, though, and then the clutch failed. But though they also ended up ailing, at least two other versions made the finish – Clark/Haines in 12th overall, and Whitehead/Marshall in 15th.

Third in the final standings was the Allard Cadillac J2 of Allard/Cole, having won an exciting battle with the Healey of Rolt/Hamilton, again one lap down. Cole passed Rolt shortly before the finish, even though, with the car only able to use top gear, this impressive drive was never going to be able to dislodge the Talbots from their 1-2. Behind the Healey in 4th were two Aston Martin DB2s, the works cars managed by the stern but canny John Wyer. Abecassis/Macklin were 5th, only one lap down on the Healey, and Brackenbury/Parnell were 6th.

The rest of the 'old guard' had little to contribute to the main action. The Delage D6-3L of Louveau/Estager was 7th, and Hall/Clarke's Bentley Corniche 8th. More noteable for the future of the race was Briggs Cunningham's two different models – one a standard coupe shape, nicknamed 'Petite Patoud' in contrast to the more distinctive open-top