Le Mans 24 hour race 1966

Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon's victorious Ford GT40 in the Esses. Behind the crashed Ford of Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant

In the 1960s, cars involved in an accident simply stopped at the edge of the track. The scrap yard shows the CD SP66 (# 53) from Georges Heligouin and Johnny Rives, the Ferrari 330P3 from Mike Parkes / Ludovico Scarfiotti and the Matra MS620 from Jo Schlesser and Alan Rees.

The Holman-Moody-Ford GT40 Mk.II with the starting number 5, here at the Goodwood Festival of Speed ​​2009. Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson drove this car to third place in the overall standings.

Another Holman Moody Mk.II. The car with starting number 6, driven by Lucien Bianchi and Mario Andretti, broke down prematurely due to an overheated cylinder.

The CD SP66 with the starting number 52. The racing car driven by a 1.4-liter Peugeot engine was driven by Pierre Lelong and Alain Bertaut; Failure after 19 laps due to clutch damage.

The 34th 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 34 ^e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans , took place from 18 to 19 June 1966 the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The race

Before the race

As in almost all previous years, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest made an amendment to the regulations before this 24-hour race. A new sports car class was introduced in which vehicles were allowed to start, of which at least 50 had been built. The GT class, which had existed since 1958 , suffered from a lack of participants in 1966. Only five vehicles were registered, of which only four took part in the race.

The vehicles

Most of the starters were Ford . Eight 7-liter GT40 Mk.II and five 5-liter GT40 were brought to Le Mans. Used by different teams, all vehicles had factory support from Dearborn and the use of the cars was coordinated by Ford Motorsport Director Lee Beebe. The 7-liter cars were registered in the unlimited prototype class, the 5-liter cars in the sports car class. During the training session, the ACO and the Ford team management broke out. In the first session, Dick Thompson , who shared a Mk.II with Graham Hill , collided with Richard Holquist's private GT40 . The 5-liter Ford used by Scuderia Bear was so badly damaged that it was unable to take part in the race. As a result, the ACO wanted to prevent the Thompson / Hill-Ford from participating in the race. As a result, the angry Beebe threatened officials with the withdrawal of all Ford racing cars. As a compromise, after some negotiations, Dick Thompson had to give up his start and was replaced by the Australian Brian Muir .

A total of eleven Ferraris were at the start. The works team brought two 330P3 to the Sarthe . The prototypes were driven by Lorenzo Bandini , Jean Guichet , Ludovico Scarfiotti and Mike Parkes . The North American Racing Team from Luigi Chinetti had next to a P3 with the customer version of this car, the 365P2 , satisfied. The Dino 206S were used in the small prototype class .

Porsche brought seven vehicles to Le Mans. Six Porsche 906 Carrera and one Porsche 911 . This is how this type of Porsche vehicle made its Le Mans debut. Jim Hall brought a Chaparral 2D to the Sarthe from the USA . The prototype, powered by a 7-liter Chevrolet engine, was driven by three-time overall Le Mans winner Phil Hill and the Swede Joakim Bonnier . Aside from Ferrari, there were three remarkable designs from Italy. On the one hand the new Bizzarrini P 538 , which Giotto Bizzarrini had developed in the same year. There were also two other interesting new developments with the Serenissima Jungla and the ASA RB613.

The host country France was mainly represented by the new Alpine A210 and the CD SP66 from Charles Deutsch .

The course of the race

The race was less than eight laps old when the Swiss Edgar Berney with the Bizzarrini P 538 lost control of the car on the start and finish straight and crashed into a barrier. The car was so badly damaged that it was impossible to continue driving. At this point, three 7-liter Fords were already in the lead and Dan Gurney , who drove the # 3 Shelby American Ford, was starting to break away from the field by driving record laps. During this phase, the American drove a new lap record with an average speed of 230.103 km / h. The best Ferrari, the North American Racing 330P3, driven by Richie Ginther , was fifth in the overall standings at the time. In the early evening hours, the chaparral failed with a defective battery. At the top, Denis Hulme briefly replaced the number 3 Ford, in which Jerry Grant now sat.

That night, Richie Ginther briefly took the lead before the Ferrari crashed due to a gearbox failure. But there were a lot of failures, especially at Ford. The Grant / Gurney car was the same as the Essex Wire Corporation's GT40. It was there that Jacky Ickx , who was only 21 years old and later six-time overall winner, made his Le Mans debut.

The dead race

By early Sunday afternoon, not only had Ferrari lost all prototypes due to defects and accidents, the failure rate was also high at Ford. Of the 12 racing cars, only three were left in the race, with Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson's Mk.II , who was third overall, already 12 laps behind and suffered from a slipping clutch.

