1972 Le Mans

1972 — When new rules banished Ford’s unlimited MkIV 427cid prototypes from Le Mans in 1968, the American corporation financed virage Ford – a chicane added just before the pits and tribunes to mute the speeds through the crowded corridor where a high-speed accident had killed nearly 90 people in '55.

Their replacements, the 5.0-liter Group 5 Porsches and Ferraris, were exiled by more rules in '72. Porsche then lent its name to another new section of course: the Porsche Curves, which reduced the velocity from the run between Arnage and Virage Ford. It bumped the distance of one lap from 13.469km to 13.64km and added nearly 15sec each time around. It was an effective way to slow the return to the pits and place emphasis on automotive virtues found outside the engine compartment. And it served to dilute the reality that the new 3.0-liter prototypes were dramatically slower than the 230mph 917s and 512s. The new pavement complete with off camber radii became known as the "technical section" and indeed required somewhat more attention.

But all one had to do was stand near the hump at Mulsanne to see and feel the difference: nearly 80kph at the top of the field. Which now included Matra’s new 670, Alfa’s unevolved and practically untested T33. Lola – seed marque for the Ford GT40, MkII and MkIV, plus the workhorse of Steve McQueen’s "Le Mans" movie – was back with sponsorship money from Swiss cheese producers and detuned Cosworth DFV engines.

Alain de Cadenet had created a one-off Le Mans Special from hard work and some Brabham F1 suspension bits. The whole thing was built in a London lock up with help from none other than soon-to-be-famous F1 superstar designer Gordon Murray. The Duckhams/Ford was strong and stiff and the lightest of the 3.0-liter cars at 1496 pounds for its 400hp 12-Series DFV to move.

Absent were Ferrari’s all-conquering 312PBs. Ferrari had segregated his F1 and Sports Car teams, giving Swiss Peter Schetty charge of the latter. Compared to Ferrari’s lurching F1 program (Ickx won only Germany for the benighted F1 program), Schetty’s conquest of the World Championship For Makes was a red romp. Their Le Mans boycott was without precedent.

Modena had swept the eight world championship races preceding Le Mans and warned the CSI that the longest race in the World Makes Championship should be 1000km. Even Daytona had trimmed its 24 Hours back to six hours to accommodate the opinions of Ferrari. No matter. Le Mans is a 24-hour race, and Matra saw the way, entering four cars, each with at least one Frenchman and/or a tenured F1 pilot in it.

Porsche’s aging and reliable 908s were economical and fast enough to join the newer and more powerful 3.0-liter French and Italian works cars. They stood ready to profit when the things that go bump in the night inevitably stirred.

The A.C.O. was pleased to shift emphasis from the prototypes to the Grand Tourers and sporty sedans. GTS Corvettes, Ferraris, Panteras and Porsches raced for the same prize regardless of displacement. The Group 2 touring class allowed the new Ford Capri a major role with 3.0-liter V6 engines and too much speed for the comfort of their showroom competitors.

Following an afternoon full of pomp and rather more than usual circumstance, French President and serious racing fan Georges Pompidou sent the field on its way at 4:00 o’clock with suitable patriotic vigor.

Marta-Matra-Matra at the end of the all-important first lap and the Prez and his constituents urged them on. Jean-Pierre Beltoise was especially moved by all this: he passed Francois Cevert and Henri Pescarolo and led the next lap to more cheering. But the moment he began the third lap his V12 coughed. He never made it to the bridge and parked on the side of the road. At least the walk to the Matra pits was downhill. Chris Amon never got in the car and had to remind no one that he had asked for a new engine after practice.

The momentary distraction appealed to Jo Bonnier, third in the Lola T280 DFV. He quickly passed both Matra drivers, who must have been preoccupied with visions of terminal engines and ugly post race debriefs. The Yellow Lola T280 stayed in front until it began to rain about a half-hour into the race. Brave Hughes de Fierlandt bounced the entire Matra equipe and Bonnier for the lead, making the Swiss cheese-sponsored Lola’s one-two. The Alfas made up the next lot and the works cars were trailed by the amazing Duckham’s/Ford.

Pit stops restored some sense or equilibrium. Bonnier’s Lola required a new nose: a deflated tire had lathed through the panels. The Matras were the thirstiest of the marquee players. Chevrolet was leading GT only to have the Cudini-Darniche BF Goodrich Corvette from John Greenwood’s outfit make a longish stop for new brakes entirely too early. Greenwood himself and Car and Driver columnist Dick Smothers were already parked for the weekend (engine). This promoted the Ferrari Daytona of Francois Migault. But not for long. The Ford Capris were thoroughly in charge of Group 2. No surprise after Hans Stuck’s alarmingly fast laps during night practice. Stuck crushed the BMWs, outqualified all the Porsche 911s and about half the Ferrari Daytonas. There was some rude serves-‘em-right talk and how that’ll teach ‘em to snub Le Mans, and so on. Only in French and German.

Migault’s Daytona pitted forever after 22 laps and was relieved as GT leader by its Pozzi stable mate of Jean-Claude Andruet and Claude Ballot-Lena. NART was back but with GTB4s in place of its usual prototype entries. The American Ferraris were second in GT (Group 4) with 512 stars Sam Posey and Tony Adamowicz backing up the class leading Pozzi GTB4.

