1986 24 Hours of Le Mans

The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) changed the championship format this year, introducing several shorter-length races among the longer, endurance events. The name was changed to the World Sports-Prototype Championship, to take the emphasis off endurance racing. They also relaxed the fuel-restrictions. The C1 and GTP classes now had 2550 litres, up from 2210 litres, while the Class C2 went up from 1430 to 1650 litres. The fuel-rigs had the fuel-flow adjusted from 50 to 60 litres per minute, trimming the time for a full refuel by about 20 seconds. The ACO also re-initiated the pre-race test-day (last run in 1974), however only 17 cars availed themselves of the opportunity. Finally, the hors course rule was reinstated, again given the number of cars running with mechanical unreliability posed a safety issue to the other cars running at full pace. This time it was modified to apply within the final four hours to disqualify any car that had run less than 60% of the distance of the leader. ==Entries==

The biggest news was the full return of the works Jaguar team to the World Championship, and they had immediate success in the first two races in the series. This brought English fans to Le Mans in record numbers. Lancia had also run those first two races, but being outshone by Porsche and now Jaguar, chose to withdraw and focus on rallying. The increasing interest in Group C now saw Nissan join Toyota and Mazda from Japan in the top classes, to challenge the European manufacturers. With the retirement of Jacky Ickx, the lead #1 car was now run by Derek Bell and Hans-Joachim Stuck, with 1983 winner Al Holbert brought in with them for this race. Bob Wollek had left Lancia at the end of last season. He was promptly picked up by the works team to run the #2 car with Jochen Mass. The third car, just running at Le Mans, and driven by Vern Schuppan and Drake Olson, was fitted with Porsche's experimental, new, dual-clutch PDK transmission that offered automatic electronic gearshifts (and an in-car camera). Brun Motorsport had three cars in the championship this year, made up of a pair of 962Cs (built at their own workshop) and their 956 workhorse. Owner Walter Brun stepped up to the lead car for Le Mans with Massimo Sigala and Frank Jelinski, bought in as a replacement for Stefan Bellof, killed in 1985. The other regular drivers Oscar Larrauri and Jésus Pareja, joined by Joël Gouhier, had the second 962C; while the 956 was driven by Thierry Boutsen/Didier Theys/Alain Ferté. Kremer Racing were also regrouping after the death of their lead driver, Manfred Winkelhock. Austrian Jo Gartner came into the team, having won the Sebring 12 Hours earlier in the year with Stuck and Bob Akin. After a 3rd-place at Silverstone with Tiff Needell, he would race with Sarel van der Merwe and Kunimitsu Takahashi in the 962C. The team also brought out their 956 for Moroccan Max Cohen-Olivar and Frenchmen Pierre Yver and Hubert Striebig. The John Fitzpatrick Racing team, likewise entered their 962C and reliable 956B (in conjunction with the Spanish Danone Porsche team). In the 1985 race, Richard Lloyd's modified 956B had been the only car able to keep up with the Joest car. Now renamed the RLR Liqui Moly team, they had drivers Mauro Baldi, Rob Dyson and Price Cobb. Hans Obermeier's team again returned with their 956. An outlier entry was the ex-Joest Porsche 936CJ car. Last seen in 1983, it had been purchased by German Ernst Schuster and entered again. In total, Porsche would field an impressive armada of 15 cars in the top class. There was also an interesting internal Porsche tyre-battle brewing: Of the major teams, the works team had a long-standing relationship with Dunlop, Kremer had a new contract with Yokohama while Joest, JFR and Richard Lloyd ran with Goodyear. With Lancia's withdrawal, Michelin switched to support the Brun team. Jaguar Cars had been impressed with the strong effort in the past seasons by the American Group 44 Racing team of Bob Tullius. The company thought a full works effort was viable, but instead chose to ally with Tom Walkinshaw Racing - who had latterly been running the Jaguar XJ-S in the ETCC (European Touring Car Championship). Designer Tony Southgate (who had worked with Shadow, Lotus and Theodore in F1) had produced the new XJR-6 model and it had run in the latter-half of last season. In the close-season, much work was done to simplify and lighten the key components. There were concerns, though, regarding the fuel economy as the Silverstone entry had encountered issues toward the end of that race. Nissan followed Mazda and Toyota into the broader Group C series. They had previously run cars in the home races at Fuji Speedway, and in September 1984 they set up NISMO, as a dedicated motorsport division in the company. Its initial thrust was into the IMSA competition with Nissan engines in March chassis. The VG30ET was a new development of the Nissan VG engine. A 3.0-litre V6 unit, with twin Garrett turbos, it could produce 700 bhp. Mazdaspeed stepped up its racing program this year, moving from C2 into the IMSA GTP class. The new Mazda 757 was designed by Nigel Stroud on a honeycomb monocoque chassis and covered with a carbon-fibre/Kevlar bodyshell. It was planned to have a turbo-charged rotary engine, but until that was built, it was