The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) made a few changes for the 39th running of 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1971. One of them was the standingstart in echelon from the previous years which was discarded. From now on a 2by2 rolling start behind a safety car became the most preferred way till today. This allowed an Armco guardrail to be erected between the pits and the main straight, greatly increasing the safety of the pitcrews. And now drivers were also permitted to stay in their cars during refuelling.

The ACO received 80 entries for the race, which it reduced to 63 for qualifying, though only 53 cars arrived to practice. And this year Ferrari and Alfa Romeo decided to not take part on the race with official teams. But hey it was Le Mans, everybody wanted to enter. So Porsche was the stronger maker with 917s K and 917s long tail, plus the army of 911s in the GT group. The german brand set a record with 33 Porsches out of 49 starters.

Still, Ferrari used the 512s with customer teams. The North American Racing Team (NART), Scuderia Filipinetti, Penske Racing, all with 512M and Spyders. Even José Juncadella of Escuderia Montjuich had employed Nino Vaccarella as his driver.

In 1971 Matra only had entered for the 1000 Kms of Buenos Aires but now were in full force with the 660 for its F1 drivers Chris Amon and JeanPierre Beltoise.

Guy Ligier was there with the JS3 a prototype with a FordCosworth DFV F1 engine. Against the French prototype were a collection of privateer Porsche 908s. Guy Edwards took one spot with his Lola T212. With no Chevrons or Hurons present, its only competition was an older Porsche 907 from the André Wicky team.

Due to insufficient production, Ferrari's current GT car, the 365 GTB/4 "Daytona" had to run in the Group 5 Sports category. Its 4.4litre V12 put it headtohead against the Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s. NART entered a single car for Bob Grossman and Luigi Chinetti Jr. But... well NART also entered another 365 GTB/4 which will be our car for this race. Enjoy!

Le Mans 1970:
https://mega.nz/file/Lkc2TAYa#K39hrYd...

Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competizione:
https://www.racedepartment.com/downlo...

Official race results:
https://www.racingsportscars.com/resu...

World Championship for Makers 1971 playlist:
   • World Championship for Makers 1971  

Historical races playlist:    • Historic Races