I was there with my Dad…..thanks SOOO much for posting this….met Rolf after race and actually got to sit in one of the team Porsche down on Pit Road. Amazing footage.
Absolutely correct…….I was there in 66 and 68..and again..many years in the 80s in the “hot pits” with a “Lights” car. The 24 was SO much more “fan friendly” back then. Walk right next to fence at the Start-Finish line. In the Infield, you could just drive and park anywhere. Today….it’s just NOT the same. I think they ruined it for the fans.
Yep! I did not like the 1973 race, as run by IMSA. A non-running 911 "Won" setting still the last 45 minutes. The running NART 365GTB/4 was regulated to 2nd. I did not attend Sebring, as it was Came GT trash cars only. My friend Tony a2z raced the last GTB/4 there in 1979. Black slash in memory of entrant Otto Zipper. I saw hm drive the Grp.44 XJR-5 at Road America, 1984. Lost Tony to bran cancer, October 2016. Sam now paints and still writes a bit. Parkinsons...So it goes. J.C.
Saw the Howmett turbine car at Brands Hatch later that year. It went straight on into the wall at Druids hairpin when it's throttle stuck open! The builders forgot that unlike normal internal combustion engines which close the throttle when the cable snaps, gas turbines open the throttle when it lets go!
The 907s were only 2.2 liters.. An Ecuadorian 250LM finished 8th Helped by Raceco of Miami I helped tune that cars Webers, at a Sebring/Avon Park gas station a year or two later.. vry sick at first Charlie Kolb was in the next bay..cussing an oil leak in hs sky blue Dino 246SP. Suggested we go help, as he was hung up Those guys fed us the best STEAKS! Wanted us in their pit, the next days WE were there to see the 312P Spyder beat Ford and Porsche They lunched their gearbox and burned up the LM's brakes.... Ford won! Andretti was 2nd 908 third An alloy 427 Yenko Camaro amazed us all.. Turned a 3:05 lap Like the 275P in 1964... Ended up 6th if memory serves Sebring '68 was not near so memorable Paddy Hopkirk took 10th in his MGC, with bloody hands! 1st in 3 liter Protos..Iron Man, with rally driver Timo Makinen The TransAm cars showed their stuff... Penske Donahue Sunoco Camaro was particularly fast... Cornering with 911s... Trick Richard Roberts linkages on the rear axle.. Anti dive, squat, roll& bump steer, multiple linkages and shocks adapted by Traction Masters Gary Wheeler.. AAR designer later on... Banned by the SCCA.... Not a good year.... J.C.
Top Speeds had increased from 1950 to the 1960s 150 mph W-125/300 SL, 170 - 192 mph D-Types bring about a 3 liter Sports limit from1958 Test Testa Rossa era... to the 1962/3 GTO's 176 mph.... Ferrari would touch 182-192 mph with the 250P, 275P and 330P of 1963 - 1964 FORD would push that to 200+ buy 1965... Mulsanne, Daytona and Siverstone speeds Maximum Speeds @ Le Mans, 1961-1968: Practice and Race.... 280 km/h (173.6 mph) Maserati 295 km/h (182.9 mph) Ferrari 302 km/h (187.2 mph) Ferrari 310 km/h (192.2 mph) Ferrari 310 km/h (192.2 mph) Ford 320 km/h (198.4 mph) Ford 340 km/h (210.8 mph) Ford 300 km/h (186.0 mph) Porsche 280 km/h (173.6 mph) Maserati 280 km/h (173.6 mph) Aston-Martin 310 km/h (192.2 mph) Maserati 302 km/h (187.2 mph) Ford 325 km/h (201.5 mph) Ford 343 km/h (212.6 mph) Ford 308 km/h (191.0 mph) Porsche The Kink in the Mulsanne produced the FIN on the Jaguar D-Types Arrow stability The Duck Tail Spoiler on the GTO's devised by Ritchie Ginther Killing 400 lbs of LIFT! at 170+....on a round tail version at The Ring.... The FIRST aero stability considerations.... LACK of a spoiler on Kamm tailed cars KILLED: "Lucky" Cas Casner, 5.0 liter V-8 Maserati Tipo 161, 1965, at the Kink @ 190+ Ken Miles, Ford J-Car, Riverside, 1966... Getting airborne! Causing FIA concerns... 1958, 1968, 1972, 1990.... J.C.
ALFA raced their new 2 liter Tipo 33 Periscopo at Sebring 1967. Led the opening lap! Andrea de Adimach driver... Ferrari was a no show Labor strife in Italy. Communist dock workers HATED Enzo...
Well yeah its right but the Ferrari was absent in the '68 makes championship not for the communists strikes (that began here in italy not until the '72) but because of the new WSC laws for the Sport cars, that had to be built in not less than 25 chassis to be allowed to race. Ferrari wasn't able to to that, and he decided to don't prepare any car in protest.
I never saw one there 1964 -1973 IMSA brought in that Gentleman Driver CHICANE crap. Got rid of FIA Regs... So a NON-RUNNING 911R "won" the 1973 24.... Sitting in the pits DEAD for the last 45 minutes. Would have been NOT CLASSIFIED (NC) under FIA/ACO rules OVER a RUNNING NART 365GTB/4 FERRARI that was just purring along.... I never went back. Did not bother to go to Sebring which was ALL IMSA Trash Formula "Camel GT" funny car 911s, BMW's and Capri's crappola... No FIA prototypes or Sports Cars... Then the 1973 ARAB Oil Embargo damn near finished off racing Many were canceled... )-:// J.C.
I don't quite get how a Mustang or Camaro qualify in sports racing as they qualified in the sedan class earlier I believe. But racing history is not my primary area of study. Also, why the hell would Ford run the coupe instead of the more aerodynamic(?) Mustang Sports Roof fastback?