1984 24 Hours of Le Mans

1984 24 Hours of Le Mans
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Index: Races | Winners

The 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 52nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 – 17 June 1984. It was also the third round of the 1984 World Endurance Championship.

The works Rothmans Porsche team boycotted the 1984 Le Mans race due to a disagreement between Porsche and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) over the fuel regulations, meaning that drivers such as multiple winners Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell were absent from the race for the first time in many years. Porsche originally stated that its contracted drivers would not be allowed to race with any other team, however they did relent only two or three weeks before the race. 1983 co-winner Vern Schuppan was the only member of the Rothmans team to race in 1984, eagerly snapped up by Kremer Racing to drive a Porsche 956B he would share with fellow Australian, 1980 Formula One World Champion Alan Jones, and experienced French driver Jean-Pierre Jarier. Surprisingly, Schuppan was the only regular Rothmans team driver to actually compete in the event with his 1983 co-winners Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood joining Ickx, Bell, Jochen Mass and Stefan Bellof (who would go on to win the 1984 World Endurance Championship) as non-starters.

1984 saw the largest ever influx of Australian drivers in the race, with not only defending race winner Schuppan and ex-World Champion Jones driving, but also star touring car driver Peter Brock and ex-F1 driver Larry Perkins in a 956 supplied by John Fitzpatrick Racing, Rusty French in the second Kremer Porsche 956 (French's drive was a reward from Porsche for winning the 1983 Australian GT Championship in a Porsche 935), Allan Grice in a Charles Ivey Racing 956, and regular Group C2 competitor Neil Crang in a Cosworth DFL powered Spice-Tiga Racing Tiga GC84.

Jaguar made its first official appearance at Le Mans for the first time since 1959 when Bob Tullius' Group 44 team brought over its two Jaguar XJR-5's powered by 6.0 litre Jaguar V12 engines from America. Group 44 racing, with the full backing of Jaguar, would compete in the IMSA GTP class. Before the decision to enter the race had been made, Jaguar had been concerned about the competitiveness of the XJR-5's against the turbocharged Porsche's and Ferrari powered Lancia's, especially with regard to top speed on the 6 km (3.7 mi) Mulsanne Straight. But those fears were put to rest when the 600 hp (447 kW) cars were clocked at over 200 mph (322 km/h) during the 24 Hours of Daytona in February.[1]

Reinhold Joest's privately entered 956 driven by Frenchman Henri Pescarolo and West German Klaus Ludwig won the race in the #7 Porsche 956B. For Pescarolo it was his fourth and last win at Le Mans, while for Ludwig it was his second win. After starting 3rd on the grid, the pair were only in 30th place after the first hour after pitting twice in the first 5 laps to fix a minor fuel feed problem after which the car ran almost faultlessly. The Porsche 956 dominated the final standings, taking the top seven places. The first non-Porsche 956 to finish was the Martini Racing Lancia LC2 of Bob Wollek and Alessandro Nannini. Wollek set the pole for the race with a 3:17.11 (248.873 km/h - 154.642 mp/h), some 11 seconds faster than Ludwig in the fastest Porsche. Formula 2 ace Nannini would set the races fastest lap and new lap record with a time of 3:28.90 (234.818 km/h - 145.908 mp/h) on lap 261, a time that would have been good enough for 5th place on the starting grid.[2]

During the race, a French marshal, Jacky Loiseau (42) was killed when British driver John Sheldon crashed massively in the Aston Martin powered Nimrod NRA/C2 at the flat out right-hand kink on the Mulsanne Straight, a crash that also involved the second Aston Martin Nimrod of American driver Drake Olson, who hit some of the strewn bodywork from Sheldon's Nimrod that had caught fire and crashed as well. He was unhurt. Another marshal, Andre-Guy Lefebvre (48) was seriously injured, but survived. Sheldon survived the 200 mph (322 km/h) crash, but he was severely burned, and the Nimrod's explosive impact against the Armco barriers was so violent, that some of the trees next to the track where the impact took place had been set on fire. The race was not stopped immediately, only that section of the straight was under caution, to protect the marshals and firefighters cleaning up the accident. Soon after, four pace cars were brought out under a full course caution, which lasted for 1 hour.[3]

