1974 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 42 24 - hour race at Le Mans, the 42e Grand Prix d' Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans, was held from June 15 to 16 place in 1974 at the Circuit des 24 Heures.

Before the race

After the end of the sports car activities at Ferrari and the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo - despite top times at the Le Mans test day in April - was the Matra works team the clear favorite for the overall win. Not even the re- release of both RSA Carrera - Porsche prototype with a Porsche 911 silhouette - do not change the factory team from Zuffenhausen. The North American Racing Team established a Ferrari 312P of 1969, the Teodoro Zeccoli and Jean -Claude Andruet piloted.

The race

Just before the race, the British team owner and racer Alain de Cadenet broke his right arm, so that his two teammates Chris Craft and John Nicholson had to contest the race without him.

After the early failure of one Gulf GR7 - with Vern Schuppan at the wheel - which one it zutraute with the Matras most likely keep up, lay after three hours of racing, three of the blue French factory cars in the lead. But the race of the Matra team did not go smoothly: At 19 clock 30 Jean -Pierre Jarier had in the new Matra MS680 a collision with a Porsche 911 at the exit of the pit lane and had to again after a slow lap to repair the body of the box. Just after midnight, first fell out of Jarier/Beltoise-MS680 and a little later the Jabouille/Wollek/Dolhem-MS670C each with superheated engine.

Nevertheless, the overall victory seemed not at risk, as Henri Pescarolo and Gérard Larrousse by a margin of eleven rounds lay on the Carrera RSR by Herbert Müller and Gijs van Lennep on Sunday morning in the lead. Then Henri Pescarolo rolled out on the Hunaundières - line with a defective transmission synchronization. The Frenchman but managed to bring the MS670C to drive again and drove in a slow ride back to the pits. There, the mechanic will need 45 minutes to repair, and the lead dwindled to one round. As Pescarolo went to the track again, the car was no longer quite competitive. What the Matra team rescued at the end was the fact that even the Porsche by a slipping clutch got transmission problems and lost five laps in the pits. For Henri Pescarolo Matra and it was the third overall win in a row, and at the end of the French company ended its motorsport activities.

Results

Pilot after Nations

Final ranking

1 not qualified

Only in the message list

Here are the teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the competition, but it did not participate for various reasons.

Class winner

Race data

  • Reported: 86
  • Started: 49
  • Weather during the race weekend: warm and sunny
  • Distance: 13.640 km
  • Honorary starter of the race: Olivier Guichard, French Industry Minister
  • Distance of the winning team: 4606.571 km
  • Winners section: 191.940 km / h
  • Pole Position: Henri Pescarolo - Matra Simca MS670C (# 7) - 3.35.180 = 227.554 km / h
  • Fastest race lap: Jean -Pierre Jarier - Matra Simca MS680 (# 6) - 3.42.700 = 220.994 km / h
  • Race series: 5th round of the World Sportscar Championship
12719
de