1974 24 Hours of Le Mans

1974 24 Hours of Le Mans
Previous: 1973	Next: 1975
Index: Races | Winners

The 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 42nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 15 and 16 1974. It was the fifth round of the World Championship of Makes.

Pre-race

In 1974, Ferrari retired from endurance racing. Matra had developed the Matra 670 into a more aerodynamic version, the 680. Three 670s and one 680 were entered. In addition, John Wyer entered two Gulf-GR7s.

Race

Henri Pescarolo and Gérard Larrousse's Matra 670 was leading at dawn. Around 10:00 a.m. the Porsche 911 Turbo Carrera running in second place lost its fifth gear, causing the car to lose around 40 seconds per lap to the leading Matra.

But just before 11:00 a.m., Pescarolo had a gearbox failure. The Porsche-designed Matra gearbox problem was easy to repair, but when Pescarolo returned to the race, he had lost 45 minutes. The Porsche 911 Turbo was now in the same lap, which was a surprising achievement for a road-car derivative car against the prototypes.

Rain began to fall during the final hour. Pescarolo managed to build a six-lap lead over the Porsche by the end. It was Matra's and Pescarolo's third consecutive Le Mans victory. At the end of the season Matra announced its retirement from racing.

Official results

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1	S 3.0	7	Équipe Gitanes	Henri Pescarolo Gérard Larrousse	Matra-Simca MS670C	Matra 3.0L V12	337
2	S 3.0	22	Martini Racing Team	Gijs van Lennep Herbert Müller	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo	Porsche 2.1L Turbo Flat-6	331
3	S 3.0	9	Équipe Gitanes	Jean-Pierre Jabouille François Migault	Matra-Simca MS670C	Matra 3.0L V12	324
4	S 3.0	11	Gulf Research Racing Co.	Derek Bell Mike Hailwood	Mirage GR7	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8	317
5	GT	71	Raymond Touroul	Cyril Grandet Dominique Bardini	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	Ferrari 4.4L V12	313
6	GT	54	North American Racing Team	Dave Heinz Alain Cudini	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	Ferrari 4.4L V12	312
7	GT	66	Porsche Club Romand	Bernard Chenevière Peter Zbinden Michel Dubois	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6	312
8	S 3.0	15	Automobiles Ligier	Jacques Laffite Alain Serpaggi	Ligier JS2	Maserati 3.0L V6	310
9	S 3.0	1	North American Racing Team	Teodoro Zeccoli Jean-Claude Andruet	Ferrari 312P	Ferrari 3.0L V12	298
10	GT	70	ASA Cachia	Raymound Touroul Henri Cachia Dennis Rua	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6	288
11	GT	56	North American Racing Team	Christian Ethuin Lucien Guitteny	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	Ferrari 4.4L V12	285
12	GT	69	Lucien Negeotte	Lucien Negeotte Jean-Pierre Laffeach	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6	276
13	GT	59	Pierre Mauroy	Anne-Charlotte Verney Pierre Mauroy Martine Rénier	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6	276
14	GT	63	Jean-Claude Lagniez	Jean-Claude Lagniez Gérard Meo	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6	274
15	T	86	Jean-Claude Aubriet	Jean-Claude Aubriet "Depnic"	BMW 3.0CSL	BMW 3.5L I6	269
16	GT	57	Marcel Mignot	Marcel Mignot Harry Jones	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	Ferrari 4.4L V12	266
17	S 2.0	30	"Christine" - Écurie Seiko	Christine Beckers Yvette Fontaine Marie Laurent	Chevron B23	Cosworth FVC 2.0L I4	265
18	GT	51	Henri Greder	Henri Greder Marie-Claude Charmasson	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	253
19	S 3.0	65	Christian Poirot	Christian Poirot Jean Rondeau	Porsche 908/2	Porsche 3.0L Flat-8	251
20	GT	73	Paul Blancpain Toad Hall	Michael Keyser Milt Minter Paul Blancpain	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6	246

Not Classified

Failed to cover 70% of winner's laps (235 laps)

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
21	S 3.0	25	Mazda Automotive	Yasuhiro Okamoto Harukuni Takahashi Yojiro Terada	Sigma MC74	Mazda 12A 1.2L 2-Rotor	155

