1986 Le Mans

1986 — The world economy was getting stout again, and the entry list of the 54th 24 Hours proved it. Nissan, Toyota and Mazda, flush with profits from the conquest of the American market, fielded entries. Sauber (spelled M-E-R-C-E-D-E-S B-E-N-Z) was back with a new car, after its airborne embarrassment of 1985. The Porsche works entries were back, of course, but Lancia went home with its corporate tail between its legs.

Jaguar was heavily armed with British rather than American-made cars. Tom Walkinshaw (pictured) entered three Silk Cut-sponsored 6.0-liter V12XJR-6s, matching the Porsche factory entries of three 962Cs and a 961 all-wheel-drive road racing variant of the 959 road/rally 911-based coupe. Reinhold Joest had two 956s, including double-winner chassis number "117" for ’85 winners Klaus Ludwig, Paolo Barilla and German businessman "John Winter".

The works Porsches were first and second on the grid from Joest’s "117" The best Walkinshaw XJR-6, Eddie Cheever, Jean-Louis Schlesser and Derek Warwick, was gridded fifth amidst strong privateer entries from Walter Brun and the Kremers. The Japanese cars failed to impress or even summon a second glance during qualifying.

The roads to the Sarthe were clogged with "GB" plates. They had come to see the Jaguars. A two-lap Walkinshaw victory at Silverstone had primed the British for Le Mans. It had been three decades since the brave howl of the iconic D-Types had serenaded Le Mans, and a whole new generation of fans wanted to wave the Union Jack. The introduction of the Silk Cut team was greeted with screams and cheers that even drowned out the reception for the pneumatic and broadly popular Hawaiian Tropic femes. When Jaguar’s Brian Redman open his driving suit and flashed the tribunes with the colors on his patriotic T-shirt, the cheers grew even louder. Such is the reserved behavior of Britons abroad. But they know that Le Mans is a British race conveniently held in France and behaved accordingly.

The start was totally unbecoming of a grand endurance event, where the paramount concern is fuel consumption. But the power of the media makes Le Mans’ opening laps more important than many grands prix. Klaus Ludwig came off the second row in Reinhold Joest’s "117" 956 like he was launched and made it three-wide to the bridge. Great stuff when 350,000 semi-sober fans are watching, waving flags and cheering for En-Ga-lund! En-Ga-Lund! and waving Union Jacks and Jaguar green flags. Then Thierry Boutsen went outside in his Walter Brun 962C just to see if it was possible to go four abreast through the Dunlop curve. Not quite.

It took almost a minute to get all 50 cars across the line. By then Warwick had put the No. 51 XJR-6 in front of all the works Porsches and took up station behind Ludwig in the venerable Taka-Q "117" 956. Ludwig was first into the reconfigured Mulsanne corner – a new "roundabout" with the sand traps gone – and the new pavement was faster, too. But Hans Stuck emerged from the scrum in the No. 1 Rothmans Porsche 962C and departed the mob with Ludwig in tow. It was a glorious battle – Stuck and Ludwig side-by-side through the Dunlop corner. At the other end of the field Henri Pescarolo’s No. 62 Sauber was stationary on the Mulsanne straight with a breached oil cooler. Some debut.

The first round of pit stops revealed the plot. The works Rothmans cars were the last to pit. The debacle of '85 would be avenged through speed and economy. Still, Barilla had taken over for Ludwig and led the hourlies into the evening with the works Porsches stalking less than 30sec behind. By the middle of the second hour, they had lapped the No. 52 and No. 53 Jaguars. The Cheever, Warwick Schlesser XJR-6 was able to run in the wake of the leading Porsches and settled into a race pace five to six seconds off their qualifying time.

The leading Porsches simply drew away, but there was no clear advantage as dusk gathered. Both Brun Porsches retired within the same hour. The Sauber-Mercedes team lost the Pescarolo car to a broken gearbox. But there was no letup at the front. The three major players – Joest’s "117" and the works 962Cs – remained within a minute of each other – the first two just seconds apart – with the Warwick/Cheever/Schlesser XJR-6 leading the Gianfranco Brancatelli/Armin Hahne/Win Percy Jag.

Two kids, who were obviously up well past their bedtime, ran across the Mulsanne and scared everyone silly. There was a light touch of madness in the air, and it seemed to affect the most mature and tenured racers.

Sunday morning came and Saturday went and Derek Bell attacked Klaus Ludwig. This had been going on for hours like some sort of sprint race. At 2:00 a.m., the No. 1 Porsche went ahead just as Percy took the big ride in the No. 53 Jaguar. A driveshaft snapped and heaved the XJR-6 sideways. Percy caught it; but repairs were impossible and he walked home. The works car continued to fight with the Joest Taka-Q 956, which had managed to get on top of the hourlys at the symbolic halfway point. But there’s something of the old Mille Miglia "Who leads at Rome?" curse to it when this race is so close.

Word reached Porsche just after 3:00 a.m. that Jochen Mass had a big spin in the Porsche Curves courtesy of some oil deposited by a C2 Ecosse. Mike Wilds brought the wounded Ecosse down pit road bearing the scars where the Rothmans car had touched it, but Mass was out.

Almost instantly a fire blossomed on the Mulsanne straight, and the PA went eerily quiet as the pace cars were dispatched. A quick inventory found the No. 10 Kremer Porsche missing. Jo Gartner had taken over for Sarel van der Merwe and was seven laps – halfway – into his stint when the Porsche went hard left into the Armco and ricocheted across the road. Poor Gartner suffered a broken neck and was beyond help when the marshals reached him.

It took two-and-a-half hours to clear the wreckage and repair the guardrail; all conducted at a somber gait behind the pace cars. The Ludwig/Barilla Taka-Q Porsche pitted during the long caution period but failed to return. Joest said the engine was blown and the great battle for the lead evaporated. The marshals and course workers had finished by the time the sun back-lit the low clouds. As the race went back under the green flag it began to drizzle. The Kremer team withdrew its No. 12 Primagaz-sponsored 956 as a quiet mark of respect and left only empty pits behind.

The No. 1 Rothmans Porsche had an eight-lap lead on the Cheever/Warwick/Schlesser Jaguar, which began to issue a shocking volume of smoke around 7:30 a.m. Schlesser took over only to have the right rear tire literally explode just before the Mulsanne hump. Jean-Louis got the No. 51 back to the pits but it was no use. The blow was fatal and the Jaguar effort was over.

The Jaguar crew hung a sign in the vacant pits: "WE WILL BE BACK!"

The soul had left the race utterly after Gartner’s ghastly accident and the forlorn departure of the Jaguars. They had run as high as second and shown speed the American-made Jaguar XJR-5s had not. But '86 wasn’t the year. Their fans began making plans for '87 as the final XJR-6 was pushed away.

Derek Bell won his fourth Le Mans, joining masters Henri Pescarolo and Olivier Gendebien. Al Holbert scored his second Le Mans win and brilliant Hans Stuck, his first. There were nine Porsches in the top 10: the Porsche works team was vindicated, but no one felt much like celebrating beyond the traditional theater on the podium.