Le Mans, June 14th 1969.

The start of the 37th endurance race of the 24 hours of Le Mans will exceptionally be given at 14:00 because of presidential elections. The drivers are in front of their cars, they hate this start procedure, dating from another time. Indeed the reason why this Le Mans type start was decided in 1925 doesn’t convince today. The cars of the 20’s were equipped with a hood, which had to be put at the start for at least 20 laps. This rule wanted to make sure of the good quality of the car, as many competitors considered the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a real testing lab. This Le Mans start aimed at keeping drivers far from their cars and preventing any cheating in the cars which would give them a few precious seconds ahead.

In a few minutes 45 drivers will run across the track and settle in their racing cars. The one who will not fasten his harness will take a great advantage while taking risks with his life. That’s how Willy Mairesse’s career brutally stopped the year before. After having crossed the track Mairesse had edged into his car and started his Ford GT40 without taking time to fasten his safety harness, nor checking that his door was properly locked. In the first lap, at the end of the Hunaudières, he was close behind the four leading Porsche 908 when a breeze of air rushed into the car through the badly locked door. The door was torn apart, the GT40 lost its balance and swerved in a spectacular way. Suffering from a cranial traumatism, the talented Belgian driver will never recover from this accident and will finally put an end to his life in September 1969.

It’s useless to run…

A 24-year-old-man will protest against this Le Mans start in a most spectacular way. When Bernard Consten, the F.F.S.A. President, gives the start, all the drivers rush to their cars. All except one. To show his opposition to this style of start which obliges drivers to go without fastening their harness, Jacky Ickx walks across the track, pretending to look for his keys, opens the door, sits calmly inside the car and fastens his safety belt before starting his Ford GT40. At that time the leaders are near Tertre Rouge and Jacky Ickx starts in the last position. However…

After only a few minutes after the start, the events will unfortunately prove the young protestor was right. John Woolfe, a wealthy British textile manufacturer and gentleman driver was the first Porsche 917 privateer racer. Equipped with a Flat 12 of 5L developing 550 hp the new Porsche prototype required a good experience to be mastered. Real wild animal, unsteady at high speed. Official drivers do not rush to have one. During the official practice, Digby Martland, Woolfe’s team mate, considered the car was too fast for him and decided not to drive it during the race. Porsche then offered to replace him with Herbert Linge and insisted on him starting the race. But John Woolfe wanted to do it himself and in the first lap, on getting at Maison Blanche, he lost the control of his 917. Passing Maison Blanche at full speed requires a professional driver’s quality and the British driver didn’t manage to hold his car, which, with two wheels on the grass, started to spin round and finally disintegrated against the fascines. Woolfe was ejected and died instantly.

In 1969 Jacky Ickx is just starting his fantastic career. He has only had one Formula One victory in the 1968 French Grand Prix but the Ford GT40 has enabled him to win several international endurance races, among which the 1000 km of Spa, the 6 Hours of Watkins-Glen and the 12 Hours of Sebring. And he already has a precise vision of the art of winning an endurance race. In this type of competition the serious candidate assesses the rhythm his car can have for 24 hours and fixes an adapted scheme. The driver’s job is to keep to it. If the team manager is too optimistic the mechanic may not resist; if he is pessimistic the car may quickly be behind for ever. To win the 24 Hours of Le Mans is to make the right choice. The Belgian champion has never considered this 1969 race was his best one. For Jacky an endurance race is not a real race; the circuit of Le Mans is not a driver’s circuit and a battle between a Grand Prix driver and a veteran like Hans Herrmann cannot be equal. The humility in his words doesn’t hide the print he left on this edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His rebellious attitude at the start will sure have effects.

“The Porsche will disappear between the twentieth and twenty-first hour !”

At mid-race the Gulf-Wyer GT40 that he shares with Jackie Oliver is beaten. The Porsche 917 of Elford-Attwood is 8 laps ahead and the other two Porsche 908 LH are second and third. During the practice, at an amazing average speed of 239 km/h, Stommelen and his Porsche 917 were nearly 15 seconds faster than Ickx. The ageing GT40 was far from the performing level of the Porsche armada. Nevertheless not only does Jacky refuse to admit defeat, but he also cheers up his team predicting his own vision of the race: the Porsche will disappear between the twentieth and twenty-first hour! John Wyer will for long praised his state of mind and his gift to strengthen the spirit of the team. Believe it or not, what Jacky had said really happened: just after the twentieth hour the leading 917 has clutch problems and has to stop the race, followed a few minutes later by the 908 of Kaushen. The other 908 having been put out of the race during the night, Ickx and Oliver take the lead of the race 3 hours before the end. But just behind them the 908 of Larrousse-Herrmann is only 1 lap behind. After a moment of deception Porsche has decided to launch a last offensive and the 908 gains one third of lap per hour.