Henry Ford II , who had the honor of opening the race as a guest starter, wanted total triumph. After 23 hours and just before the last pit stop, Ken Miles , Denis Hulme's team-mate and long-time test and field driver from Ford (car number 1), was just under a lap and thus almost 4 minutes ahead of Bruce McLaren's Mk.II (car number 2) ) in the lead. McLaren shared the controls of this car with his compatriot Chris Amon . At the last stop, both drivers were told that there would be a dead end between the two leading Fords. Ken Miles therefore waited for Bruce McLaren after a few slow laps, and the two Fords drove around the course with a small gap in the final hour of the race. Henry Ford had asked the ACO whether a dead race and thus two winning vehicles were even possible. The answer was negative. Why the Ford executives did not inform their two drivers about the changed situation remains unclear to this day. Various speculations are made about this in the publications. The most likely assumption is that Henry Ford did not want to take any more risks and that, in a free race, the lead carriages, which are far too close together, could cause each other to break down. The Bucknum / Hutcherson car (starting number 5), which now only drives slowly and slowly - NASCAR driver Hutcherson contested his first sports car race at Le Mans - was nine laps ahead of the Porsche of Joseph Siffert and Colin Davis , but it was uncertain whether the car would reach its destination.

Shortly after the two Fords with starting numbers 1 and 2 crossed the finish line in this order at a distance of 15 yards (approx. 13.7 meters) and were waved off, the confusion among the drivers was great. All four drivers thought they had won the race, but the ACO declared Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon (car number 2) the winning team. It was the tightest Le Mans finish ever. Both vehicles had achieved the same average speed of 210.795 km / h, and in the end 25 yards (approx. 22.9 meters) decided between victory and defeat, because the McLaren / Amon car was 40 yards (approx. 36.6 m) behind the Miles / Hulme racing car on the grid, and the - albeit very short - additional distance of 25 yards made Ken Miles one of the most unlucky runners-up at Le Mans.

Hutcherson dragged his battered Ford (car number 5) to third place overall, followed by four Porsche Carrera. The best Alpine crossed the finish line in ninth place. The only British vehicle in the final classification was the Marcos Mini GT , which Jean-Louis Marnat and Claude Ballot-Léna - who like Jacky Ickx made his Le Mans debut - drove to 15th place overall. The prototype class up to 1.3 liters of displacement ended with a quadruple triumph for Alpine , led by Henri Grandsire and Leo Cella in the Alpine A210 .

Results

Pilots by nationality

32 French	18 Americans	17 British	9 Italians	8 Belgians
6 Swiss	5 Germans	3 Australians	3 New Zealanders	3 Sweden
1 Austrian	1 fin	1 Mexican	1 South African