Official results

Le Mans in 1984
Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps
Engine
1 C1 7 West Germany New-Man Joest Racing France Henri Pescarolo
West Germany Klaus Ludwig
Porsche 956B D 360
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
2 C1 26 United States Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop France Jean Rondeau
United States John Paul, Jr.
Porsche 956 G 358
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
3 C1 33 United Kingdom Skoal Bandit Porsche Team
United Kingdom John Fitzpatrick Racing
United Kingdom David Hobbs
France Philippe Streiff
South Africa Sarel van der Merwe
Porsche 956B Y 351
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
4 C1 9 Switzerland Brun Motorsport GmbH Switzerland Walter Brun
West Germany Prince Leopold von Bayern
United States Bob Akin
Porsche 956B D 340
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
5 C1 12 West Germany New-Man Joest Racing
West Germany Schornstein Racing Team
West Germany Volkert Merl
West Germany Dieter Schornstein
West Germany "John Winter"
Porsche 956 D 340
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
6 C1 11 West Germany Porsche Kremer Racing Australia Vern Schuppan
Australia Alan Jones
France Jean-Pierre Jarier
Porsche 956B D 337
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
7 C1 20 Switzerland Brun Motorsport GmbH Italy Massimo Sigala
Argentina Oscar Larrauri
France Joël Gouhier
Porsche 956 D 335
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
8 C1 4 Italy Martini Racing France Bob Wollek
Italy Alessandro Nannini
Lancia LC2 D 326
Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8
9 C1 17 West Germany Porsche Kremer Racing United Kingdom Tiff Needell
United Kingdom David Sutherland
Australia Rusty French
Porsche 956 D 321
Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
10 C2 68 United States B.F. Goodrich Company United States John O'Steen
United States John Morton
Japan Yoshimi Katayama
Lola T616 BF 320
Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotor
11 C2 93 France Jean-Philippe Grand
France Graff Racing
France Jean-Philippe Grand
Belgium Jean-Paul Libert
Belgium Pascal Witmeur
Rondeau M379 A 310
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8
12 C2 67 United States B.F. Goodrich Company United States Jim Busby
Netherlands Boy Hayje
United States Rick Knoop
Lola T616 BF 295
Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotor
13 C1 37 United States McCormack and Dodge United States Jim Mullen
United States Walt Bohren
France Alain Ferté
Rondeau M482 G 293
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
14 B 109 West Germany Helmut Gall France Philippe Dagoreau
France Jean-François Yvon
France Pierre de Thoisy
BMW M1 D 292
BMW M88/1 3.5 L I6
15 C2 87 Japan Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Republic of Ireland David Kennedy
Belgium Jean-Michel Martin
Belgium Philippe Martin
Mazda 727C D 291
Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotor
16 B 106 Switzerland Claude Haldi Switzerland Claude Haldi
West Germany Altfrid Heger
Switzerland Jean Krucker
Porsche 930 M 285
Porsche 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6
17 IMSA
GTO
122 France Raymond Touroul France Raymond Touroul
France Valentin Bertapelle
France Thierry Perrier
Porsche 911 SC M 283
Porsche 3.0 L Flat-6
18 IMSA
GTO
123 France Equipe Alméras Fréres France Jean-Marie Alméras
France Jacques Alméras
United States Tom Winters
Porsche 930 M 268
Porsche 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6
19 C2 81 Italy Scuderia Jolly Club Italy Almo Coppelli
Italy Davide Pavia
