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Marathon effort

12. Mar 2024 
by Ziv Knoll
1921 views

From the start the Alpine-Renaults took charge at the 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans. The works Porsches mounted a brief challenge but engine issues delayed them in the pits. When Pescarolo retired his 936 with engine problems, his co-driver Jacky Ickx, already a three-time winner, was transferred to the sister car of Barth and Haywood, languishing in 41st place and 15 laps behind the leaders.

Ickx was given free rein to drive as hard as he dared and in an epic drive through the night, his average pace was just two seconds below qualifying pace. During the night, the French challenge started to come apart – Tambay’s car, running fourth, stopped at 3am with a dead engine. An hour later, the second car lost half an hour getting a gearbox rebuild. Then at 9am, after leading for 17 hours, the Jabouille and Bell car retired with a burnt-out piston.

Suddenly, Porsche found itself in the lead. Ickx finished his marathon effort after a total of eleven hours behind the wheel! Barth and Haywood (picture-below) drove steadily and when the last Renault retired just after midday with another burnt piston, they could ease off with a huge 19-lap lead over the Mirage of Schuppan-Jarier. Another legendary win for Ickx and Porsche at Le Mans.

Source: DR

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