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	P +5.0	2	Shelby-American Inc.	Bruce McLaren Chris Amon	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	' F ' G	360
2	P +5.0	1	Shelby-American Inc.	Ken Miles Denis Hulme	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	G	360
3	P +5.0	5	Holman & Moody	Ronnie Bucknum Dick Hutcherson	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	G	348
4th	P 2.0	30th	Porsche System Engineering	Joseph Siffert Colin Davis	Porsche 906 / 6L Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	D.	339
5	P 2.0	31	Porsche System Engineering	Hans Herrmann Herbert Linge	Porsche 906 / 6L Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	D.	338
6th	P 2.0	32	Porsche System Engineering	Udo Schütz Peter de Klerk	Porsche 906 / 6L Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	D.	337
7th	S 2.0	58	Porsche System Engineering	Günter Klass Rolf Stommelen	Porsche 906/6 Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	D.	330
8th	GT 5.0	29	Maranello Concessionaires	Piers Courage Roy Pike	Ferrari 275 GTB / C	Ferrari 3.3L V12		313
9	P 1.3	62	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Henri Grandsire Leo Cella	Alpine A210	Renault 1.3L I4		311
10	GT 5.0	57	Ecurie Francorchamps	Pierre Noblet Claude Dubois	Ferrari 275 GTB	Ferrari 3.3L V12		310
11	P 1.3	44	Ecurie Savin-Calberson	Jacques Cheinisse Roger Delageneste	Alpine A210	Renault 1.3L I4		307
12	P 1.3	45	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Guy Verrier Robert Bouharde	Alpine A210	Renault 1.3L I4		307
13	P 1.3	46	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Mauro Bianchi Jean Vinatier	Alpine A210	Renault 1.3L I4		306
14th	GT 2.0	35	Jacques Dewez	Jacques Dewez Jean Kerguen	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6		284
15th	P 1.3	50	Jean-Louis Marnat & Cie	Claude Ballot-Léna Jean-Louis Marnat	Marcos Mini GT 2 + 2	BMC 1.3L I4		258
Disqualified
16	P +5.0	11	Prototip Bizzarrini SAL	Sam Posey Massimo Natili	Bizzarrini Super America Stradale A3C	Chevrolet 5.4L V8		39
Failed
17th	S 2.0	33	Porsche System Engineering	Peter Gregg Sten Axelsson	Porsche 906/6 Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	D.	321
18th	P +5.0	3	Shelby-American Inc.	Dan Gurney Jerry Grant	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	G	257
19th	P 1.3	49	Donald Healey Motor Company	Paddy Hopkirk Andrew Hedges	Austin-Healey Sprite Le Mans	BMC 1.3L I4		237
20th	S 5.0	14th	Scuderia Filipinetti	Peter Sutcliffe Dieter Spoerry	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Ford 4.7L V8		233
21st	P 5.0	21st	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Lorenzo Bandini Jean Guichet	Ferrari 330P3	Ferrari 4.0L V8	F.	226
22nd	GT 5.0	26th	Ed Hugus	Giampiero Biscaldi Michel de Bourbon-Parma	Ferrari 275 GTB	Ferrari 3.3L V12		218
23	S 5.0	28	Equipe Nationale Belge	Gustave Gosselin Eric de Keyn	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12		218
24	P 1.3	47	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Berndt Jansson Pauli Toivonen	Alpine A210	Renault 1.3L I4		217
25th	S 5.0	59	Essex Wire Corporation	Peter Revson Skip Scott	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Ford 4.7L V8	G	212
26th	S 5.0	15th	Ford France SA	Guy Ligier Bob Grossman	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Ford 4.7L V8	G	205
27	P 5.0	19th	Scuderia Filipinetti	Willy Mairesse Herbert Müller	Ferrari 365P2	Ferrari 4.4L V12		166
28	S 5.0	60	Essex Wire Corporation	Jochen Neerpasch Jacky Ickx	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Ford 4.7L V8	G	154
29	P 5.0	27	North American Racing Team	Richie Ginther Pedro Rodríguez	Ferrari 330P3 Spyder	Ferrari 4.0L V12	G	151
30th	P 1.3	28	Donald Healey Motor Company	John Rhodes Clive Baker	Austin-Healey Sprite Le Mans	BMC 1.3L I4		134
