16th June 2007: The Race That Rewrote The Rules Part 6

16th June 2007: The Race That Rewrote The Rules Part 6

16th June is a date that has delivered some of motorsport's most extraordinary stories.  In 1984, Porsche made the remarkable decision to boycott their own sport's most prestigious race — and the privateers they left behind produced one of the great Le Mans comebacks.  In 2007, a technological watershed: the first time two diesel prototypes went head to head at La Sarthe, in a battle between Audi and Peugeot that would define a decade of endurance racing.  And in 2018, a Japanese manufacturer entered Le Mans for the twentieth time — carrying the weight of two consecutive heartbreaks — and faced the race that had always found a way to deny them. Cover Image: By Fabrice Pluchet, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link [ https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3286548] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2506134/fan_mail/new] Music by #Mubert Music Rendering [https://mubert.com/render]

15th June 1935: The Race That Rewrote The Rules Part 5

Five races. Ninety years. One date. The fifteenth of June has a habit of producing the unexpected at Le Mans. In 1929, Bentley arrived to collect what they’d already won twice before — and they did, but not without being made to work for it. In 1935, Alfa Romeo’s pursuit of a fifth consecutive win ended when their lead driver was given the wrong information by his own pit crew, and a Lagonda running on its last drops of oil took the prize. In 1985, a customer car humiliated the factory, driven in part by a man racing under a false name. In 1996, a car built from a mothballed Jaguar chassis beat the full Porsche works effort, and handed the win to the youngest driver ever to win Le Mans. And in 2019, a wiring error made before the race started determined who finished first. Chequered Past is a podcast about motorsport history. Find us at linktr.ee/chequeredpastpod. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2506134/fan_mail/new] Music by #Mubert Music Rendering [https://mubert.com/render]

14th June 1952: The Race That Rewrote The Rules Part 4

Four races. Four dates. All June the fourteenth. In 1924, a privately entered Bentley fought three works Lorraine-Dietrichs through brutal heat to give the British marque its first Le Mans victory. In 1952, a Frenchman named Pierre Levegh drove alone for nearly twenty-three hours — and came within one hour of winning the race by himself. In 1969, Jacky Ickx walked to his car in protest, started last, and won the closest finish in the race's history. And in 1980, Jean Rondeau won Le Mans in a car bearing his own name Cover image: By ZANTAFIO56 - 24 heures du MANS 1969, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99877359] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2506134/fan_mail/new] Music by #Mubert Music Rendering [https://mubert.com/render]

13th June 1953: The Race That Rewrote The Rules Part 3

Three races share the 13th of June. Three times, the result confounded expectations. In 1953, Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton spent the night in a French bar after being disqualified before the race had started. By Sunday afternoon they had won — at the first average speed of over 100 miles per hour in Le Mans history — in a Jaguar C-Type running disc brakes for the first time in competition. In 1970, the dominant JW Automotive Gulf Porsches of Jo Siffert and Pedro Rodriguez were eliminated by driver error and mechanical failure through a rain-soaked night. What was left was a race of survival. Of 51 starters, only seven cars were classified. The winner was a car that had qualified fifteenth, driven by a man who had promised his wife he would retire the moment he won Le Mans. In 1987, a change in fuel specification destroyed most of Porsche's own fleet within the first hour. Jaguar, who had won the four preceding championship rounds, appeared set to end Porsche's six-year winning streak — until a tyre failure at 230 miles per hour changed the course of the race. One Porsche survived. It was enough. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2506134/fan_mail/new] Music by #Mubert Music Rendering [https://mubert.com/render]

12th June 1999: The Race That Rewrote The Rules Part 2

On the twelfth of June, across seventy-three years of motorsport history, Le Mans produced four races that refused to deliver the winner anyone expected.  In 1926, Bentley ended up in a sandbank in the final half-hour while their competitor locked out the podium.  In 1954, Ferrari held on by less than five kilometres after an engine that wouldn't fire at a pit stop nearly handed the race to Jaguar.  In 1971, a car nobody expected to win set a distance record that stood for thirty-nine years — then its driver lost his career to a stone the following season.  And in 1999, the most competitive grid Le Mans had ever seen produced one of its most dramatic finishes.  Cover image: By Martin Lee - BMW V12 LMR - Pierluigi Martini, Yannick Dalmas & Joachim Winkelhock head towards Dunlop Bridge at the 1999 Le Mans, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115358827] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2506134/fan_mail/new] Music by #Mubert Music Rendering [https://mubert.com/render]