Feb 25, 2010 8:32:45 AM
- Spyderidol
- Rennteam Master
-
- Loc: Mozambique
- Posts: 5807, Gallery
- Registered on: Apr 25, 2007
Porsche at Lemans 1970 &1971
1970 – New rules ended the famous Le Mans start and required Seat belts.
The first car in line was the white 917LH Langheck of Porsche Salzburg for Vic Elford and Kurt Ahrens. Porsche had opened the year with a crushing victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona. Mario Andretti had won an electrifying Sebring for Ferrari in the new 512S, but only after the 917s had failed.
The new 512S was a fast and amazing car. There were 11 of the big red "sports cars" at Le Mans to face a squad of seven 917 Porsches. Ferrari made his lot worse by joking openly about initial reports that Porsche was building a 12-cylinder sports car. Now he had to face that monster where it mattered most.
Alfa Romeo returned to Le Mans, financially committed to the T33 prototype now wearing 3.0-liter V8 engines. They were two years late, prepared to fight a war that had already been lost: a battle with the obsolescent 3.0-liter Porsche 908 for prototype honors.
Matra had a pair of 3.0-liter V12 MS650s and a too-new MS660 for an almost unanimous French driving squad; only Jack Brabham broke the Gallic pedigree.
There was no formal Porsche factory team. After a year with new manager Rico Steinemann, Porsche stunned the racing world by hiring John Wyer Automobiles to race and develop the 917. It was a profound decision and bore fruit at once. Wyer tamed the 917’s wonky aerodynamics with the K-version (kurzheck) short-tail bodywork. An abbreviated tail and a small center spoiler lacking any hint of cockpit adjustable aerodynamics tamed the 917’s bad aero-manners. Wyer’s fix slowed the 917 fractionally but made it a much more stable and cooperative racing platform. The English team in Gulf Oil’s blue and orange livery was complemented by the quasi-works Porsche Salzburg team. Stuttgart had all the bases covered. They considered themselves robbed in '69 and stood determined to have their rightful due in '70.
Two of the reliable 908 roadsters were entered for the '70 edition. One was a "non-racing" camera platform driven by Jonathan Williams and Herbert Linge; the Revson/McQueen Sebring roadster was equipped with bulky 35 mm movie cameras to record the whole thing for McQueen, s feature movie "Le Mans". The other 908 was a serious and well turned out private entry for Rudi Lins and Helmut Marko. They were parked 22nd in the line against the pit counter.
Porsche had practically won the world sports car title before they got to Le Mans. Wyer had won Daytona, Monza, Brands Hatch and Spa with 917’s and the Targa with the blunt 908/3. But it was Porsche Salzburg (Piech’s intramural team) that administered Porsche’s coup de grace in the 1000 Km of the Nurburgring. The rivalry between John Wyer Automotive and Porsche Salzburg had been stronger stuff than the Porsche vs. Ferrari battle. But Maranello knew it could all be redeemed at Le Mans.
The new 512S long-tails were marginally faster on Mulsanne than the 917K. But Porsche had introduced a new 4.9-liter engine at Monza. Even Vic Elford was impressed and put the 4.9 917L Salzburg 917 on the pole with at an eye-watering 150.8mph lap. Nino Vaccarella put his coda lunge (long-tail) 512S next, just two-tenths behind.
In honor of Porsche’s 20th participation at Le Mans, Dr. Porsche himself dropped the symbolic tricolor at 4:00 p.m. In fact there were four starting flags shown. The drivers were belted in their cars, tails to the wall and none, save Elford, could see Dr. Porsche clearly. It was a fine omen. Henry Ford II had dropped the gilded flag in ‘66 when his cars won. Giovani Agnelli did the honors in ‘68; a year later Fiat owned half of Ferrari. Now it was Porsche’s turn to start the race he ached to win more than any other.
1971 will follow.
e time where I was born! 