Did Not Finish

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
22	GT	72	Polifac Gelo Racing Team	Franz Pesch Jürgen Barth	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
23	GT	62	Ecurie Francorchamps	Hughes de Fierlandt Richard Bond	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
24	GT	67	Porsche Club Romand	William Vollery Eric Chapuis Roger Dorchy	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
25	S 2.0	44	Gérard Cuynet	Gérard Cuynet Yves Evrard Jean-Louis Gama	Porsche 910	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6
26	T	90	Shark Team	Jean-Claude Guérie Serge Godard Dominique Fornage	Ford Capri RS	Ford 3.0L V6
27	S 2.0	43	Racing Organisation Course	Robert Mieusset Fred Stalder François Sérvanin	Lola T292	ROC-Chrysler 2.0L I4
28	S 3.0	10	Alain de Cadenet	Chris Craft John Nicholson	De Cadenet LM	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8
29	GT	64	Polifac Gelo Racing Team	Georg Loos Clemens Schickentanz	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
30	T	87	BMW Jolly Club	Manfred Mohr Martino Finotto Carlo Facetti	BMW 3.0CSL	BMW 3.5L I6
31	GT	61	Robert Buchet	Claude Ballot-Léna Vic Elford	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
32	S 3.0	17	Ortega Ecuador Marlboro Team	Fausto Merello Guillermo Ortega Lothar Ranft	Porsche 908/2	Porsche 3.0L Flat-8
33	S 3.0	6	Équipe Gitanes	Jean-Pierre Beltoise Jean-Pierre Jarier	Matra-Simca MS680	Matra 3.0L V12
34	S 3.0	8	Équipe Gitanes	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud Bob Wollek José Dolhem	Matra-Simca MS670B	Matra 3.0L V12
35	S 3.0	14	Automobiles Ligier	Guy Chasseuil Michel Leclère	Ligier JS2	Maserati 3.0L V6
36	S 3.0	28	Michel Dupont Scato	Heinz Schulthess Michel Lateste	Lola T284	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8
37	S 3.0	21	Martini Racing Team	Helmut Koinigg Manfred Schurti	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo	Porsche 2.1L Turbo Flat-6
38	S 3.0	46	Rebaque-Rojas Racing Team	Guillermo Rojas Héctor Rebaque	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
39	GT	68	Samson Kremer Racing	Hans Heyer Paul Keller Erwin Kremer	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
40	S 3.0	19	Wicky Racing Team	André Wicky Jacques Boucard Louis Cosson	Porsche 908/2	Porsche 3.0L Flat-8
41	S 3.0	12	Gulf Research Racing Co.	Vern Schuppan Reine Wisell	Mirage GR7	Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8
42	S 2.0	23	Mamers-Grac-Gotti-Meca	Max Mamers Xavier Lapeyre	Grac-Gotti MT20	Chrysler-Simca JRD 2.0L I4
43	GT	58	Escuderia Montjuich	Claude Haldi José-Maria Fernandez Jean-Marc Seguin	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
44	GT	60	Louis Meznarie	Hubert Striebig Helmut Kirschoffer Jean-Louis Chateau	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6
45	GT	52	Wicky Racing Team	Max Cohen-Olivar Philippe Carron	De Tomaso Pantera	Ford 5.8L V8
46	S 3.0	18	North American Racing Team	Jean-Louis Lafosse Giancarlo Gagliardi	Ferrari 308 GT4	Ferrari 3.0L V8
47	S 2.0	27	Michel Dupont Scato	Michel Dupont Gregor Fischer Daniel Brillat	Chevron B23/26	Cosworth BDG 1.8L I4
48	S 3.0	31	Écurie Tibidabo	Francisco Torredemer Juan Fernandez Bernard Tramont	Porsche 908/3	Porsche 3.0L Flat-8
49	GT	55	North American Racing Team	Jean-Pierre Paoli Alain Couderc	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	Ferrari 4.4L V12

Statistics

• Pole Position - #7 Equipe Gitanes - 3:35.18
• Fastest Lap - #6 Equipe Gitanes - 3:42.70
• Distance - 4606.571 km
• Average Speed - 191.940 km/h

Trophy Winners

• Index of Thermal Efficiency - #71 Raymond Touroul

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.