1984 24 Hours of Le Mans

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	New-Man Joest Racing	Henri Pescarolo Klaus Ludwig	Porsche 956B	D	360
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
2	C1	26	Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop	Jean Rondeau John Paul, Jr.	Porsche 956	G	358
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
3	C1	33	Skoal Bandit Porsche Team John Fitzpatrick Racing	David Hobbs Philippe Streiff Sarel van der Merwe	Porsche 956B	Y	351
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
4	C1	9	Brun Motorsport GmbH	Walter Brun Prince Leopold von Bayern Bob Akin	Porsche 956B	D	340
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
5	C1	12	New-Man Joest Racing Schornstein Racing Team	Volkert Merl Dieter Schornstein "John Winter"	Porsche 956	D	340
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
6	C1	11	Porsche Kremer Racing	Vern Schuppan Alan Jones Jean-Pierre Jarier	Porsche 956B	D	337
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
7	C1	20	Brun Motorsport GmbH	Massimo Sigala Oscar Larrauri Joël Gouhier	Porsche 956	D	335
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
8	C1	4	Martini Racing	Bob Wollek Alessandro Nannini	Lancia LC2	D	326
					Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8
9	C1	17	Porsche Kremer Racing	Tiff Needell David Sutherland Rusty French	Porsche 956	D	321
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
10	C2	68	B.F. Goodrich Company	John O'Steen John Morton Yoshimi Katayama	Lola T616	BF	320
					Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotor
11	C2	93	Jean-Philippe Grand Graff Racing	Jean-Philippe Grand Jean-Paul Libert Pascal Witmeur	Rondeau M379	A	310
					Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8
12	C2	67	B.F. Goodrich Company	Jim Busby Boy Hayje Rick Knoop	Lola T616	BF	295
					Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotor
13	C1	37	McCormack and Dodge	Jim Mullen Walt Bohren Alain Ferté	Rondeau M482	G	293
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
14	B	109	Helmut Gall	Philippe Dagoreau Jean-François Yvon Pierre de Thoisy	BMW M1	D	292
					BMW M88/1 3.5 L I6
15	C2	87	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	David Kennedy Jean-Michel Martin Philippe Martin	Mazda 727C	D	291
					Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotor
16	B	106	Claude Haldi	Claude Haldi Altfrid Heger Jean Krucker	Porsche 930	M	285
					Porsche 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6
17	IMSA GTO	122	Raymond Touroul	Raymond Touroul Valentin Bertapelle Thierry Perrier	Porsche 911 SC	M	283
					Porsche 3.0 L Flat-6
18	IMSA GTO	123	Equipe Alméras Fréres	Jean-Marie Alméras Jacques Alméras Tom Winters	Porsche 930	M	268
					Porsche 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6
19	C2	81	Scuderia Jolly Club	Almo Coppelli Davide Pavia Guido Daccò	Alba AR2	A	262
					Giannini Carma FF 2.0 L Turbo I4
20	C2	86	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Pierre Dieudonné Takashi Yorino Yojiro Terada	Mazda 727C	D	261
					Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotor
21	C2	80	Scuderia Jolly Club	Martino Finotto Carlo Facetti Marco Vanoli	Alba AR2	A	258
					Giannini Carma FF 2.0 L Turbo I4
22	B	107	Raymond Boutinaud	Raymond Boutinaud Philippe Renault Giles Guinand	Porsche 928S	?	255
					Porsche 4.7 L V8
23 DNF	IMSA GTP	44	Jaguar Group 44	Brian Redman Doc Bundy Bob Tullius	Jaguar XJR-5	G	291
					Jaguar 6.0 L V12
24 DNF	C1	5	Martini Racing	Paolo Barilla Hans Heyer Mauro Baldi	Lancia LC2	D	275
					Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8
25 DNF	C1	21	Charles Ivey Racing	Alain de Cadenet Allan Grice Chris Craft	Porsche 956	D	274
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
26 DNF	IMSA GTP	61	Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop	Michel Ferté Edgar Dören Preston Henn	Porsche 962	G	247
					Porsche Type-935 2.9 L Turbo Flat-6
27 DNF	C1	14	GTi Engineering	Jan Lammers Jonathan Palmer	Porsche 956	D	239
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
