1979 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 47th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 9 and 10 June 1979. With no other major works cars this year, the Porsche team were the strong favourites to win. Their competition would be from Cosworth-powered Mirages and Rondeaus and a swarm of Group 5 and IMSA-class Porsche 935s. The other big talking point was the presence of Hollywood actor Paul Newman, driving for Dick Barbour Racing.

However, the Porsche 936s ran into problems early, as did the Mirages that inherited the lead. The race became a duel between the 935s of the rival teams from Cologne: Kremer Racing and Gelo Sportswear. Soon after midnight, heavy storms started sweeping the circuit. The rain stayed for virtually the rest of the race, dramatically slowing the pace, negating the speed of the 936s coming back through the field. Both Gelo cars retired with mechanical issues in the soggy dawn, and when the Wollek/Haywood Porsche developed a bad misfire soon after it looked like the Kremer 935 of Klaus Ludwig and the Whittington brothers had the race covered. They had a 13-lap lead over the Dick Barbour Porsche.

Then approaching 11am Don Whittington came to a stop on the Mulsanne Straight with a broken drivebelt. It took 80 minutes to get back to the pits, and by the time they got back into the race the lead down to four laps. But the charging American team were foiled by a faulty wheel-nut taking 23 minutes to fix. Then in the last hour, the car slowed with a bad misfire. Stommelen pulled up just before the finish line and waited for the Kremer car to take the flag in victory. The Kremer brothers' finest hour was sealed with their other team-car coming home in third.

Porsche finished 1-2-3-4, and the Kremer 935-K3 was the first Le Mans win by a rear-engined car. The torrential rain in the second half of the race made it the slowest Le Mans since 1958.

In April 1978, the sports regulatory body, the CSI, was overhauled and replaced by the new international racing organisation FISA. The World Championship for Makes was revised to include both Group 5 and Group 6 racecars again, split into two categories: over and under 2-litres. FISA President, Jean-Marie Balestre was committed to bringing Le Mans back into the World Championship, but for now the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) chose to remain independent.

A change to the circuit was forced upon the ACO this year. Construction of the city's ring-road system meant the second Dunlop Bridge at the Tertre Rouge corner had to be demolished. The right-hand corner that led onto the Hunaudières straight was eased into a faster double-apex corner, shortening the overall circuit length by 14 metres (46 feet) to 13.63 km. The only other change was to move the start-time forward two hours, to 2pm, to allow the spectators more time to vote on Sunday in the European parliament elections.

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)

