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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:42:19 GMT -5
Of the six GT40s that competed at Le Mans in 1965, two were the new MkII X cars under the stewardship of Shelby American which had 450hp 7 litre engine and would be driven by the pairings Phil Hill/Chris Amon & Ken Miles/Bruce McLaren. Phil Hill would set the pace qualifying 1st with the Miles & Mclaren car starting 4th but McLaren made it to the front by the end of the 1st lap and stayed there for the next two hours. However it all changed in the next hour with them dropping to 5th and then out with a broken gearbox after 45 laps. Spark - Ford GT40 MKII - 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours - K.Miles & B.McLaren - DNF
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:42:46 GMT -5
Chevron was formed in 1965 off the back of the success of specials built by it's founder Derek Bennett and would initially concentrate on building single seaters and small sports cars. The marques first appearance at Le Mans was in 1968 in a one off B12 built for John Woolfe powered by a Repco V8 which was followed in 1969 by a B8 powered by a 2 litre BMW, both of which failed to finish. 1970 brought a new car, the B16, and the factory team to Le Mans, with 2 cars, one with the 2 litre BMW engine and one with a 1.8 litre Cosworth FVC along with a third Mazda rotary powered which was privately entered. The Ford powered car was driven by Ian Skailes & John Hine who would place 3nd on the grid and initially would fall away running in 46th by the end of the 1st hour but they would climb back up through the field reaching 22nd by 6 hours and and 15th by the halfway point and to a best position of 13th . 16 hours in they would again fall away to 20th and thereafter they would remain towards the back of the field finally retiring from 18th and last in the last hour when the engine let go after 213 laps. Spark - Chevron B16 - 1970 Le Mans 24 Hours - I.Skailes & J.Hine - DNF
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:43:05 GMT -5
Guillermo Ortega entered his Porsche 908/02 as a privateer for himself and fellow Ecuadorian Fausto Morello in the top 3 litre Sports class at Le Mans in 1973. This chassis had started life as a Coupe in 1969 which was then converted to a spyder in 1970 and would see service as the camera car for Solar Productions in 1970 at Le Mans and would also be seen both in 1971 & 1972 where it failed to finish. 1973 would see Ortega purchase the car and he and his fellow driver would qualify a somewhat lowly 33rd however a steady and uneventful drive would see the pair place 15th by 6 hours in and break into the top 10 by half distance. they remained in 1oth until 18hours in when they moved up to 9th which became 8th in the 20th hour and then in the last hour they would move up to 7th where they would finish after completing 316 laps. Spark - Porsche 908/02 - 1973 Le Mans 24 Hours - G.Ortega & F.Morello - 7th
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:44:32 GMT -5
George Loos had competed as a driver himself in sports car racing from 1968 and would form his own team, Gelo Racing in 1970. The team would compete in both the Interserie and in world sports cars with their first entry to Le Mans being in 1971 in a Ferrari 512. 1972 saw the team switch to 911s in the GT calss and by the 1975 they were one of the more successfaul GT teams and for Le Mans they would have a 3 car entry. The No.59 car was driven by Tim Schenken & Howden Ganley who qualified 26th however they immediately gained many places and would get into the top 10 three hours in but an hour later an issue ( i suspect gearbox related) would see them drop away to 34th and by halfway they were placed 37th and last. They continued on for another 8 hours at the back of the field before retiring with gearbox failure after completing 106 laps Spark - Porsche 911 RSR - 1975 Le Mans 24 Hours - T.Schenken & H.Ganley - DNF
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:44:54 GMT -5
Rebellion Racing returned to Le Mans in 2020 with two R13s in the LMP1 class. They would qualify 2nd & 4th with the leading No.1 car driven by Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato & Bruno Senna who would hold 2nd place for the 1st hour before losing a place to the 2nd Toyota and they would remain in 3rd more or less for the first half of the race. They would regain 2nd in the 13th hour and stay there for the next 6 hours before overtaken by the sister Rebellion who would then have an off so No.1 went back into 2nd and thats where they would finish after 382 laps, 5 down on the winning Toyota. Spark - Rebellion R13 - 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours - G.Menezes, N.Nato & B.Senna - 2nd
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:45:15 GMT -5
Staying with 2020 but this time LMP2 United Autosport entered two Gibson powered Oreca 07s for 2020 and the No.22 car driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Philip Hanson & Paul di Resta and the trio would secure class pole and 6th overall on the grid which they maintained for the 1st hour. They would lose this lead in the next hour and a series of issues including a collision would see them down to 11th at quarter distance, however a recovery drive would see them back to 6th and 2nd in class by half distance, and they would contend for 5th with their sister car until it had to pit. Thereafter, they maintained 5th overall and 1st in class all the way to the flag, though they were hard pushed by the No.38 Jota right to the end Spark - Oreca 07 - 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours - F.Albuquerque, P.Hanson & P.di Resta - 5th
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:45:37 GMT -5