It is then the beginning of a tremendous game of chess between the various protagonists. The GT40 has 3 hours left to defend his lap ahead but the game is difficult. The 908 has another two refuelling to do, at about 11:10 and 12:40, while the GT40 has another three to do: 10:40, 12:15, and a last one in the last twenty minutes. But Jacky refuses to surrender and convinces David Yorke, his team manager, to let him drive to the end of the race. Yorke agrees and decides to copy the strategy of his opponent to keep them under constant pressure. He anticipates the pitstop of the GT40 and changes the brake pads at the same time, giving in this way a perfect tool to his driver. Unfortunately the penultimate stop will show a leakage in the exhaust which has to be carefully sealed. When the GT40 leaves the stand it is only 20 seconds ahead its rival.

Although it is slower than at the beginning the 908 keeps on being faster than the GT40. Jacky Ickx has to compensate the 250 meters that separate him from the Porsche at the end of the Hunaudières with his driving and the aspiration. When he manages to come first at Mulsanne, he keeps the Porsche behind in the winding part of the circuit before his rival overtakes him again in the middle of the straight line. The suspense is unbearable.

During the last hour Ickx and Herrmann change their position at least eight times and will never be separated by more than 2″5. The average speed is amazing. From 206,75 km/h in the twenty-first hour it will go up to 208,25 km/h at the end of the race, which means that for the last three hours the average speed has nearly been 219km/h. The victory cannot be forced, the battle cannot be engaged. Only a clever and sly strategy will bring a victory to Ford.

A tremendous game of chess starts between Veteran Hans Herrmann and Young Jacky Ickx.

As long as Larrousse is driving the Porsche Jacky’s only objective is to remain in contact. However since Hermann has relieved his teammate at about 12:40 it has been very important to watch his enemy and study his trajectory all along the 13,469 km of the track. If he manages to take the lead when braking at the curve of the Hunaudières, Jacky knows that he can contain his rival to the end. His new brake pads should enable him to take this advantage. But what if Herrmann can keep the lead at the decisive time ? In this case Jacky will absolutely have to take the Maison Blanche curve faster than Herrmann and overtake him when braking for the Ford Chicane. But in order to pass Maison Blanche at the required speed the sprint must start at Arnage. The speed when leaving Arnage will determine the success of the operation 2 km ahead ! At this time Jacky knows that, except if a technical problem happens, he will be the winner. But to stay in the aspiration of the Porsche all along the last laps is not easy at all. Funny detail, maybe because of the emotion due to the intensity of the fight, the signalling team of Mulsanne has completely forgotten to signal their driver. Then Jacky will know when to attack by reading the signals Porsche put to Herrmann!

For Jacky Ickx driving at this rhythm for more than an hour, door to door, is only possible with a friend. There is no animosity in this historical final. Jacky can trust Hans Herrmann; he knows that his rival will not put him in danger. Jacky has just covered 53 laps on the run, at an average speed close to his best qualifying time, at the end of a 24-hours race, on a track now slippery without ever passing the allowed 6000 revolutions. Three hours and twenty minutes in these extreme conditions. The spectators are standing, they shout, raise their hands, the eyes fixed on the end of the chicane Ford. Jacky Ickx imposes his GT40 120 meters ahead of Hans Herrmann’s Porsche 908 LH. The great Belgian champion has just written the first letters of his own legend at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

If Hans Herrmann and Porsche are the big losers of the race they will take a shattering revenge the following year. Herrmann, together with British driver Richard “Dick” Attwood, will offer the Stuttgart make its first victory at Le Mans. Under heavy rain they will impose their 917K in front of Larrousse – Kaushen 917 LH and Lins – Marko 908. After this victory the German driver will put an end to his long career. The day before the drivers had crossed the track, settled in their cars and fastened their harnesses. This “Le Mans” start, immortalised by Steve McQueen in the film Le Mans will be abandoned the year after and replaced by a rolling start. A page of folklore in Le Mans has just been turned.