24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Hures du Mans) 1970

The 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 38th Grand Prix of Endurance and took place on 13 and 14 June 1970. It was the eighth round of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship season. Once again Porsche had had a dominant year in the championship and arrived as strong favourites to get their first outright victory. Their main opposition would come from Ferrari, now armed with the homologated 512S model. Fully nine 917s and eleven 512s from works-supported teams and privateers were entered. However heavy rain through most of the race neutralised much of their power and contributed to a number of serious accidents. In a race of heavy attrition where only seven cars were classified as finishers it was won by race veteran Hans Herrmann and co-driver Richard ‘Dickie’ Attwood. For Herrmann, a veteran of 13 Le Mans, it was particularly sweet having lost by the narrowest margin the previous year. All Porsche’s main challengers (Ferrari, Matra, Alfa Romeo) were beaten in the first half of the race. Porsche’s dominance was complete – winning all three prizes and taking all the class-wins. The only dark spot was Ickx’s accident at the Ford Chicane during the night which killed a track marshal. This was the year that Hollywood came to Le Mans. The race provided the background for the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans. Much of the racing footage of the motion picture was taken from on board a competing car, as the #29 Porsche 908/02 had been fitted with movie cameras. 1 23 Austria Porsche Konstruktionen - Salzburg Germany Hans Herrmann United Kingdom Richard Attwood Porsche 917K Porsche F12 G 343 2 3 Germany Martini International Racing Team France Gérard Larrousse Germany Willi Kauhsen Porsche 917L Porsche F12 G 338 3 27 Germany Martini International Racing Team Austria Helmut Marko Austria Rudi Lins Porsche 908/2LH Porsche F8 D