31	P 5.0	17th	Ecurie Francorchamps	Jean Blaton Pierre Dumay	Ferrari 365P2	Ferrari 4.4L V12		129
32	P 5.0	20th	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Ludovico Scarfiotti Mike Parkes	Ferrari 330P3	Ferrari 4.0L V12	F.	123
33	P 1.15	55	Société des Automobiles Alpine	André de Cortanze Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	Alpine A210	Renault 1.0L I4		118
34	P 2.0	41	Matra Sports SARL	Johnny Servoz-Gavin Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra MS620	BRM 1.9L V8		112
35	P +5.0	9	Chaparral Cars	Phil Hill Joakim Bonnier	Chaparral 2D	Chevrolet 5.4L V8	F.	111
36	P +5.0	7th	Alan Mann Racing Ltd.	Graham Hill Brian Muir	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	G	110
37	P 2.0	34	Auguste Veuillet	Robert Buchet Gerhard Koch	Porsche 906/6 Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6		110
38	P 2.0	42	Matra Sports SARL	Jo Schlesser Alan Rees	Matra M620	BRM 1.9L V8		100
39	P +5.0	6th	Holman & Moody	Mario Andretti Lucien Bianchi	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	F.	97
40	P 1.15	53	SEC Automobiles Charles German	Georges Heligouin Johnny Rives	CD SP66	Peugeot 1.1L I4		91
41	P 5.0	18th	North American Racing Team	Masts Gregory Bob Bondurant	Ferrari 365P2	Ferrari 4.4L V12		88
42	P 1.15	51	SEC Automobiles Charles German	Claude Laurent Jean-Claude Ogier	CD SP66	Peugeot 1.1L I4		54
43	P 1.3	54	North American Racing Team	François Pasquier Robert Mieusset	ASA RB613	Ferrari 1.3L I4		50
44	P 5.0	24	Scuderia San Marco	Jean-Claude Sauer Jean de Mortemart	Serenissima Jungla GT Spyder	ATS 3.5L V8		40
45	P 2.0	43	Matra Sports SARL	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud Henri Pescarolo	Matra M620	BRM 1.9L V8		38
46	P 5.0	16	Maranello Concessionaires	Richard Attwood David Piper	Ferrari 365P2 Spyder	Ferrari 4.4L V12		33
47	P 1.3	61	ASA	Spartaco Dini Ignazio Giunti	ASA RB613	Ferrari 1.3L I4		31
48	P +5.0	8th	Alan Mann Racing Ltd.	John Whitmore Frank Gardner	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	G	31
49	P 1.15	52	SEC Automobiles Charles German	Pierre Lelong Alain Bertaut	CD SP66	Peugeot 1.1L I4		19th
50	P 2.0	36	Maranello Concessionaires	Mike Salmon David Hobbs	Ferrari Dino 206S	Ferrari 2.0L V6		14th
51	P +5.0	4th	Holman & Moody	Mark Donohue Paul Hawkins	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	F.	12
52	P 2.0	38	North American Racing Team	Charlie Kolb George Follmer	Ferrari Dino 206S	Ferrari 2.0L V6		9
53	P +5.0	10	Prototip Bizzarrini SRL	Edgar Berney André Wicky	Bizzarrini P 538	Chevrolet 5.4L V8		8th
54	S 5.0	12	FR English Ltd.	Innes Ireland Jochen Rindt	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Ford 4.7L V8	G	8th
55	P 2.0	25th	Scuderia San Marco	Nino Vaccarella Mario Casoni	Ferrari Dino 206S	Ferrari 2.0L V6		7th
Not started
56	S 5.0	63	Scuderia Bear	Richard Holquist MRJ Wyllie Bruce Jennings	Ford GT40	Ford 4.7L V8	G	1
57	P 1.3	46	Société Automobiles Alpine	Henri Grandsire André de Cortanze Jean-François Piot Michel Weber Claude Dubois	Alpine M65	Renault 1.3L I4		2
reserve
58	P + 5.0	10	Holman & Moody	Fred Lorenzen Denis Hulme Ken Miles Bruce McLaren Chris Amon Lucien Bianchi Graham Hill Jackie Stewart	Ford GT40 Mk IV	Ford 7.0L V8	G	3
59	S 5.0	32	Alan Mann Racing Ltd.	Robert Johnson Tom Payne John Whitemore Frank Gardner	Ford GT40	Ford 4.7L V8	G	4th
60	P 2.0	60	WH Aldington	Michael D'Udy	Porsche 906/6 Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6		5
61	GT 3.0	64	Fernand Tavano	André de Cortanze Gérard Larrousse	Ferrari 250 GTO	Ferrari 3.0L V12		6th
62	S 2.0	76	Autodelta SpA	Carlo Zuccoli Romano Martini	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ / 2			7th
63	S 2.0	80	Nicolas Koob	Nicolas Koob Pierre Marx	Lotus Elan			8th
64	P 1.15	91	SEC Automobiles Charles German	Roger Delageneste Jean Rolland	CD SP66	Peugeot 1.1L I4		9

