1971 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 39th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1971. It was the ninth round of the World Sportscar Championship.

Pre-race
At the end of the 1970 season, Ferrari had entered a new version of the 512 in some races, the 512 M (Modificata). The 512 M had a new bodywork built on the same aerodynamics doctrine of the Porsche 917K.

During the 1971 season, the FIA decided to ban the "loop hole" Sport category for 1972, so the big 917s and 512s would have to retire at the end of a year which they would surely dominate again.

Ferrari decided to give up any official effort with the 512 in order to prepare the 1972 season a new prototype, the 312PB was presented and engaged by the factory in several races. But many 512s were still raced by private teams and most of them converted to M specification. Being cheaper than the 917 K, the 512 M appeared as a bargain for customers at the end of 1970.

Roger Penske bought a used 512 M chassis that was totally dismantled and rebuilt. The car was specially tuned for long races receiving many unique features, among them were a large rear wing and an aviation inspired quick refueling system. The engine was tuned by Can-Am V8 specialist Traco; this engine was probably able to deliver more than 600 hp (450 kW). As of today it's impossible to know to what extent Penske's initiative was backed by Ferrari works. This 512 M, painted in a blue and yellow livery, was sponsored by Sunoco and the Californian Ferrari dealer Kirk F. White. This car made the pole position for the 24 Hours of Daytona and finished second despite an accident. For the 12 Hours of Sebring the "Sunoco" won the pole, but finished the race in sixth position after making contact with Pedro Rodríguez's 917. Despite this misfortune, the car had proved to be a serious opponent for the 917. Not only this car was the fastest on track in Daytona and Sebring but it was also the car that had the shortest refueling time.

The presence of the 512 M "Sunoco" forced Porsche to pursue his effort of research and development on the 917: The 917 K tail was modified, and the 917 LH aerodynamics received further improvements. New magnesium chassis were developed. An entirely new car, the 917/20 was built as test-bed for future Can-Am parts and aerodynamic "low-drag" concepts. The chunky car was painted in pink for the race with names of pieces of meat written across it, earning it the nickname "Pink Pig". During the 1970-71 race period the 917 won 14 of the 21 races it entered and achieved second place in two of those races.

A modified Ferrari 512 featuring a narrowed cockpit (built around a Porsche 917 windshield) was entered by Scuderia Filipinetti, for Mike Parkes and Henri Pescarolo. The car was christened 512 F.

Matra entered only one 660 for Chris Amon and Jean-Pierre Beltoise.

The Ford-Cosworth DFV made its Le Mans debut in Guy Ligier's new JS-3. The engine was limited to 8800 rpm, allowing around 400 hp (300 kW).

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 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 5335.313 km; that record, which many believed it would be unbreakable because of the lack of chicanes, would however be broken in 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 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 5410.7 km; the 1971 race was run in a 13.469 km configuration, which was the last race under that configuration; the  race (up until ) ran in a modified 13.64 km configuration; since then, eight more modifications were made up to today's Circuit de la Sarthe, which stands at 13.629 km as of 2010 (the configuration was first run in ).

Statistics

 * Pole Position - #18 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Ltd. - 3:13.90
 * Fastest Lap - #18 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Ltd. - 3:18.40
 * Distance - 5335.313 km
 * Average Speed - 222.304 km/h

Trophy Winners

 * Index of Performance - #22 Martini International Racing Team
 * Index of Thermal Efficiency - #58 North American Racing Team (NART)