Motorsport Musings Ramblings of a racing enthusiast…

The End of the Beginning for Le Mans

I was reminded, whilst watching this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours review on DVD, that it has been 40 years now since the more traditional style start to the blue riband event was abolished.

Up until 1969, drivers would line up opposite their cars on the starting grid, and as the flag was dropped to signify the start of the race, they would run across the track to their vehicles, climb in and get it started as quickly as possible to pull away from the grid.

In their haste to make a speedy getaway, many of the drivers would often neglect to belt themselves in correctly until they were often along the Hunaudieres straight pulling speeds of around 160mph, resulting in frequent crashes and, as 1969 would show, tragedy.

John Woolfe, an amateur British driver who had qualified 21st in his private Porsche 917, crashed into a barrier at Maison Blanche and, due to the fact he had not taken the effort to strap himself in securely, was flung from his vehicle and subsequently died.

This would then set off a chain of events as the fuel tank from Woolfe’s car became dislodged and eventually collided with Chris Amon’s Ferrari 312P, causing it to explode underneath his car, resulting in his retirement and forcing the race to stop for two hours before eventually restarting.

In contrast, a 24-year-old Jack Ickx had demonstrated his displeasure against the starting procedure by slowly walking over to his Ford GT40, deliberately making the effort to strap himself in properly and securely, and as a result, emerged voluntarily at the back of the field.

Yet in a dramatic race, which some consider as being the best in the history of the endurance event, Ickx eventually won after beating rival Hans Hermann by just 100m after 24 hours of fierce driving and winning Le Mans for the first time in his brilliant career.

The following year the traditional Le Mans-style start was then replaced by a variant in which the drivers already sat in their cars, strapped in safely by their mechanics and then entered the track simultaneously, before the advent of the rolling start we now know was adopted in 1971.

But a legacy to this bygone era still remains, as to this very day, Porsche continues to place the ignition to the left of the steering column on its cars. This placement was chosen to enable the driver to start the car with his left hand and put it into gear with his right. Old habits die hard.