LeMans Diecast 1972-1977
1972
And then one day they were all gone. Yep. No more Porsche 917's, no Gulf, no Martini, and no Ferrari 512's. What a bummer of a year compared to 1971. For the story behind the changes see the Early 1970's FIA page.
But you must admit, the speeds of the 5.0-litre closed-cockpit "sportscars" were getting out of hand. And it was only a matter of time before someone was going to be killed. The irony is that Jo Bonnier was killed in one of the new "safer" 3.0 litre open-topped prototypes. The "swiss cheese" Lola was meant to be a whimsical ad for dairy producers, but tragedy struck and driver.
It has been said that there were "political" forces at work behind the scenes that wanted to give the French more influence at Le Mans. From the result, you can see that there may be something to this...
Ferrari sat out the race, leaving only the Matra and Alfa Romeo factory teams
The Speed Merchants - Vic Elford
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This grainy, side-burny film is great on so many levels, and it shows some fabulous footage of the 1972 race. In an absolutely shocking sequence of footage, the accident in which Jo Bonnier is killed is semi-captured. He apparrantly hit a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 and "spun like a helicopter" into the woods. In the film, the Ferrari driver gets out of his burning car, closes the door, runs accross the live track, and jumps over the guard rail on the other side. Vic Elford pulls up a few seconds later in his Alfa Romeo prototype, parks across the road from the burning Ferrari, runs over to the car, opens the door, and to his utter amazement to finds an empty car...
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Anyway, hats off to Vic Elford fo being a seriously brave mutherfucker.
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Name |
FIA Class |
Description |
Subclasses |
S |
Group 5 |
Open Sports Prototypes |
3-litre |
2-litre |
GTS |
Group 4 |
Modified production-based GT cars |
Unlimited |
| 5-litre |
2.5-litre |
TS |
Group 2 |
Modified production-based Touring cars |
|
|
Place |
Car
Sponsor |
Car # Class |
Model |
Ref. # |
Image |
| Sportscar Class (3.0 Litre Prototypes) - F.I.A. Group 5 |
1 | Matra 670 Short Tail 'Elf'
Henri Pescarolo 
Graham Hill  | 15
| Solido
100 Series | 13 |  |
2 | Matra 670 Long Tail 'Elf'
François Cevert
Howden Ganley  | 14
| Solido
100 Series | 14 |  |
N/C | Porsche 908/2 Flunder 'Esso'
Christian Poirot
Philippe Farjon | 67
| Best
Sports Racing | 9110 |  |
DNF | Porsche 908/2 Flunder 'Auto USDAU'
Hans-Dieter Weigel 
Helmut Krause | 6
| Best
Sports Racing | 9128 |  |
DNF | Lola T280 Ford 'Switzerland'
Jo Bonnier 
Gérard Larrousse
Gijs van Lennep  | 8
| Solido
| 13 |  |
| Grant Touring Sport Class (5.0 Litre) FIA Group 4 |
6 | Ferrari Ferrari 365 GTB/4 'BP'
Sam Posey 
Tony Adamowicz | 74
| Top Model
| 009 |  |
7 | Ferrari Ferrari 365 GTB/4
Mike Parkes
Jean-Louis Lafosse
Jean-Jacques Cochet | 34
| Rio
| R10 |  |
8 | Ferrari Ferrari 365 GTB/4 'Feraud'
Derek Bell
Teddy Pilette 
Richard Bond | 36
| Top Model
| 008 |  |
9 | Ferrari Ferrari 365 GTB/4
Jean-Pierre Jarier
Claude Buchet | 38
| Rio
| R13/P |  |
| Grant Touring Sport Class (Unlimited) |
15 | Chevrolet Corvette 'BP'
Dave Heinz
Bob Johnson | 4
| Vitesse
Limited Edition | L128 |  |
DNF | Chevrolet Corvette 'BFG Lifesaver Radial'
John Greenwood
Dick Smothers | 28
| Vitesse
Limited Edition | L146A |  |
DNF | Chevrolet Corvette 'femmes d'aujourd'hul'
Henri Greder
"Marie-Claude Beaumont" | 29
| Vitesse
Limited Edition | L134 |  |
DNF | Chevrolet Corvette
Jean-Claude Aubriet
"Depnic" | 71
| Vitesse
Limited Edition | L140 |  |
DNF | Chevrolet Corvette 'BFG Lifesaver Radial'
Bernard Darniche
Alain Cudini | 72
| Vitesse
Limited Edition | L146B |  |
| Grant Touring Sport Class (2.5 Litre) Group 4 |
DNF | Porsche 911S
Erwin Kremer 
John Fitzpatrick | 80
| Eagle's Race
| 1044 |  |
Test | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR LM 72 no 62 8.00 Martini | 62
| Solido
Racing | 1920 | |
1973
In 1973, the cars started displaying a marker designating class. Note how the Corvettes are classified as 'GTS', and the prototypes as 'S'. These classes were unique to Le Mans, and reflect the ACO rather than the FIA rules. These cars would be 'A4' and 'B5' respectively for all other races.
The Martini team ran Porsche Carerra RSR's in the Prototype class, even though they were relatively close to production road cars. Ferrari raced the longtail version of the 312PB and were beaten in a straight fight by the Matras. It was a sad end to the factory's last Le Mans Race.
