Road, Track, Car and Driver: 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours

A Walk in the Park

Let’s face it; 24-hour races can be very dull! Yet, at the end of this year’s running of the Le Mans 24 hours, we watched the first and second placed cars fighting it out right to the line, a mere 13 seconds separating them at the flag. But there has been a closer, more exciting finish.

The Porsche 917. Brand new and VERY scary. In this early form it
wanted to fly and claimed the life of privateer John Woolfe on the
first lap. This is Vic Elford who led the race for many hours before being forced
out with mechanical problems

The late sixties were golden years for sports car racing. Ford, stung by Ferrari’s last minute refusal to sell his company, decided to beat him at his own game and developed the GT40 from the British Lola GT concept and, after a couple of false starts, won the race in ’66, ’67 and ’68, soundly beating Ferrari each time.

By 1969 the GT40 was becoming a bit long in the tooth - albeit a still healthy tooth - and Porsche were snapping at Ford’s heels. Long successful in endurance racing, Porsche had nonetheless failed to win Le Mans outright and they put into effect a plan to do just that. Thus was born the awesome 917, which in its early long-tailed form was as lethal as it was blindingly fast. It was still very new, however, so Porsche hedged their bets by entering several of their older, eight-cylinder 908s.

The start and Ickx walks nonchalantly across the track to his waiting
GT40, the rest of the pack already at their cars

The traditional Le Mans run-and-jump start was still in use in ’69. Safety in motor racing was starting to be an issue in the late sixties and seat belts were a new development; opinions about them were divided and many drivers considered it a waste of valuable seconds to do them up before moving off, if they were fitted at all.

As the flag dropped, the drivers sprinted across the track to their waiting cars. All except Jacky Ickx. As a protest against the regulations he strolled casually across the track, climbed into his GT40 and fastened his seat belts before he got going, dead last.

The first Porsche to retire was the 908 of Siffert/Redman with gearbox trouble

During qualifying the Porches had been devastatingly quick, pulverising the lap record, despite speed-limiting changes to the track since the previous year. In the race it was the same story; the Porsches streaked away at the front, running 1, 2, 3; the 917 of Elford and Attwood leading. The Fords rumbled around behind them waiting for the Porsches to break – not that they broke very often. But this time was different.

At the end of 24 hours' racing, this is what it came down to

By 7am Ickx was up to third, 5 laps down on the leading 917. By 9am, the leading Porsche was into the pits for attention to the front end but still had a 4-lap cushion. 40 minutes later it came in again, this time for attention to the back end and was sent out still in the lead but now sounding rough. The Fords were waiting to pounce.

With four hours to go there was but one Porsche left – all the others out with mechanical trouble, including the leading 917. The 3-litre 908 of Hans Herrmann was second behind the 5-litre Ford of Ickx/Oliver! But, if it was thought that the race was over, with cars needing to be nursed to the finish, then it was clear the drivers hadn’t read the script!

For the next three and a half hours, the leading Ford and Porsche went at it as if they were at the beginning of a Grand Prix and not at the end of a gruelling 24-hour, car-breaking race. As one car pitted for fuel and tyres, the other would take the lead, only to lose it again as it too, pitted.

Into the last hour they raced, never starting a new lap with the same car leading. It was hammer and tongs stuff, Porsche desperate to win for the first time, Ford trying for one last victory for its aging battleaxe. The Porsche was down on power, the Ford having to watch its fuel.

It still wasn’t settled as they entered the last lap; the two drivers swapping the lead at least twice as they thundered round to the finish line. On the pit straight, necks craned to see who would emerge out of the final chicane first. It was Ickx and he crossed the line 20 metres ahead of Herrmann in the Porsche. After 5,000kms of racing!

For Ford it was the end of an era, for Porsche it was just the beginning.