I ran the Le mans 30 minute with another winning car, from 1995 it was the last GT car that had won Le Mans outright, and on it's inaugural run!
Here is more history on this specific race...
A MYTH EXPLODED
Conventional wisdom had it that no manufacturer would win Le Mans at its first attempt. Only Ferrari had ever done it, in 1949. And McLaren's achievement went further. All seven racing versions of the 'F in existence started, and displayed remarkable durability and pace in atrocious conditions. F1s were among the fastest cars out there when the rain was at its worst. One was crashed out, another broke its transmission, but the others finished 1-3-4-5, and 13th The winning F1 GTR (pictured) was raced by JJ Lehto Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya.
When McLaren went into production in Woking in 1992 with its innovative three-seat, mid-engined, butterfly-doored sportscar, it had not, envisaged racing it. However, designer Gordon Murray had created the ultimate 'supercar, using high-specification structures and running gear developed in the racecar industry. It was stiff, it was light, it had great, balance, it had 200mph performance - and it had a flat bottom between the axle lines with a ground-effect rear diffuser. The F1 was an advanced-composites monocoque, mostly formed of carbonfibre weaves over aluminum-honeycomb core material, with a front bulkhead of magnesium alloy. The carbon/Kevlar body, styled by
Peter Stevens and developed in the MIRA wind tunnel and McLaren's own facility, enclosed a cabin in which a central driver's seat was located slightly ahead of a passenger seat on each side,
After Honda had turned him down, McLaren chairman Ron Dennis approached BMW to provide the engine. The manufacturer's accomplished engine chief, Paul Rosche, purpose-designed a compact, lightweight, quad-cam, 6.1-litre, 60deg V12 with variable valve timing, and BMW built, tested and delivered it in only 13 months. It was bolted to lateral chassis extensions and a wide alloy casting, linked to the transmission bellhousing by steel tubes. Controlled by a TAGtronic management system, its output was 625bhp at 7400rpm, driving through a transverse, six-speed McLaren/Getrag gearbox.
In 1994, Dennis was finally persuaded by F1 owners, notably pharmaceuticals entrepreneur Ray Bellm and banker Thomas Bscher, to engineer a GT1 racing version for the 1995 BPR series. Dennis formed McLaren Cars Motorsport and recruited former Spice Engineering managing director Jeff Hazell as the project manager. Murray took the 19th F1 monocoque out of the production line and used it as a prototype to test modifications he designed with Barry Lett, including a non-structural rollcage, an adjustable rear aerofoil, various cooling ducts, and upgraded double-wishbone suspension and braking systems. BMW Motorsport took a close interest and the air-restricted race version of the 'atmo' V12 was rated at 640bhp at 7500rpm, with the catalytic converters and silencers removed.
After four months of development. six cars were delivered to four racing customers: two to Bscher, two to Bellm and his new racing partner, Lindsay Owen-Jones (who needed another in April to replace a car destroyed at Jarama), and one each to Noël del Bello and Fabien Giroix. The best-driven of these McLarens immediately set the pace in the BPR championship, taking six wins from the first seven four-hour events that preceded Le Mans.
In early May, the prototype completed a 22-hour test at Magny- Cours, evaluating a Le Mans kit and a dry-sump oiling system for the gearbox after several failures. The specification included carbon brakes and, to cool them, NACA ducts in the nose and engine cover. There were modifications to the underbody, extra protection for the radiator inlets, and strengthened lower suspension arms.
The customer teams were dismayed when the unpainted 'O1R' prototype arrived at Le Mans, attended by several McLaren personnel including four mechanics). This looked very much like a works entry, McLaren was outraged!
The company's line was that this car had been leased to a Japanese-owned company called Kokusai Kaihatsu UK translation: 'International Development UK"). After a deal with Giroix had fallen through, Paul Lanzante, a personal friend of Dennis who was operating a Porsche in the BPR series but had no Le Mans entry, was running the car here. Lanzante Motorsport was also on Le Mans début, but the car was race-engineered by former Spice technical director Graham Humphrys. The engine of the 'non-works' GTR was over-revved on Thursday, probably because a bent selector rod in the gearbox had damaged the synchros. The crew had to devote Friday to changing the engine and 1 rebuilding the gearbox, and the car was shaken down at 2am on race morning on the adjacent airfield. Another last-minute alarm came with a fuel pump failure on the dummy grid: the car raced throughout with the reserve pump.