Minichamps' version of these Matras are excellent
|
Place |
Car
Sponsor |
Car # Class |
Model |
Ref. # |
Image |
| Sportscar Class (3.0 Litre Prototypes) - F.I.A. Group 5 |
| Matra Works Team |
1 | Matra 670B
Henri Pescarolo
Gérard Larrousse | 11
S | Minichamps
| 430 731111 |  |
3 | Matra 670B
Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Jean-Pierre Jaussaud | 12
| Minichamps
| 430 731112 |  |
14 | Matra 670B
Jean-Pierre Beltoise
François Cevert | 10
| Minichamps
| 430 731110 |  |
| Martini Racing |
| 4 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 'Martini'
Herbert Müller
Gijs van Lennep | 47
S 3.0 | Spark
| S0931 |  |
| DNF | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 'Martini'
Reinhold Joest
Claude Haldi | 48
S 3.0 | Spark
| S0932 |  |
7 | Porsche 908/2 Flunder 'Marlboro'
Guillermo Ortega 
Fausto Merello | 4
| Best
| 9159 |  |
DNF | Lola T280 'Shell'
Daniel Rouveyran
Christian Mons
Christian Ethuin | 61
| Verem
Edition Limitee' | 606 |  |
| | | | Solido
Retro Le Mans | ? |  |
DNF | Sigma MC-73 Mazda 'Mazda'
Testu Ikusawa 
Patrick Dal Bo
Hiroshi Fuchida | 61
| Spark
Bizarre | BZ06 | |
| Gulf Research Racing |
| DNF | Mirage M6 Ford 'Gulf'
Mike Hailwood
John Watson
Vern Schuppan  | 9
S 3.0 | Spark
| STME10 |  |
| DNF | Mirage M6 Ford 'Gulf'
Derek Bell
Howden Ganley | 8
S 3.0 | Spark
| STME09 |  |
| GTS Class (3.0 Litre) - F.I.A. Group 4 |
| 8 | Porsche Carrera RSR
Clemens Schickentanz
Paul Keller
Erwin Kremer | 45
GTS 3.0 | Minichamps
| 430 736945 |  |
| 10 | Porsche Carrera RSR
Georg Loos
Jürgen Barth | 63
GTS 3.0 | Minichamps
| 430 736963 | |
| GTS Class (Over 5.0 Litre) - F.I.A. Group 4 |
12 | Chevrolet Corvette
Henri Greder
"Marie-Claude Beaumont" | 30
| Quartzo
Classic Le Mans | QLM024 | |
18 | Chevrolet Corvette 'BP'
Jean-Claude Aubriet
"Depnic" | 69
| Vitesse
Limited Edition | L153 |  |
DNF | Chevrolet Corvette 'BFG Lifesaver Street Radial'
John Greenwood
Bob Johnson | 29
| Vitesse
Limited Edition | L163 |  |
| TS Class (5.0 Litre) - F.I.A. Group 3 |
| 11 | BMW 3.0 CSL
Dieter Quester 
Toine Hezemans | 51
T 5.0 | Solido
'Zero' Series | 25 |  |
1974
Turbo Porsches
The unhomologated turbo Martini Porsche Carerra cars had to run in the big-boy prototype class
1975
The 1975 race was not part of the "world championship" for the first time in nearly 20 years. The ACO (wisely) distanced themselves from the FIA, who were getting really good at annoying factory teams.
The bulk of the grid was made up of Porsche 911 Carreras, with the "2.8 and 3.0 RSR" versions in the Group 4 GT class, and the road-car based "2.7 RS" versions in what seems to be a Group 3 "Serial GT" class.
1976
"I'm gonna separate you two!"
Beginning in 1976, the European-based World Championship for Makes split into distinct schedules for prototypes and GT cars. The Prototypes were a single class of B6 cars with 3-litre normally aspirated or 2.1L turbos. LeMans was the only race in which all classes competed together. Cars from the IMSA championship were also invited and ran to their own classes.
Le Mans 24 Hours
The Porsche 936 clobbered the field, and its only serious competition was the turbo Renault which dropped out early. In some 70's drug-induced moment of stupor, two NASCAR cars were allowed to start. Yeah, you read that right, NASCAR. A Grand Torino and Dodge Charger were seen lumbering down the Mulsanne straight. O the humanity! Please, somebody make models of these cars!
Porsche 936
This is a "Frankenstein" car if there ever was one. It was thrown together quickly to comply with the Group 6 rules. It is partially based on the 908, but with aerodynamic cues from the 917/30. The winning #20 is a very different car than the 1977 winner. Also, the car debuted in black without the famous "snorkel" air box.
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Name |
FIA Class |
Description |
Subclasses |
B6 |
Group 6 |
Open Sports Prototypes |
3-litre |
GTP |
N/A (?) |
Closed-cockpit prototypes |
? |
A5 |
Group 5 |
"Sihlouette" Cars |
|
IMSA |
IMSA |
GT Cars |
|
GTX |
? |
GT Cars? |
|
A4 |
Group 4 |
Modified production-based GT cars |
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NASCAR |
N/A |
Yeee Haaaaaw |
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A2 |
Group 2 |
Modified Touring cars |
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1977
Star Wars. Nothing but Star Wars. That's the only thing that 1977 ever gets credit for. However, Jacky Ickx drove like a bat outta' hell to win in 1977, and he considers it his best race ever. There are several versions of the winning car available, but the Minichamps Porsche "Le Mans History Set" version suffers from inaccurate decals. The more recent version of from the "Martini History set" is the current best bet.
Renault Alpines
The Renault Alpines (pronounced al-PEEN) were back again. Note how this car is the just the A442 and not the A442A or A442B.
Classes
It is important to note the classes in which the cars raced. From time to time, a table like below will try to explain who was racing against whom. Thankfully, the NASCAR class was dropped for 1977
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| Name | Description | Subclasses |
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Group 6 | Open Sports Prototypes | 3-litre and 2.4 L turbos |
2-litre |
Group 5 | Heavily modified production-based sihlouette cars | |
Group 4 | Production-based | |
IMSA | IMSA GTO spec? | |
GTP | Closed Sports Prototypes | |
GTX | IMSA GTX GT-Based Prototypes??? | |