fitted with the new 13G, the first triple-rotor Wankel rotary. The three 654cc chambers were given the FIA equivalent of 3924cc and put out 450 bhp. This could get the cars up to 310 kp/h (195 mph). They were much lighter than all the C1 cars, even 40 kg lighter than the little WMs. Two cars came to Le Mans, along with a T-car. The Japanese works drivers returned (Terada, Yorino and Katayama). David Kennedy led the second car, this time joined by Pierre Dieudonné and Mark Galvin. Local engineer/driver Yves Courage continued development of the Cougar C12. Further wind-tunnel work tweaked the aerodynamics, while new 19" rear wheels needed a complete suspension redesign. Overall, the car was now 45 kg lighter. Courage once again had fellow garagista Alain de Cadenet as a co-driver along with F3000 talent Pierre-Henri Raphanel. With the new fuel regulations, the WM Secateva team split its entries with a W85 in each class. The C1 version kept the 2850cc twin-turbo Peugeot engine and could now get up to 370 kp/h (230 mph). Team regulars Pignard and Raulet were joined this year by F1, and Le Mans, veteran François Migault. The C2 car had a modified two-valve 2650cc engine and ZF gearbox, in place of the usual Hewland unit. Team principal Roger Dorchy raced this one, with Claude Haldi and Pascal Pessiot. Despite the recent death of the Rondeau founder, Jean Rondeau, there were two of the cars entered in C1. Graff Racing had heavily modified the bodyshell of their M482, and was fitted with the in-car camera for "La Cinq" TV Channel. The second car was an older M382 that Patrick Oudet had purchased off Christian Bussi. Tim Lee-Davey embarked on a program to modify one of his Tiga GC84 cars to C1 standard. The plan was to fit a turbocharged Cosworth DFL engine, linked to a Hewland transmission and with the Bosch Motronic engine-management system. Lee-Davey had co-owner Australian Neil Crang as co-driver along with John Gimbel. Group C2 Spice Engineering had won the inaugural C2 championship last year and was now building its own cars for the C2 class. They were also commissioned by Pontiac to build cars to compete in the IMSA series, fitted with its engine (as the Spice-Fiero). The benefit to Spice was that the team had access to the wind-tunnel at General Motors in Detroit to refine their aerodynamics. Three chassis were sent to IMSA, one sold to Hugh Chamberlain for a Hart engine, while one stayed with the team to race. Fitted with a 3.3-litre Cosworth DFL, tuned by John Nicholson, they had won the second round at Silverstone. Team principals Gordon Spice and Ray Bellm sequestered Jean-Michel Martin as their third driver for the race. With Spice now building their own cars, Tiga Race Cars targeted their new GC286 model for the IMSA Lights series. Two chassis were also sold to Roy Baker, fitted with the turbocharged Cosworth BDT rally engine, reduced from 1.8 to 1.7-litres. The Écurie Écosse team brought two cars to Le Mans. The new C286 was built on a spare chassis, and now sported a 3-litre Rover V6 engine, as used in the MG Metro rally-car. It could put out 380 bhp. Once again, team-drivers Ray Mallock, David Leslie and Mike Wilds had the car. The team also entered their last season's car, the C285 with its 3.3-litre Cosworth DFL, for three American pay-drivers. Gebhardt Motorsport had had a positive 1985 season and the new JC853 model stepped up fitting the Cosworth DFL, race-tuned by Heini Mader. The team had started the season with a class-win at the Monza "sprint-race", by Frank Jelinski and Stanley Dickens. Two cars were entered for Le Mans but when Jelinski was seconded to the Brun Motorsport team, only the one car arrived – to be driven by Dickens with Pierre de Thoisy and Jean-François Yvon. ADA Engineering returned with their 2-year old JC843, shedding 20 kg and improved suspension. It again had its Cosworth DFL prepared by John Nicholson. This year owner-driver, Ian Harrower, teamed up with Tom Dodd-Noble and Evan Clements. As the Alba works team, Carlo Facetti's Carma FF team had migrated to compete in the IMSA Lights season with the new Alba-Ferrari AR6. So, the only entrant this year was Luigi Taverna's Cosworth-powered AR3. This was the car run the previous year by Grifo Autoracing team, who were embarking on building their own car. After several successful seasons in Group B racing a BMW M1, Jens Winther had moved up to the C2 class with the German URD, fitted with the same BMW M88 engine. Last year's race had ended in retirement, but results through the season had been promising. Winther brought the car back again, with his regular drivers David Mercer and Lars-Viggo Jensen. Gentleman-drivers Louis Descartes and Jacques Heuclin carried on working on their ALD. With the 02 version, they moved the cockpit forward to accommodate a 100-litre fuel cell. The improvements made it faster, now getting up to 290 kp/h (180 mph) and was able lap 20 seconds faster this year. Lucien Roussiaud returned with his 5-year old Rondeau M379C, again prepared by Heini Mader. There was but a single entry in Group B GT, which would turn out to be the final appearance of the BMW M1. Michael Krankenberg's MK Motorsport engaged Helmut Gall (who had taken the class victory in the past two Le Mans) to prepare and race the car, alongside Jean-Paul Libert and Pascal Witmeur. ==Practice and Qualifying==

