Vern Schuppan had plenty of excitement towards the end of his victorious run at Le Mans in 1983. With two hours to go he sped down the Mulsanne in Porsche 956 #003) – shared with Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood – when the left-hand door flew off.
He kept circulating while a replacement door was readied, but the engine began to overheat as air was no longer being forced into the radiator on that side by the duct built into the door.
After four laps a non-opening door was fitted. After rejoining, the car was ordered to return to the pits to have an operational door fitted on safety grounds. This meant the second-placed Bell/Ickx (005) above was able to make up its three-lap deficit with the cars on the same lap as the final circuit began.
Holbert’s overheated engine was now smoking, and Bell was closing rapidly – having been twelve seconds quicker in practice – but despite gaining on the lead car, the order remained the same at the finish.
As usual, I found these photos by accident, researching something else, and up popped the ‘Porsche Pictures Past’ website porschepicturespast.com, which is fantastic, do have a look.
That’s the 934 shared by John Goss (#9306700153) with car owner, Belgian ‘Jean Beurlys’ (Jean Blaton) and Nick Faure in 1976.
They started 27th and were still running at the finish but were too far behind the winner (181 laps completed) to be classified.
The story goes that the car was delivered to Blaton just before the race in Belgian racing yellow, but a last-minute sponsorship deal with Citizen Australia and Harley Davidson resulted in the car being hurriedly repainted into the colour scheme seen here, apparently with aerosol cans!
#69 was a Swiss entry for Claude Haldi/Christian Vetsch, DNF engine on lap 219 of 350, while car #17 was the Joest 908/3 (#008) driven by Ernst Kraus/Gunter Steckkonig; the 1970 Targa Florio-winning chassis was seventh on its Le Mans debut from grid 23.
Tim Schenken shared this Georg Loos-GELO Racing 934 (#9306700175) with Toine Hezemans (driving) in 1976; they looked set for a GT category win until a transmission problem intervened.
After this setback, they were 16th outright and second in class after starting 15th. Tim competed at Le Mans five times, this was his sole finish.
Tim first raced for Gelo in 1974 and did full seasons in Georg Loos Porsches in 1975-76 with his best results as follows: 1975 – first in the Euro GT round in a 911 Carrera, and in the ETCC round at Zandvoort and 200 Km Jarama, while his wins in a fearsome Porsche 917/10 in the Zandvoort, Nurburgring Supersprint and Hockenheim Interserie round puts him am an elite group of drivers who won a race in these challengine cars.
And in 1976 aboard 934s, first in the DRM Hockemheim Preis der Nationen and the DRM Nurburgring Supersprint, while he shared the victory in the Monza 6-Hours with Toine Hezemans and Klaus Ludwig.
The marshal pauses as the Charles Ivey Porsche 956 (#110) races past during 1984.
Crewed by Chris Craft/Alain de Cadanet and Allan Grice, the ex-John Fitzpatrick Racing machine had a DNF engine only two hours from the end when in 13th place.
Gricey returned to Le Mans in a works-Nissan R88C, finishing 14th, sharing with Win Percy and Mike Wilds.
Larry Perkins had a crack at Le Mans in a Charles Ivey-entered car too. His 911 Carrera RSR (#9114609064) was having its second of two attempts at Le Mans in 1978.
After retirement the year before, it finished 14th from grid 47 in the hands of Perkins/John Rulon-Miller/Gordon Spice and was second in its class. Above, the winning Alpine-Renault A442B of Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud prepares to pass the Porsche again, eventually finishing 91 laps ahead.
There was no shortage of Australian drivers in the 1984 race including the Peter Brock/Larry Perkins Team Australia (John Fitzpatrick Racing) 956 #102.
The car was running 28th from Q18 when Larry ran off the road in a ‘he zigged when I zagged’ high speed passing move, ended its race after 145 laps.
And yes, I know some other Australians also raced Porsches at Le Mans.
Credits…
Ted Walker Archive, fotoracing.co.uk
Finito…
primotipo... 