1971 24 Hours of Le Mans - Race

Race

The 1971 Le Mans race was the first race started in a safer rolling start method (the "Indianapolis start"), rather than the "Le Mans start" method that have been used in previous Le Mans races; the rolling start has been used since that, up to even the 2011 race.

The "Sunoco" Ferrari was unable to break the 200 mph (320 km/h) barrier on the straight, while the 917 LH were lightning quick at speeds of over 240 mph (380 km/h). Mark Donohue qualified fourth anyway, which was obviously the result of an aerodynamic configuration that favored downforce over drag, which helped in the twistier sections.

Pedro Rodríguez and Jackie Oliver's 917 lead the first hours. At 7:00 p.m. the Sunoco was third. At 8:16 p.m., Donohue pitted the Sunoco Ferrari early. The Traco-tuned engine died. At dawn the Matra was in an amazing second position. But at 9:40 a.m., Amon stopped in the long straight and stepped out of the Matra roadster. He had run out of fuel due to a faulty fuel-metering, and the pits were too far away to push the car.

Despite the extremely high speeds of the long tail versions (Vic Elford's silver Martini car was clocked at 386 km/h or 239.8 mph), the 1971 Le Mans race was again won by a short tail car but with magnesium chassis, the white No. 22 Martini of Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep. The car ran 397 laps, which was a distance record at 5,335.313 km (3,315.210 mi); that record, which many believed it would be unbreakable because of the lack of chicanes, would however be broken in 2010 when three Audi R15 TDI plus cars ran by Joest Racing ran in excess of that distance, despite the chicanes put since 1990 and other changes to the Circuit de la Sarthe course throughout the years (392 laps would be the amount of laps that would exceed the distance record in the 13.629 km (8.469 mi) configuration that was in use in 2010); all three ran at least 394 laps, with the winning car, the #9 of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller, also ran 397 laps but ran a distance of 5,410.7 km (3,362.1 mi); the 1971 race was run in a 13.469 km (8.369 mi) configuration, which was the last race under that configuration; the 1972 race (up until 1978) ran in a modified 13.64 km (8.48 mi) configuration; since then, eight more modifications were made up to today's Circuit de la Sarthe, which stands at 13.629 km (8.469 mi) as of 2010 (the configuration was first run in 2007).