Once again, the top Porsches were fitted with special 3-litre turbo engines for qualifying – not an option for the normally-aspirated Jaguar team. The variable weather made the circuit very crowded when conditions improved, which in turn made it difficult for the top cars to get clear laps to set their best time. It was Jochen Mass who got the best opportunity, at dusk on the first day, setting a pole time of 3:15.99, over a second slower than the previous year. Stuck put the team car beside him on the front row. The Joest and Brun Porsches (Ludwig and Boutsen respectively) were next with the best Jaguar (Warwick) in fifth (3:21.6). Ludwig had set the top speed on the Hunaudières Straight, clocking 375 kp/h (232 mph). This year, the Saubers were suffering from too much downforce, and they could go no faster than clocking 330 kp/h (205 mph). The best of their cars was Christian Danner qualifying 9th (3:26.7), with de Cadenet putting the Cougar alongside it. The new aerodynamics dropped its top speed by 330 kp/h but improved its lap-time by 11 seconds from last year. This was a good recovery after Raphanel had crashed in the Porsche Curves on the first day. Many of the privateer Porsches had instability problems at high speed. After doing only two laps, Juan Fernandez in the second Fitzpatrick car, found the circuit too daunting and ceded his place to South African George Fouché. Another demoted driver was Philippe Dermagne, in the Cosmik March. Having gone off at Indianapolis on his first lap of the circuit, ripping off the oil-cooler, he then proceeded to return to the pits driving on the racing line, dropping oil all along the circuit. He was dismissed, and his seat taken by Neil Crang. Crang had only managed a handful of laps in the C1 Tiga, when the engine abruptly failed. Only replaced by Friday, there was no time to left for qualifying and the car was excluded by the ACO. The Japanese cars were not even remotely on the pace of the other C1 cars. The GTP Mazdas were 25th and 29th. The two Dome-Toyotas were down in 30th (3:45.3) and 40th. Qualifying for the Nissan team was particularly shambolic, with team manager Greene at loggerheads with his lead drivers. Trying to get them to restrict the turbo-boost, he even resorted to removing the dashboard knobs, only for Hoshino and Hasemi to get the mechanics to wind up the turbos manually. That blew the engines on both cars, losing valuable qualifying time. Greene gave the management an ultimatum that he would walk out if his plan was not listened to. A grumpy James Weaver, sidelined by the team, qualified the older car a lowly 33rd, while the new R86V was 24th (3:41.5) – with a top speed fully 70 kp/h (45 mph) slower than the Porsches and Jaguars. In the C2 class, despite three clutch failures, the new Spice-Fiero set the fastest time by quite a margin: 3:40.4 to be 23rd on the grid. The private Rondeau did well to qualify second, over four seconds behind (3:43.7), just ahead of the works Gebhardt (28th). The GTX Porsche 961 was 26th while the Group B BMW was the final car on the grid, 50th with a 4:08.7. ==Race==

Start The race start reverted to 4pm and this year the honorary starter was Sir John Egan, chairman of Jaguar Cars. An early casualty was Raphanel in the Cougar, losing a door on the first lap. It cost 20 minutes in the pits to replace, only for it to happen again after only 3 laps back on the track. With no more doors left, the crew spent four hours fashioning a substitute out of a sheet of aluminium. A fairly dismal Le Mans ended for Sauber at 11pm. The 'Pesca'/Danner/Quester was steadily working back up the field after their early delay, but a broken gearbox put them out. The other car was already out with engine issues. The motor ran its bearings and its race was run. It was mixed emotions for Stuck, who had driven with Gartner to win the Sebring 12 Hours earlier in the year. Brun Motorsport achieved their great ambition, when their consistency won them the inaugural Teams' Championship. With the Joest team coming second, the works teams of Porsche and Jaguar were beaten back to third equal. Bell and Stuck did win a consecutive Drivers' Championship though. In C2, the Écurie Écosse won the Teams' Championship, while Spice and Bellm took out the C2 Drivers' title. However, the FIA's fixation with Formula 1 and the lack of rules stability was concerning the manufacturers and cracks in the series were starting to appear. ==Official results==

Finishers Results taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACOClass Winners are in Bold text. Did not finish Did not start Class winners • Note: all classes set new distance records for the new circuit configuration. Index of Energy Efficiency • Note: Only the top ten positions are included in this set of standings. Statistics Taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO • Pole Position – J. Mass, #2 Porsche 962C– 3:16.0secs; • Fastest Lap – K. Ludwig, #7 Porsche 956B – 3:23.3secs; • Winning Distance – • Winner's Average Speed – • Attendance – 150,000 ==Notes==