CIRCUIT :

13.469 km layout. All the wattle fencing had now disappeared. The pit lane was separated from the track by a concrete wall necessitating a different type of start.

REGULATIONS :

New flying start procedure with the cars doing a lap behind the Clerk of the Course's car. Women again allowed, Mane Claude Beaumont being the only one to take advantage of this liberalisation.

STARTERS

49 cars 5 nations 6 makes France : 1 Ligier, 1 Matra. Gerrnany : 33 Porsches

Great Britain : 2 Lolas

ltaly: 10 Ferrans

United States of America : 2 Chevrolets Makes, first appearance

SUMMARY :

In the April test session (17/18 April) , ]ackie Oliver in the long - tailed Gulf 917 got round in 3'13"6, a speed of 250, 408 km/h hitting 382 km/h on Les Hunaudieres. Out of the eight 512 M Ferraris that started only the Penske - entered car in its beautiful dark blue livery was able to match the 917's speed, and managed to get as high as second before retiring at 21H00 with a blown engine. The race then tumed into a Martini/Gulf battIe with the initial advantage going to the latter. The first signs of trouble for the Gulf cars came when the Siffert - Bell long - tailed 917 which had led briefly, had the control box for the illuminated racing numbers fall off damaging the wiring. This was repaired but after 6 hours the left - hand rear hub bearings failed requiring repairs lasting more than an hour . The car tinally retired after 17 hours with a cracked crankcase. Exactly the same malady hit no. 18 driven by Rodriguez and Oliver which led for the tirst 11 hours. This time repairs took only 22 minutes but the car retired an hour later when an oil line burst wrecking the engine. Out during the night went the celebrated 917/20 known as the "Pink Pig" and the long - tailed Martini version of the 917 driven by Larrousse - Elford. The Juncadella - Vaccarella yellow 512 M Ferrari led briefly in the early morning before it suffered gearbox trouble. Thus, 2 short - tailed 917s fought it out for the rest of the race. At the 11 hour mark , the Gulf car of Muller and Attwood was ahead of Marko and van Lennep in the Martini 917 but Muller then carne into the pit with no gears entailing a gearbox rebuild. The car got going again after 37 minutes and was actually catching the eventual winners but ran out of time. Thus, the Martini 917 which had a special magnesium chassis gave Porsche their second Le Mans victory. After the retirement of the Matra MS 660 of Beltoise and Amon at 09hOO on Sunday moming, the classitication of the tirst 5 did not change. In the tinallaps, the 911 S ofToumoul- "Anselme" passed the only remaining sports prototype still running, the Swiss - entered 907 of Brun and Mattli. Apart from 3 Ferraris, all the tinishers were from Stuttgart. The tirst 2 in the overall classitication also tinished in that order in the Index of Performance. Both British cars retired early on.