1974 24 Hours of Le Mans
In a fairly lacklustre race, the Matra of Henri Pescarolo and Gérard Larrousse led virtually from start to finish for their second successive victory.
Second place, six laps back was the works-supported Martini Porsche 911 turbo of Gijs van Lennep and Herbert Müller while third went to another Matra of Jean-Pierre Jabouille and François Migault.
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) reduced the eligible classes back to six, removing the intermediate divisions of Group 2 and 5.
The lack of interest in the 3-litre “universal race-engine” formula was evident and the ACO received only 81 applications, and just 50 turned up for qualification on race-week.
Ferrari had quit Sports cars at the end of 1973 to focus on Formula One and Autodelta, the Alfa Romeo works team, again withdrew this time just days before the event.
The company had dropped the Mirage name and the new car was called the Gulf GR7 designed by Len Bailey,[9] a much lighter version of the M6, but still 40 kg heavier than the Matras.
[10] Although the Cosworth V8 (with 450 bhp) gave away acceleration torque to the Matra V12,[11] reliability would be the biggest concern although they had traded up to stronger ZF gearboxes.
It also featured improved aerodynamics (front spoiler, wider wheel arches, full rear wing) and upgraded transmission and braking which all made them slightly quicker than the Matras in a straight line.
There were also older Porsches in the Group 5 field: including a non-turbo RSR special from Mexican Héctor Rebaque and two 908/02s returning from the previous year run by Swiss André Wicky and Ecuadorian Guillermo Ortega.
Designer Michel Têtu had done much with the aerodynamics including a big rear aerofoil and flared wheel arches allowing wider tyres.
This year the team-owner was not racing, and the two cars were driven by veteran Guy Chasseuil with Michel Leclère, and Jacques Laffite with Alain Serpaggi.
[15] There were also several one-off prototype specials: Alain de Cadenet was back at Le Mans, having fixed the aerodynamic problems that plagued him the year before.
His first engine, designed by Mario Illien and based on a Chrysler-Simca block,[7] could develop 280 bhp and was put into his Lola T292 as well as a French GRAC car.
NART had three of the five 365 GTB/4 “Daytona” entries alongside Charles Pozzi, the French importer who had won the previous year's GT prize (using Raymond Touroul's entry-card).
The Alfa Romeos had been the fastest cars at the March test weekend, with Arturo Merzario recording a 3:31.0, but then they failed to arrive.
Pescarolo got pole position as early as Wednesday night, with a lap of 3:35.8 and teammate Jarier in the new MS680 claimed second on Thursday with a 3:36.8.
[2] The Ligiers really impressed themselves, qualifying 10th and 12th on the grid with Chasseuil a full 27 seconds faster than the previous year proving the new aero pack was working and the run at the Test Weekend was no fluke.
Schuppan's day never improved as the other Gulf's ongoing issues culminated in a broken CV-joint after three hours, stranding Wisell out on the track.
[21] Then in the fourth hour, just as Jarier blasted out of the pits to start his second stint, he collided with the GT-leading Kremer Porsche (leaving twin 22m lines of rubber as it tried to stop[27]).
When the remaining Gulf also broke its CV joint (fortunately, within coasting distance of the pits, but dropping it to 12th after 45 minutes), it was the turbo Porsches that moved up to 3rd and 5th, split by the De Cadenet now running well after an initial delay to fix a loose wheel.
As he was leaving a suspension bolt broke but, not being allowed to reverse up the pitlane, Craft had to spend half an hour changing the steering arm himself.
The back-and-forth Porsche-Ferrari battle in GT got clearer at 7am when the 5th-placed Romand Porsche had to spend a half-hour repairing a universal joint, handing the class lead back to the Pozzi Ferrari.
[30] Even though rain briefly returned in the last hour, Larrousse took the chequered flag[31] a full six laps ahead of Müller and van Lennep.
Both cars had endured troubles right through the race, and every pit-stop needed attention – extra water for the Matra's leaking engine and grease added to the Gulf's fragile CV-joint.
[20] Sixth was the NART Ferrari of Dave Heinz/Alain Cudini that had managed to chase down and pass the ailing Porsche Club Romand car of Chenevière / Zbinden / Dubois in the last quarter-hour.
[26] Jacques Laffite and Alain Serpaggi gave Ligier its best finish to date coming in eighth,[15] despite a fuel-fire at the last pit-stop.
The all-female crew in the third Dupont entry ran a conservative race but outlasted all their opposition to finish 17th and, perhaps more importantly, prove that the fragile engines could run 24 hours.
Having won Le Mans those three years in a row, and then the World Championship (with nine wins out of ten), Matra announced its retirement from racing at the end of the season with mission accomplished.