After a great opening shift by John Nielsen, the first McLaren driver genuinely to lead the race was his co-driver, Jochen Mass, in the cockpit of one of Bscher's cars (below) operated out of Bookham, Surrey, by David Price. Despite a malfunctioning windscreen wiper, Mass, Nielsen and Bscher himself led on-and-off for more than nine hours. Soon after 3am, however, Mass pitted ahead of schedule, unable to cope any longer with a slipping clutch. After a 70-minute delay, Nielsen drove onto the beach at the second chicane and, with no drive, the car stayed there.
The other DPR-tended F1 C left, caked in carbon brake dust) Was raced by Andy Wallace with father-and-son co-drivers Derek and Justin Bell. Wallace led for a while on Saturday afternoon during a remarkable triple stint, some of it spent excitingly on slick tyres on a mostly damp track surface. When he finally handed the car to Derek, Price's crew had to spend 12 minutes replacing a broken throttle cable. Derek did a terrific job to claw back both the lost laps and, when the West FM-sponsored sister car had its clutch problem, the yellow Harrods McLaren was right there to take over the lead.
The KK McLaren was now chasing hard. A thoroughly absorbing battle ensued, during which the 'non-works' F1 came close enough to take the lead several times during the fuel-stop sequences. On Sunday morning, more exceptional driving by Wallace established a clear advantage, but then the Harrods F1 had to stop for fresh brake pads. Lehto charged. But 53-year-old Bell showed why he had won this race five times, and matched his lap times - until his transmission started to play up. This caused a 360deg spin in the Virage Ford and later, when he made the car's penultimate fuel stop, a five-minute delay while he found a gear (sixth) to get moving again.
The KK car took over at the front, and for good. Its sole problem was that spray and grit from the track surface were contaminating its external gearshift mechanism, but the crew immersed it in a bath of ND40 lubricant at every pitstop, and it held
In his final shift, Wallace was hampered by the gear selection problem and could not resist Bob Wollek's Courage WSC racer. After having a car in the lead for 21 hours, the DPR team finished third.
Fourth place fell to one of Bellm's Gulif-ivered McLarens (below), operated out of Cranleigh by GTC Competition under former EMKA Group C constructor Michael Cane. This car started We// with E strong double shift oy Mark Blundel, but then the team owner crashed in the Porsche curves. The repairs consumed 45 minutes. The Lotus F1 driver and Maurizio Sandro Sala did what they could to retrieve the situation, and the car reappeared in the top five at half-time.
After Pierre-Henri Raphanel had been delayed early on by a puncture, Philippe Aiot was also quick in the other Gulf car. Just before nightfall in fact, when the track conditions were at their worst, he passed Mass to take the lead. Forty minutes later, Alliot was clipped from behind in the Porsche curves by a GT2 Porsche he had just overtaken, and punted into the wall.
The French-entered McLarens were not equipped with the full e Mans kit and raced with ferrous brake discs. Giroix Racing, run by Thierry Lecourt out of a south-eastern Parisian suburb, used a synthetic composite fuel here, based on alcohol distilled from beet. Its owner started but could not fire the engine after his first fuel stop, at a cost of 18 minutes while his crew replaced the starter motor. Olivier Grouillard and Jean-Denis Délétraz eventually hauled the car up to fourth, but finished fifth after a Sunday morning brake change. Bello's, run by BBA Compétition from St Ouen, was also delayed early on, by a broken gear selector that cost almost 40 minutes. Marc Sourd, Hervé Poulain and Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière could rise no higher nan 13th.
Afterwards the race winner was proudly taken back to Woking. where McLaren continued to deny that it had been a works entry, while the Lanzante team prepared its Porsche for the rest of the BPR series. Nielsen and Bscher went on to clinch the BPR title to conclude McLaren's fantastic maiden season in European sportscar racing.
Can it even get close to 700pp?