28 DNF	IMSA GTP	40	Jaguar Group 44	Tony Adamowicz John Watson Claude Ballot-Léna	Jaguar XJR-5	G	212
					Jaguar 6.0 L V12
29 DNF	C1	8	New-Man Joest Racing	Stefan Johansson Jean-Louis Schlesser Mauricio de Narváez	Porsche 956	D	170
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
30 DNF	C1	38	Dorset Racing Associates	Nick Faure Mark Galvin Richard Jones	Dome RC82	D	156
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
31 DNF	C1	50	Primagaz	Pierre Yver Bernard de Dryver Pierre-François Rousselot	Rondeau M382	M	155
					Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8
32 DNF	C1	13	Primagaz	Yves Courage Michel Dubois John Jellinek	Cougar C02	M	153
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
33 DNF	C1	47	Obermaier Racing GmbH	Jürgen Lässig George Fouché John Graham	Porsche 956	D	147
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
34 DNF	IMSA GTO	121	Charles Ivey Racing	David Ovey Paul Smith Margie Smith-Haas	Porsche 930	A	146
					Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6
35 DNF	C1	34	Team Australia John Fitzpatrick Racing	Peter Brock Larry Perkins	Porsche 956	D	145
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
36 DSQ†	C1	16	GTi Engineering	Richard Lloyd Nick Mason René Metge	Porsche 956	D	139
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
37 DNF	C1	23	WM Secateva	Roger Dorchy Alain Couderc Gerard Patté	WM P83B	M	122
					Peugeot PRV 2.8 L Turbo V6
38 DNF	C1	6	BP Résidences Malardeau Scuderia Jolly Club	Pierluigi Martini Xavier Lapeyre Beppe Gabbiani	Lancia LC2	D	117
					Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8
39 DNF	B	101	Jens Winther Team Castrol	Jens Winther David Mercer Lars-Viggo Jensen	BMW M1	A	96
					BMW M88/1 3.5 L I6
40 DNF	IMSA GTP	62	Pegasus Racing Ltd.	Ken Marsden Jr. Marion L. Speer Wayne Pickering	March 84G	G	95
					Buick 3.3 L Turbo V6
41 DNF	C1	31	Viscount Downe Aston Martin	Ray Mallock Drake Olson	Nimrod NRA/C2B	A	94
					Aston Martin-Tickford DP1229 5.3 L V8
42 DNF	C1	32	Viscount Downe Aston Martin	John Sheldon Mike Salmon Richard Attwood	Nimrod NRA/C2B	A	92
					Aston Martin-Tickford DP1229 5.3 L V8
43 DNF	C1	24	WM Secateva	Michel Pignard Jean-Daniel Raulet Pascal Pessiot	WM P83B	M	74
					Peugeot PRV 2.8 L Turbo V6
44 DNF	C1	55	Skoal Bandit Porsche Team John Fitzpatrick Racing	Rupert Keegan Guy Edwards Roberto Moreno	Porsche 956	Y	72
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
45 DNF	B	114	Michel Lateste	Michel Lateste Michel Bienvault "Ségolen"	Porsche 930	?	70
					Porsche 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6
46 DNF	C2	70	Spice-Tiga Racing	Gordon Spice Ray Bellm Neil Crang	Tiga GC84	A	69
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
47 DNF	IMSA GTX	27	Scuderia Bellancauto	Roberto Marazzi Maurizio Micangeli Dominique Lacaud	Ferrari 512BB/LM	D	65
					Ferrari 5.0 L Flat-12
48 DNF	C2	48	John Bartlett Racing	François Migault Steve Kempton François Sérvanin	Lola T610	D	52
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
49 DNF	C1	45	Christian Bussi	Christian Bussi Jack Griffin Bruno Ilien	Rondeau M382	D	49
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
50 DNF	C2	79	A.D.A. Engineering	Ian Harrower Bob Wolff Glen Smith	ADA 01	A	42
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
51 DNF	C2	85	Hubert Striebig	Hubert Striebig Jacques Heuclin Noël del Bello	Sthemo SM C2	?	41
					BMW M88/1 3.5 L I6
52 DNF	C2	77	Ecurie Ecosse	Mike Wilds David Duffield David Leslie	Ecosse C284	A	36
					Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8
53 DNF	C1	25	C.A.M.S. Charles Ivey Racing	Dudley Wood John Cooper Barry Robinson	Grid S2	A	10
					Porsche Type-935 2.9 L Turbo Flat-6
DNS	C1	39	Uchida Dome Racing Team	Eje Elgh Stanley Dickens	Dome RC83	D	-
					Ford Cosworth DFL 4.0 L V8
DNS	C2	99	J.Q.F. Engineering Ltd.	Roy Baker Jeremy Rossiter 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

• Pole Position - Bob Wollek, #4 Martini Lancia - 3:17.11
• Fastest Lap - Alessandro Nannini, #4 Martini Lancia - 3:28.90
• Distance - 4,900.276 km (3,044.890 mi)
• Average Speed - 204.178 km/h (126.870 mph)

Notes

References