1951 Le Mans

1951 — The forced technological leap that always follows war showed the first signs of maturity at Le Mans in 1951. The Chrysler Corporation ultimately led a new generation of American V8 engines with its stunning 5.4-liter "Hemi" V8. Briggs Cunningham’s trio of Hemi-powered C2Rs lacked only the most important single technological advancement in the history of Le Mans. It was up to Jaguar to show the true path.

While BRM fumbled and struggled to build the best and most complex pre-war grand prix car since the Mercedes-Benz W154. Jaguar, totally disinterested in what the Nazi’s raced a decade earlier, decided to concentrate on cars they actually built and sold. For the ’51 24 Hours, they created the most potent, balanced and civilized sports racing car yet seen - the Jaguar C-Type. Correctly the XK-120C, there were three backed up by a more or less standard factory tickled XK-120.

Aston-Martin entered three 2.6-liter works cars, all DB2 coupes, to be run by John Wyer.

The dominant marque by weight of numbers was Ferrari. Nine were parked in front of Le Mans’ pits, including four adult-strength 340 America coupes with the new Lampredi-designed 4.1-liter V12 engine. These were assumed to be the most powerful cars in the race, and they certainly sounded like it.

Germany was permitted to show its face again; this time a new marque from the Austrian border country, a private French-entered 1100cc Porsche Type 356. Lancia also made its long delayed Le Mans debut with a pretty little 2.0-liter Aurelia coupe for "the Giovannis", Lurani and Bracco.

Cunningham got the first headlines of the week with an official lap of 99.6mph in Wednesday’s night practice. But Peter Walker got the buzz with an unofficial, and likely quite accurate, night lap at 105.5mph in the No. 20 C-Type Jaguar. The speed of the Jaguars summoned a huge contingent of fans from England, who desperately wanted a green car in front on Sunday afternoon.

The first man past the tribunes on Saturday afternoon was Argentine strong man Froilan Gonzalez in the No. 7 Talbot he shared with countryman, and Juan Fangio apprentice, Onofre Marimon. Then Stirling Moss’ C-type (pictured above), Tommy Coles' Allard, Biondetti’s works C-Type, the No. 8 Talbot, Walker’s C-Type and then John Fitch on the bellowing Cunningham. Louis Chiron had done the best "first lap grand " job for Ferrari with the No. 16 340 America across a middling 11th.

As the leader crossed the line to begin the fourth lap, a huge cheer rose from the well-represented British contingent. Seems that the practice times from Wednesday evening were more accurate than anyone guessed. Moss had taken his C-Type to the front and clicked off a string of five-minute laps, taking the virage under the Dunlop Bridge flat out. A lap later, bad news filtered in from Tertre Rouge: Lariviere’s 2.5-liter Ferrari 212 missed the corner killing its young driver.

Moss reacted by taking four seconds off the lap record and further humiliating the Ferraris. By 6:00 o’clock, the leading C-Type had a one-lap cushion and, to the horror of his hosts, led the Index of Performance, almost by accident. In keeping with Le Mans’ new and involuntary green theme, John Wyer had the No. 25 Aston-Martin leading the 3.0-liter class. Further humiliation existed in the 1100cc class where the tidy Porsche coupe with its fully faired fenders led easily.

By 8:00 p.m., the Moss/Jack Fairman Jaguar was two laps ahead of its teammates Peter & Peter. Jaguar team manager Lofty England’s plan suddenly seemed chillingly obvious – speed and to back it up, more speed.

But when Biondetti’s No. 23 C-Type stopped with a broken oil pipe flange, England worried that the problem was endemic and fretted privately over the leading No. 22. He would not have to wait long to learn he was right for the wrong reasons.

Adding injury to the insult done to the much-vaunted Ferrari fleet by Jaguar, A.C.O. officials sent Chiron’s 340 America – one of the Ferrari’s with (a) a genuine shot at the overall win, and (b) a big-name French driver, behind the wall for a missing pombeur’s seal! Whistling, boos and assorted Francophonic cat calls were the result, when the No. 16 Ferrari went to the dead car park in perfect health.

The rain that had threatened all week came before midnight with enough force to obscure even the most obvious. Several of the big French roadsters mistakenly called in the MG pits during the deluge. Moss seemed oblivious to the meteorology but was undone by a sudden and profound loss of oil pressure as he skated through Indianapolis toward Arnage. Before he could switch off the 3.4-liter’s ignition, a rod pierced the block and one of the greatest drives in the history of Le Mans ended with just one bang and little whimpering. In the Jaguar pits, Lofty England reacted by showing the "STEADY’ sign to the new leader, the No. 20 C-Type of Peters Walker and Whitehead.

The rain persisted and the Fangio/Rosier Talbot headed for the dead car park. Two Cunninghams crashed in the slop, leaving Fitch and Phil Walters to carry the colors alone.

By morning, the surviving American roadster had raced into second position behind the Walker/Whitehead C-Type. British cars, obviously enjoying the revolting conditions, ran first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. Luigi Chinetti was doing the best job for Ferrari, a distant and detached ninth. At least the bad weather began to retreat.

Even without the rain, the surviving Cunningham has a fitful morning in contrast to the annoyingly regular run of the "Peters’" in the leading C-type. By noon the Mairesse/Meyrat Talbot passed the inert Cunningham while the American crew worked under the hood of the No. 4 car. Then it began to rain again.

At 3:00 p.m., with one hour to race, the public address proclaimed that the Walker/Whitehead Jaguar has just broken the Le Mans’ distance record. Great cheers erupted from all nationalities.

The final hour had no effect on the leading Jaguar. Ultimately Whitehead and Walker covered nearly 100 more miles than Rosiers’ 1950 record run in the quasi-GP 4.5 Talbot. Fitch and Walters were classified 18th in the surviving Cunningham, and Briggs’ year-old words about a lead pipe cinch haunted the whole endeavor.

Porsche’s first trip to the Sarthe was as profitable as Lancia’s. Both marques scored class wins: Lancia taking the 2.0-liter class and Porsche the 1100cc victory.

British cars were first and third overall with the third place Aston-Martin DB2 of Lance Macklin and Eric Thompson a clear winner in the 3.0-liter class, just one lap behind the second-place Talbot of Guy Mairesse and Pierre Meyrat who, as they were in '50, second again. Just one lap behind Macklin was another 4.5 Talbot, this one bearing Rene Marchand and Pierre Bouillon, racing under the nom de course "Pierre Levegh".