Pos	Car	No.	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Reason
1		41	Porsche Kremer Racing	Klaus Ludwig  Don Whittington  Bill Whittington	Porsche 935-K3	Porsche 930/79 3.0L F6 twin-turbo	306	N/A
2		70	Dick Barbour Racing	Dick Barbour  Rolf Stommelen  Paul Newman	Porsche 935/77A	Porsche 930/80 3.0L F6 twin-turbo	299	N/A
3		40	Porsche Kremer Racing	Laurent Ferrier  François Servanin  François Trisconi	Porsche 935/77A	Porsche 930/72 3.0L F6 turbo	297	N/A
4	(example)	82	Lubrifilm Racing Team	Herbert Müller  Angelo Pallavicini  Marco Vanoli	Porsche 934	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	296	N/A
5		5	J. Rondeau (private entrant)	Jean Ragnotti  Bernard Darniche	Rondeau M379	Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8	292	N/A
6	(example)	76	H. Poulain (private entrant)	Hervé Poulain  Manfred Winkelhock  Marcel Mignot	BMW M1	BMW M88 3.5L S6	288	N/A
7	(example)	42	Sekurit Racing  Autohaus Max Moritz GmbH	Edgar Dören  Dieter Schornstein  Götz von Tschirnhaus	Porsche 935/77A	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	283	N/A
8		72	Dick Barbour Racing	Bob Garretson  Skeeter McKitterick  Edwin Abate	Porsche 935/78	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	283	N/A
9		73	Dick Barbour Racing  Wynn's International	Bob Kirby  Bob Harmon  John Hotchkis	Porsche 935/78	Porsche 930/73 3.0L F6 turbo	280	N/A
10	(example)	4	J. Rondeau (private entrant)	Henri Pescarolo  Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Rondeau M379	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	279	N/A
11	(example)	43	C. Haldi (private entrant)	Claude Haldi  Herbert Loewe  Rodrigo Terran	Porsche 935	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	275	N/A
12	(example)	61	"Beurlys" (private entrant)	"Beurlys" (Jean Blaton)  Nick Faure  Steve O'Rourke  Bernard de Dryver	Ferrari 512 BB-LM	Ferrari 4.9 L F12	274	N/A
13	(example)	45	Porsche Kremer Racing	Axel Plankenhorn  Philippe Gurdjian  "John Winter" (Louis Krages)	Porsche 935-K3	Porsche 930/79 3.0L F6 twin-turbo	273	N/A
14	(example)	52	WM AEREM	Jean-Daniel Raulet  Marcel Mamers	WM P79	Peugeot PRV ZNS4 2.7L V6 turbo	272	N/A
15		39	ASA Cachia	Jacques Guérin  "Chanaud" (Jacques Goujon)  Fréderic Alliot	Porsche 935	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	268	N/A
16	(example)	86	Kores Racing	Georges Bourdillat  Roland Ennequin  Alain-Michel Bernhard	Porsche 934	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	265	N/A
17	Still Looking	29	Mogil Motors Ltd	Tony Charnell  Richard Jones  Robin Smith	Chevron B36	Cosworth BDG 2.0L S4	265	N/A
18	(example)	24	Dorset Racing Associates	Brian Joscelyne  Tony Birchenhough  Richard Jenvey  Nick Mason	Lola T297	Cosworth BDG 2.0L S4	260	N/A
19		84	A.-C. Verney (private entrant)	Anne-Charlotte Verney  Patrick Bardinon  René Metge	Porsche 934	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	251	N/A
20		15	Fisons Agricole /  Simon Phillips (private entrant)	Simon Phillips  Martin Raymond  Ray Mallock	De Cadenet LM76	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	250	N/A
21	(example)	20	Lambretta SAFD	Pierre Yver  Max Cohen-Olivar  Michel Elkoubi	Lola T298	BMW M12 2.0L S4	248	N/A
22	Still Looking	28	Société Racing Organisation Course	Bernard Verdier  Albert Dufréne  Noël del Bello	Chevron B36	Simca-ROC 2.0L S4	239	N/A
DNF	(example)	11	Grand Touring Cars Inc  Ford Concessionaires France	Derek Bell  David Hobbs  Vern Schuppan	Mirage M10	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	262	Engine (24hr)
DNF	(example)	62	Charles Pozzi / JMS Racing	Jean-Claude Andruet  Spartaco Dini	Ferrari 512BB-LM	Ferrari 4.9L F12	240	Engine (21hr)
DNF	(example)	14	Essex Motorsport Porsche	Bob Wollek  Hurley Haywood	Porsche 936-78	Porsche 935/73 2.1L F6 twin-turbo	236	Accident (20hr)
DNF		63	Charles Pozzi / JMS Racing	Michel Leclère  Claude Ballot-Léna  Peter Gregg	Ferrari 512BB-LM	Ferrari 4.9L F12	219	Accident (19hr)
DNF	(example)	55	J. Rondeau (private entrant)	Jean Rondeau  Jacky Haran	Rondeau M379	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	207	Engine (19hr)
DNF	(example)	36	Gelo Sportswear International	Manfred Schurti  Hans Heyer	Porsche 935/77A	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	201	Engine (16hr)
DSQ	(example)	12	Essex Motorsport Porsche	Jacky Ickx  Brian Redman	Porsche 936-78	Porsche 935/73 2.1L F6 twin-turbo	200	Outside assistance (18hr)
DNF	(example)	37	Gelo Sportswear International	John Fitzpatrick  Harald Grohs  Jean-Louis Lafosse	Porsche 935/77A	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	196	Oil pipe (16hr)
DNF	(example)	25	J.-M. Lemerle (private entrant)	Jean-Marie Lemerle  Alain Levié  Jean-Pierre Malcher	Lola T298	Simca-ROC 2.0L S4	189	Engine (21hr)
DNF	Still Looking	33	Société Racing Organisation Course  André Chevalley Racing	Marcel Tarres  Alain Dechelette  Charles Dechelette	Chevron B36	Simca-ROC 2.0L S4	187	Accident (19hr)
DNF	(example)	31	Kores Racing  France Chauffage	Michel Lateste  Dominique Lacaud	Lola T297	BMW M12 2.0L S4	182	Clutch (21hr)
DNF	(example)	87	C. Bussi (private entrant)	Christian Bussi  Bernard Salam	Porsche 934	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	182	Accident damage (18hr)