The Matras seemed to have gotten their hysterics out of the way with the embarrassing retirement of the Beltoise-Amon machine, and the blue cars led one-two as dusk arrived. But there was some light comedy mixed with drama for the aged Matra 660 of Jean-Pierre Jabouille and David Hobbs. The reserve switch for the fuel tanks was somehow turned on during a pit stop and the year-old car rolled to a silent stop until the problem was diagnosed. Again Hobbs was blocked from a shot at sports car racing’s grand prize through carelessness and Amon-quality bad luck.

Bonnier was flying and established a lap record for the new course early in the evening pursuing the fleeing Matras. His Belgian teammate never made it to quarter-distance.

Hughes de Fierlandt went straight on at Mulsanne after a shower coaxed the nasty, greasy, slippery stuff out of the road. He had already lost first gear; and, after stalling, the T280 made for the signal pits to call home with the bad news.

By 10:00 o’clock the order was, as expected, Matras from a trio of Alfas and Reinhold Joest in his 908 Lang. De Cadenet and pal Chris Craft were an amazing 10th overall in their home-built Le Mans special.

The leading Matras swapped position around midnight, and Graham Hill added his name to the short list of World Champions who have led the 24 Hours. And so on into the night in marque order, with all four Alfas in the wake of the Matras. By now, the Daytonas had a stranglehold on the GT class, and the first two borrowed GTB4s were on the same lap. Craft and de Cadenet had the remarkable Duckhams/Ford up to seventh.

Dawn brought a few surprises, as Alfa was in the throes of transmission troubles. No problems for Joest: the 908L was fifth and looking stronger than ever. Bonnier had his Lola T280 up to eighth and was running hard in the early morning mist. By 8:00 o’clock, the sky was flat gray and plump with humidity. Howden Ganley and Cevert were now in front having again swapped the lead with Hill and Pescarolo.

Just before 8:30, Bonnier’s Lola came upon the No. 35 Fillipinetti GTB4 Ferrari on the big run to Indianapolis. Bonnier was in a hurry. He decided not to wait for the little squirt between Indianapolis and Arnage to lap the Ferrari. Florian Vetsch must have seen him coming. The witnesses were certain of that. They were not entirely sure what Bonnier hit first, the spinning Ferrari or the barrier, but the Lola got over the barrier and into the trees.

After 104 career F1 world championship starts, one pole and one of the most significant and historic F1 victories ever, Jo Bonnier, President of the Grand Prix Drivers Assn. and the man who had given Phil Hill his first F1 start was dead at 42. It took the soul out of the race.

The fog burned off, and everyone got to see the sun before the rain came around 10:30. The really hard stuff fell at Mulsanne and the big electric scoreboard showed the No. 68 in fifth, demoting the surviving Alfa to sixth. Craft and de Cadenet were on their way to Full Le Mans Hero Status in a car built in a London lock-up and tested less than 100mi before arriving on the Sarthe.

Ganley and Cevert led in the No. 14 Matra but were obliged to make an unscheduled pit stop with water in the wires – and most of the stuff attached to the wires. The rain came and went and bedeviled the Matras especially. But Hobbs and Jabouille were still a fighting third and standing watch in the year-old 660.

When the rain picked up again, Ganley gave the leading Matra 670 a breath and promptly got hit in the tail by the No. 29 Corvette. The Corvette retired at once, but Ganley limped the seriously wounded Matra home again. There was still time. It took the Matra crew just nine minutes and change to fix the mess that turned out to be largely cosmetic. A few more pit stops to fiddle with the electrics in the No. 14 car were all Hill and Pescarolo needed to go ahead.

This should have given the Duckham’s team an opening, but they had suffered an agonizingly slow stop for brake service and got run down and passed by the lone Alfa.

The rain returned around 2:00 o’clock. De Adamich in the surviving Alfa spun and hit the last healthy Porsche 911 a fair wallop under the Dunlop Bridge. Cevert took a spin in what everyone said was the deepest and biggest puddle. All this should have worked for the Duckham’s lads, but even Chris Craft got a river ride at Tertre Rouge and came in with the nose gone and a bent wishbone. It put the Alfa and the Duckhams, both contestants for fourth position, in the pits together.

That’s when the Hobbs/Jabouille Matra stopped on the course with transmission problems. The Alfa went back to the race a secure fourth. Team London Lock-Up sat. The crew did what could be done and everyone had to endure the agonizing sight of the big No. 68 on the electric scoreboard move away from the leaders and out of the top 10.

With 4:00 o’clock near, de Cadenet drove the Duckhams/Ford around one more lap. He timed it just right limping home 11th. It was heroic Bentley Boys-stuff compared to the space-shot Matra effort that produced a fine and well-deserved one-two overall.

It was the first victory on the Sarthe by a French car since '50. Graham Hill (pictured above) joined Mike Hawthorn and Phil Hill on the short list of Le Mans-winning World Champions. But what is most remembered about the 24 Hours of Le Mans in '72 is that Matra won the race that took the life of Jo Bonnier.