1974 24 Hours of Le Mans
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1974 24 Hours of Le Mans |
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The 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 42nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 15 and 16 June 1974. It was the fifth round of the 1974 World Championship for Makes. After Alfa Romeo had won the first race of the season at Monza, it had been Matra all the way and they came to Le Mans as firm favourites for a third consecutive outright victory, especially after Alfa Romeo withdrew its cars just before raceweek. In a fairly lacklustre race, the Matra of Henri Pescarolo and Gérard Larrousse led virtually from start to finish for their second successive victory. It was also the third in a row for Pescarolo and the Matra team. The race was enlivened on Sunday morning when the leading car was delayed for a long time by engine and gearbox troubles. But such was the lead they had built up that they were not headed. 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 Group 4 (GTS) category was a battle between Porsche and Ferrari. It was won by the French-privateer Ferrari of Cyril Grandet and Dominique Bardini as the leading Porsches fell out with problems. There was negligible change to the regulations this year. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) reduced the eligible classes back to six, removing the intermediate divisions of Group 2 and 5.[2] Qualification was tightened, such that each driver, not just each car, had to be within 133% of the fastest times of the top three different car types. Modern Motor magazine reported at the time that the event cost near to £1 million to hold. Of that, most was paid by Chrysler-France (£500000) and the French government (£300000) with the rest coming from sponsorship. It also noted the declining interest in the racing formula by the manufacturers and fans alike. John Wyer had noted that it cost more than a full season of Formula One to put one of his cars on the grid. Where we have not had a model of the car through the business as raced I've added another example of the car as an illustration (where I have one)
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| Last Edit: 01/05/2022 | Page Created 30/04/2022 |