Italy Guido Daccò
Alba AR2 A 262
Giannini Carma FF 2.0 L Turbo I4
20 C2 86 Japan Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Belgium Pierre Dieudonné
Japan Takashi Yorino
Japan Yojiro Terada
Mazda 727C D 261
Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotor
21 C2 80 Italy Scuderia Jolly Club Italy Martino Finotto
Italy Carlo Facetti
Switzerland Marco Vanoli
Alba AR2 A 258
Giannini Carma FF 2.0 L Turbo I4
22 B 107 France Raymond Boutinaud France Raymond Boutinaud
France Philippe Renault
France Giles Guinand
Porsche 928S ? 255
Porsche 4.7 L V8
23
DNF
IMSA
GTP
44 United States Jaguar Group 44 United Kingdom Brian Redman
United States Doc Bundy
United States Bob Tullius
Jaguar XJR-5 G 291
Jaguar 6.0 L V12
24
DNF
C1 5 Italy Martini Racing Italy Paolo Barilla
West Germany Hans Heyer
Italy Mauro Baldi
Lancia LC2 D 275
Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8
25
DNF
C1 21 United Kingdom Charles Ivey Racing France Alain de Cadenet
Australia Allan Grice
United Kingdom Chris Craft
Porsche 956 D 274
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
26
DNF
IMSA
GTP
61 United States Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop France Michel Ferté
West Germany Edgar Dören
United States Preston Henn
Porsche 962 G 247
Porsche Type-935 2.9 L Turbo Flat-6
27
DNF
C1 14 United Kingdom GTi Engineering Netherlands Jan Lammers
United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer
Porsche 956 D 239
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
28
DNF
IMSA
GTP
40 United States Jaguar Group 44 United States Tony Adamowicz
United Kingdom John Watson
France Claude Ballot-Léna
Jaguar XJR-5 G 212
Jaguar 6.0 L V12
29
DNF
C1 8 West Germany New-Man Joest Racing Sweden Stefan Johansson
France Jean-Louis Schlesser
Colombia Mauricio de Narváez
Porsche 956 D 170
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
30
DNF
C1 38 United Kingdom Dorset Racing Associates United Kingdom Nick Faure
Republic of Ireland Mark Galvin
United Kingdom Richard Jones
Dome RC82 D 156
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
31
DNF
C1 50 France Primagaz France Pierre Yver
Belgium Bernard de Dryver
France Pierre-François Rousselot
Rondeau M382 M 155
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8
32
DNF
C1 13 France Primagaz France Yves Courage
France Michel Dubois
United States John Jellinek
Cougar C02 M 153
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
33
DNF
C1 47 West Germany Obermaier Racing GmbH West Germany Jürgen Lässig
South Africa George Fouché
Canada John Graham
Porsche 956 D 147
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
34
DNF
IMSA
GTO
121 United Kingdom Charles Ivey Racing United Kingdom David Ovey
United Kingdom Paul Smith
United States Margie Smith-Haas
Porsche 930 A 146
Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6
35
DNF
C1 34 Australia Team Australia
United Kingdom John Fitzpatrick Racing
Australia Peter Brock
Australia Larry Perkins
Porsche 956 D 145
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
36
DSQ
C1 16 United Kingdom GTi Engineering United Kingdom Richard Lloyd
United Kingdom Nick Mason
France René Metge
Porsche 956 D 139
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
37
DNF
C1 23 France WM Secateva France Roger Dorchy
France Alain Couderc
France Gerard Patté
WM P83B M 122
Peugeot PRV 2.8 L Turbo V6
38
DNF
C1 6 France BP Résidences Malardeau
Italy Scuderia Jolly Club
Italy Pierluigi Martini
France Xavier Lapeyre
Italy Beppe Gabbiani
Lancia LC2 D 117
Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8
39
DNF
B 101 Denmark Jens Winther Team Castrol Denmark Jens Winther