DNF	(example)	51	WM AEREM	Roger Dorchy  Denis Morin	WM P79	Peugeot PRV ZNS4 2.7L V6 turbo	157	Accident (16hr)
DNF	(example)	68	Interscope Racing	Ted Field  Milt Minter  John Morton	Porsche 935/79	Porsche 930/80 2.1L F6 twin-turbo	154	Engine (13hr)
DNF	(example)	3	JC Racing Ltd. (private entrant)	John Cooper  Peter Lovett  John Morrison	De Cadenet-Lola LM77	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	146	Electrics (16hr)
DNF	(example)	23	Team Pronuptia	Bruno Sotty  Gérard Cuynet  Marc Frischknecht	Lola T296	Cosworth BDG 2.0L S4	134	Accident (16hr)
DSQ	Still Looking	26	Société Racing Organisation Course	Michel Dubois  Pierre-François Rousselot  Marc Menant	Chevron B36	Simca-ROC 2.0L S4	133	Insufficient distance (14hr)
DNF	Still Looking	32	H. Striebig / BP Racing (private entrant)	Hubert Striebig  Alain Cudini  Hughes Kirschoffer	ToJ SC206	BMW M12 2.0L S4	121	Fuel pump (13hr)
DSQ		10	Grand Touring Cars Inc  Ford Concessionaires France	Vern Schuppan  Jean-Pierre Jaussaud  David Hobbs	Mirage M10	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	121	Insufficient distance (13hr)
DSQ	(example)	35	C. Pietromarchi (private entrant)	Carlo Pietromarchi  Gianfranco Brancatelli  Maurizio Micangeli	De Tomaso Pantera	Ford 351 5.8L V8	108	Insufficient distance (14hr)
DNF	Still Looking	27	Société Racing Organisation Course	Marc Sourd  Florian Vetsch  Robert Carmillet	Chevron B36	Simca-ROC 2.0L S4	92	Accident (8hr)
DNF	Still Looking	17	Cheetah Racing Cars	Sandro Plastina  Philippe Roux  Mario Luini	Cheetah G-601	Simca-ROC 2.0L S4	87	Engine (10hr)
DNF	(example)	53	WM AEREM	Michel Pignard  Jacques Coulon  Serge Saulnier	WM P79	Peugeot PRV ZNS4 2.7L V6 turbo	87	Front suspension (10hr)
DNF	Still Looking	18	D. Brillat  Écurie Cedac Suisse (private entrant)	Daniel Brillat  Jean-Pierre Aeschlimann	Cheetah G-601	BMW M12 2.0L S4	80	Engine (9hr)
DNF	(example)	71	Dick Barbour Racing	Bob Akin  Roy Woods  Rob McFarlin	Porsche 935/77A	Porsche 930/78 3.0L F6 turbo	78	Engine (7hr)
DNF	(example)	22	G. Morand (private entrant)  J.-P. Jarier	Eric Vaugnat  Jacques Boillat  Jean-Pierre Jarier	Lola T296 Porsche 935	Cosworth BDG 2.0L S4 Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	76 65	Electrics (12hr) Engine
DNF	(example)	74	J.-P. Jarier (private entrant)	Jean-Pierre Jarier  Randy Townsend  Raymond Touroul	Porsche 935	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	63	Engine (6hr)
DNF	(example)	1	André Chevalley Racing (private entrant)	André Chevalley  Xavier Lapeyre  Patrick Perrier	Lola T286	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	59	Electrics (11hr)
DNF	(example)	64	North American Racing Team	Jean-Pierre Delaunay  Cyril Grandet  Preston Henn	Ferrari 512BB-LM	Ferrari 4.9L F12	54	Accident (7hr)
DNF	(example)	6	Dome Co. Ltd	Chris Craft  Gordon Spice	Dome Zero RL	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	40	Out of fuel (6hr)
DNF	(example)	7	Dome Co. Ltd	Bob Evans  Tony Trimmer	Dome Zero RL	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	25	Engine (4hr)
DNF		50	R. Hamilton (private entrant)	Robin Hamilton  Mike Salmon	Aston Martin DBS Turbo	Aston Martin 5.3L V8 turbo	21	Oil leak (4hr)
DNF		8	A. de Cadenet (private entrant)	Alain de Cadenet  François Migault	De Cadenet LM78	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	10	Gearbox (4hr)
DNA	(example)	16	March Racing	Dieter Quester  Guy Edwards  Ian Grob	March-BMW M1	BMW M88 3.5L S6	0	Did not qualify
DNQ	(example)	21	Lambretta SAFD	François Calmels  Renaud Laverre  Patrice Lenormand	Lola T296	Simca-ROC 2.0L S4	0	Did not qualify
DNQ	(example)	30	ASA Cachia /  F. Migault (private entrant)	Pascal Foix  Michel Bienvault  Murray Smith	Lola T296	Simca-ROC 2.0L S4	0	Did not practice
DNQ	(example)	77	Mazda Auto Tokyo	Yojiro Terada  Tetsu Ikuzawa  Claude Buchet	Mazda RX-7	Mazda 13B 1.3L twin-rotary	0	Did not qualify
DNQ	(example)	80	Écurie des 13 Etoiles (private entrant)	Antoine Salamin  Gérard Vial  Philippe Collet	Porsche 934	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	0	Did not qualify
DNA	(example)	2	André Chevalley Racing (private entrant)	Patrick Perrier  Marco Capoferri  Renzo Zorzi	Lola T286	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	0	Did not arrive
DNA	(example)	54	Walter Brun Racing Organisation	Walter Brun  Alain Cudini	BMW M1	BMW M88 3.5L S6	0	Did not arrive
DNA	(example)	60	P. Sauber AG /  D. Rowe (private entrant)	Douglas Rowe  Bill Adam A.A. Lorent	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	0	Did not arrive
DNA	(example)	65	North American Racing Team		Ferrari 512 BB-LM	Ferrari 4.9L F12	0	Did not arrive
DNA	(example)	66	SA Mo.Car SpA	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari 512 BB	Ferrari 4.9L F12	0	Did not arrive
DNA	(example)	67	D. Whittington (private entrant)	Don Whittington  Bill Whittington	Porsche 935/79	Porsche 930/79 3.3L F6 twin-turbo	0	Did not arrive
DNA	(example)	81	Autohaus Max Moritz GmbH	Edgar Dören  Gerhard Holup  Uwe Reich  Eckhard Schimpf	Porsche 934	Porsche 3.0L F6 turbo	0	Did not arrive