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Over the years, many manufacturers have managed to take the
overall win, while even more have taken class wins. By
far the most successful marquee in the history of the race is
Porsche, who have succeeded in taking 16 overall victories,
including seven in a row from 1981-1987. Ferrari follows with
nine, also including six in a row from 1960-1965, while Jaguar
has seven wins. Bentley, Alfa Romeo, and Ford all managed to
win four races in a row, with Bentley recording two other
victories in other years as well. Recently the Audi marquee
has dominated the event, winning in seven of the ten years
they have participated. The only Japanese marquee to win the
race so far has been Mazda, although nearly every major
Japanese manufacturer has made attempts at the race. Mazda’s
1991 victory also saw the only use of a rotary engine, one of
Mazda’s hallmarks.
For drivers, two drivers stand apart for their number of
victories. Initially Jacky Ickx held that record at six,
scoring victories between 1969 and 1982, earning him an
honorary citizenship to the town of Le Mans. However,
newcomer Tom Kristensen has been able to quickly eclipse this
record with seven wins between 1997 and 2005, including six in
a row. However, it should be noted that three-time winner
Woolf Barnato is still the only driver to have won every Le
Mans he has participated in from 1928 to 1930. Henri
Pescarolo has won the race four times, yet currently holds the
record for the most Le Mans appearances at 33. On the other
hand, Japan’s Yojiro Terada currently holds the record for the
most Le Mans starts without a win yet is currently still
active as a driver.
With the high speeds associated with Le Mans, the track has
seen a number of accidents, some of which have been fatal to
drivers and spectators. The worst moment in Le Mans history
was during the 1955 race in which more than 80 spectators and
driver Pierre Levegh were killed. In the shock following this
disaster, many major and minor races were cancelled in 1955,
such as the Grand Prix races in Germany and Switzerland, the
latter banning motorsport throughout the entire country. This
accident brought wide sweeping safety regulations to all
motorsports series, for both driver and spectator protection.
In 1986 Jo Gartner drove a Porsche 962C and crashed into the
barriers on the Mulsanne Straight, killing him instantly. His
accident was the most recent fatality in the race itself,
however there was a fatality in 1997 during the practices.
In one of the most recognisable recent accidents, calamity
would once again strike Mercedes-Benz, although without
fatality. The Mercedes-Benz CLRs which competed in 1999 would
suffer from aerodynamic instabilities that caused the cars to
become airborne in the right conditions. After initially
happening at the Le Mans test day, Mercedes claimed they had
solved the problem, only to have it occur again at Warm Up
hours before the race. Mark Webber was the unlucky driver to
flip the car on both occasions. The final and most damaging
accident occurred during the race itself when Peter Dumbreck’s
CLR became airborne and then proceeded to fly over the safety
fencing, landing in the woods several metres away. No drivers
were badly hurt in any of the three accidents but Mercedes-Benz
quickly withdrew their remaining entry and ended their entire
sportscar program.
The 1969 event, known for its close finish, was documented in
a short film entitled La Ronde Infernale. This was given a
limited cinema release but is now available on DVD. The race
became a major motion picture in 1971 when Steve McQueen
released his simply titled Le Mans, starring McQueen as a
driver in the 1970 event for the Gulf Porsche team. This is
the best known film to centre on sports car racing. It was
filmed during the race using modified racing cars carrying
cameras as well as purchased Porsche 917s, Ferrari 512s and
Lola T70s for action shots made after the race. The Porsche
908 which served as a camera car in the race actually finished,
yet was so far behind the winners due to lengthy reel changed
during pit stops that it was not classified in the results. |