United Kingdom David Mercer
Denmark Lars-Viggo Jensen
BMW M1 A 96
BMW M88/1 3.5 L I6
40
DNF
IMSA
GTP
62 United States Pegasus Racing Ltd. United States Ken Marsden Jr.
United States Marion L. Speer
United States Wayne Pickering
March 84G G 95
Buick 3.3 L Turbo V6
41
DNF
C1 31 United Kingdom Viscount Downe Aston Martin United Kingdom Ray Mallock
United States Drake Olson
Nimrod NRA/C2B A 94
Aston Martin-Tickford DP1229 5.3 L V8
42
DNF
C1 32 United Kingdom Viscount Downe Aston Martin United Kingdom John Sheldon
United Kingdom Mike Salmon
United Kingdom Richard Attwood
Nimrod NRA/C2B A 92
Aston Martin-Tickford DP1229 5.3 L V8
43
DNF
C1 24 France WM Secateva France Michel Pignard
France Jean-Daniel Raulet
France Pascal Pessiot
WM P83B M 74
Peugeot PRV 2.8 L Turbo V6
44
DNF
C1 55 United Kingdom Skoal Bandit Porsche Team
United Kingdom John Fitzpatrick Racing
United Kingdom Rupert Keegan
United Kingdom Guy Edwards
Brazil Roberto Moreno
Porsche 956 Y 72
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
45
DNF
B 114 France Michel Lateste France Michel Lateste
France Michel Bienvault
France "Ségolen"
Porsche 930 ? 70
Porsche 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6
46
DNF
C2 70 United Kingdom Spice-Tiga Racing United Kingdom Gordon Spice
United Kingdom Ray Bellm
Australia Neil Crang
Tiga GC84 A 69
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
47
DNF
IMSA
GTX
27 Italy Scuderia Bellancauto Italy Roberto Marazzi
Italy Maurizio Micangeli
France Dominique Lacaud
Ferrari 512BB/LM D 65
Ferrari 5.0 L Flat-12
48
DNF
C2 48 United Kingdom John Bartlett Racing France François Migault
United Kingdom Steve Kempton
France François Sérvanin
Lola T610 D 52
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
49
DNF
C1 45 France Christian Bussi France Christian Bussi
United States Jack Griffin
France Bruno Ilien
Rondeau M382 D 49
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
50
DNF
C2 79 United Kingdom A.D.A. Engineering United Kingdom Ian Harrower
United States Bob Wolff
United States Glen Smith
ADA 01 A 42
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
51
DNF
C2 85 France Hubert Striebig France Hubert Striebig
France Jacques Heuclin
France Noël del Bello
Sthemo SM C2 ? 41
BMW M88/1 3.5 L I6
52
DNF
C2 77 United Kingdom Ecurie Ecosse United Kingdom Mike Wilds
United Kingdom David Duffield
United Kingdom David Leslie
Ecosse C284 A 36
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8
53
DNF
C1 25 United States C.A.M.S.
United Kingdom Charles Ivey Racing
United States Dudley Wood
United Kingdom John Cooper
United Kingdom Barry Robinson
Grid S2 A 10
Porsche Type-935 2.9 L Turbo Flat-6
DNS C1 39 Japan Uchida Dome Racing Team Sweden Eje Elgh
Sweden Stanley Dickens
Dome RC83 D -
Ford Cosworth DFL 4.0 L V8
DNS C2 99 United Kingdom J.Q.F. Engineering Ltd. United Kingdom Roy Baker
United Kingdom Jeremy Rossiter
United Kingdom François Duret
Tiga GC84 A -
Ford Cosworth BDT 1.8 L Turbo I4

† - The #16 GTi Engineering Porsche was disqualified during the race for receiving technical assistance while still on the track.

Statistics

Notes

  1. McKay, Peter; Naismith, Barry (August 1984). Le Mans 24 Heures Du Mans: The Australian Assault. Glen Waverley, Vic: Garry Sparke & Associates. p. 42 - The Contenders. ISBN 0 908081 02 2.
  2. Racing Sports Cars - Le Mans 1984
  3. "1984 - Le Mans — John Sheldon's massive crash". Retrieved 10 September 2011.

References

World Sportscar Championship
Previous race:
1984 1000 km of Silverstone
1984 season Next race:
1984 1000 km of Nürburgring
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