Still with 2020 TF Sport entered a single Aston Vantage AMR in the GTE Am class for the driver line up of Jonathan Adam, Charlie Eastwood & Salih Yoluc and the trio would qualify 5th in class and 39th overall just behind the factory Am car. Initially they gained 4 places before falling away back to 40th where they were running after 4 hours, but from there they had a steady race that would see them in 35th by quarter distance and 30th by half distance. By three-quarter distance they were in 26th and battling hard for the class lead, and they were able to convert this to the Am win after completing 339 laps, but it was close fought as the top 4 in the class were all on the same lap at the end. Spark - Aston Martin Vantage AMR - 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours - J.Adam, C.Eastwood & S.Yoluc - 24th
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:45:57 GMT -5
Aston Martin had a three car entry at Le Mans in 2020, two of which were in the GTE Pro class, with the No.95 car being driven by Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim & Richard Westbrook who would qualify 3rd in class and 30th overall one place better than the sister car. Their race was steady and whilst they made some gains in the 1st hour they would drop 3 places to 31st after two hours, however they would remain within the class lead battle. Quarter distance saw them 29th, half distance 26th and three-quarter distance 24th where they stayed circulating in 3rd in class until the last hour when they picked up another place to finish 22nd overall after completing 343 laps. Spark - Aston Martin Vantage AMR - 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours - M.Sorensen, N.Thiim & R.Westbrook - 22nd
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:46:14 GMT -5
Aston Martin had a three car entry at Le Mans in 2020, two of which were in the GTE Pro class, with the No.97 car being driven by Alex Lynn, Maxime Martin & Harry Tincknell who would qualify 4th in class and 31st overall. Their race was steady and whilst they made some gains in the 1st hour they would drop 3 places to 28th after two hours, however they would remain within the class lead battle. Quarter distance saw them still 28th, half distance 24th and three-quarter distance 21st where they stayed circulating in the class lead until the last hour when they picked up another place to finish 20th overall after completing 346 laps. Spark - Aston Martin Vantage AMR - 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours - A.Lynn, M.Martin & H.Tincknell - 20th
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:47:37 GMT -5
Classic F1 time Roger Williamson made his debut at the 1973 British Grand Prix for March Engineering after winning the British F2 championship in 1971 & 1972. He would qualify 22nd but would be eliminated in the first lap crash after Scheckter crashed and span back across the track, taking 10 others with him in the process. Williamson would be killed in an accident at the following race of the season. Spark - March 731 - 1973 British Grand Prix - R.Williamson - DNF
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:48:02 GMT -5
Carlos Pace had entered F1 in 1972 with Williams after competing for them in F2 and would score points twice in his debut season before making the move to Surtees in 1973 where he again scored points twice including a podium finish. 1974 would see him stay with Surtees who had a new car, the TS16, which despite it's DNF on it's debut in Argentina would propel him to a 4th place finish from 12th on the grid. Pace would split with Surtees mid-season and move to Brabham scoring another podium, but this was to be the only points Surtees scored all year. Spark - Surtees TS16 - 1974 Brazilian Grand Prix - C.Pace - 4th
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 6:24:47 GMT -5
Alfa Romeo returned to Le Mans for the first time since the second world war with a trio of 6C/3000 CMs which had a 3.5 litre 270hp straight six under the bonnet and an impressive driver line up which included the Italian pairing of Sanesi & Carini in one car, Mercedes works drivers Karl Kling & Fritz Reiss in another and Juan Manuel Fangio and fellow countryman Onofre Marimon the third car, No.22. The trio had a great start lining up 5th, 6th and 7th after the 1st hour, with No.22 being the second car, but this would be the high point as an hour later they were running 20th and in the following hour they retired with piston failure after 22 laps Spark - Alfa Romeo 6C 3000CM - 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours - J.M.Fangio & O.Marimon - DNF
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 6:25:12 GMT -5
Back to the modern era From Le Mans 2020 comes this Gibson powered Oreca )7 which was entered by Panis Racing for the French driving trio of Julien Canal, Nico Jamin & Matthieu Vaxivière would qualify 14th overall and 9th in class. Whilst they gained no places in the 1st hour thereafter they would be in 9th after 6 hours and 8th at half distance where they spent most of the race until they gained a further place in the last hour to finish 7th overall and 3rd in class Spark - Oreca 07 - 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours - J.Canal, N.Jamin & M.Vaxivière - 7th
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 6:25:35 GMT -5
Further 2020 LMP2 action to complete the podium trio This Gibson powered Oreca 07 was entered by Jota for the driving trio of António Félix da Costa, Anthony Davidson & Roberto González who would qualify 12th overall and 7th in class. Immediate gains saw them reach as high as 7th by the second hour before dropping back to 10th however quarter distance saw them in 8th and then back to 7th by half distance where they spent 6 hours before gaining a further place which they held to the end to finish 6th overall and 2nd in class Spark - Oreca 07 - 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours - A.F.da Costa, A.Davidson & R.González - 6th
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 6:25:56 GMT -5
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