¹ Accident during training ² Training car ³ Test car ⁴ Reserve ⁵ Reserve ⁶ Reserve ⁷ Reserve ⁸ Reserve ⁹ Reserve

Only in the entry list

Here you can find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race, but did not take part for various reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires
65	P	5	Shelby-American Inc.	Bruce McLaren Chris Amon Jerry Grant Walt Hansgen	Ford GT40 MK.IV	Ford 7.0L V8
66	S.	12	Essex Wire Corporation	Bob Bondurant Dick Thompson	Ford GT40	Ford 7.0L V8
67	P	22nd	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Giancarlo Baghetti Umberto Maglioli	Ferrari 330P3	Ferrari 4.0L V8
68	P	23	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Bob Bondurant Nino Vaccarella	Ferrari 330P3	Ferrari 4.0L V8
69	P	25th	Scuderia Serenissima	Louis Corberto Jean-Claude Sauer	Serenissima 308 Jet	ATS 3.5L V8
70	P	31	Alan Mann Racing Ltd.	David Piper Peter Procter	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8
71	S.	31	Robert Buchet	Robert Buchet	Porsche 906/6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6
72	P	37	Pierre Dumay	Pierre Dumay Gustave Gosselin	Ferrari Dino 206S	Ferrari 2.0L V6
73	P	39	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Giampiero Biscaldi Mario Casoni	Ferrari Dino 206S	Ferrari 2.0L V6
74	P	40	Ferrari SEFAC Spa		Ferrari Dino 206S	Ferrari 2.0L V6
75	S.	48	North American Racing Team		Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12
76	S.	56	Porsche System Engineering	Colin Davis Peter Nöcker Robert Buchet	Porsche 906/6 Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6
77	S.	73	Autodelta SpA	Giacomo Russo Teodoro Zeccoli	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ / 2
78	S.	74	Autodelta SpA	Jean Rolland	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ / 2
79	S.	75	Autodelta SpA	Roberto Bussinello Andrea de Adamich	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ / 2
80	S.	77	Ecurie Francorchamps	Jacques Patte Teddy Pilette Eric de Keyn	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ / 2
81	S.	78	Ecurie Francorchamps	Camille Demoulin Gérard Langlois van Ophem Georges Harris	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ / 2
82	P		Société des Automobiles Alpine	Roly Weber Robert Bouharde Michel Weber Rico Steinemann Vincent Palmaro	Alpine A210	Renault 1.0L I4
83	P		Société des Automobiles Alpine	Henri Grandsire André le Guellec	Alpine A210	Renault 1.0L I4
84	P		Maranello Concessionaires		Ferrari 330P3	Ferrari 4.0L V8
85	P		Maranello Concessionaires		Ferrari 330P3	Ferrari 4.0L V8
86	S.		Ed Hugus		Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12
87	P		Porsche System Engineering	Hans Herrmann Herbert Linge	Porsche 907/8	Porsche 2.2L Flat-8
88	P		Porsche System Engineering	Colin Davis Gerhard Mitter	Porsche 907/8	Porsche 2.2L Flat-8
89	GT		Porsche System Engineering	Herbert Linge Fritz Huschke from Hanstein Jean Kerguen	Porsche 911	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6
90	P		Shelby American Inc.	Walt Hansgen	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8
91	S.	1	Cinquante Cinq	Tony Settember Ed Freutel	AC Shelby Cobra	Ford 4.8L V8
92	P	11	Holman & Moody	Umberto Maglioli Mike Spence	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8
93	P	12	Scuderia Filipinetti	Willy Mairesse Jochen Neerpasch Arthur Blank Herbert Müller Innes Ireland	Ford GT40	Ford 4.8L V8
94	P	12	Scuderia Filipinetti	Peter Harper Dieter Spoerry	AC Shelby Cobra	Ford 4.8L V8
95	P	13	Scuderia Filipinetti	Gustave Gosselin Claude Dubois Georges Hacquin	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8
96	GT	14th	Denis Veyrat		Chevrolet Corvette
97	P	18th	Peter Weisman	Willy Mairesse Jim Hurtubise	Arciero Mk.II
98	S.	22nd	Nick Cussons	Nick Cusson's Richard Bond	Ford GT40	Ford 4.8L V8
99	S.	25th	FR English Ltd.	Jochen Rindt Innes Ireland	Ford GT40	Ford 4.8L V8
100	S.	28	Peter Sutcliffe	Peter Sutcliffe Innes Ireland	Ford GT40	Ford 4.8L V8
101	S.	33	Alan Mann Racing Ltd.	Graham Hill Jackie Stewart Paul Hawkins	Ford GT40	Ford 4.8L V8
102	P	34	Peter Weisman	Roger McClusky Bud Tingelstad	Arciero Mk.II
103	S.	43	Arthur Swanson	Arthur Swanson Robert Ennis	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12
104	S.	47	Jackie Epstein	Paul Hawkins Jackie Epstein	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12
105	S.	50	Edward Worswick	Edward Worswick Alan Minshaw	Austin-Healey 3000	BMC 3.0L I6
106	P	51	Morgan Motor Company	Chris Lawrence Chris Donor	Morgan Plus 4
107	S.	66	Albert Cognet	Albert Cognet Roger Riviere	Porsche 904GTS	Porsche 2.0L Flat-4
108	S.	67	Christian Poirot		Porsche 904GTS	Porsche 2.0L Flat-4
109	GT	71	Young Barf Racing	Sherman Decker Robert Buchet	Volvo P1800	Volvo 1.8L I4
110	P	79	Guy Mismaque	Michel Dagorne Alain LeGuellec	Mismaque	Renault 1.6L I4
111	P	95	Ecurie Maine	Marcel Martin Jean Mésange	Fiat-Abarth 1000SP
112	P	96	Alejandro de Tomaso	Pierre Noblet Franco Bernabei	De Tomaso Mangusta	Ford 4.8L V8

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Index of Performance	Joseph Siffert	Colin Davis	Porsche 906 / 6L Carrera 6	Rank 4
Index of Thermal Efficiency	Jacques Cheinisse	Roger Delageneste	Alpine A210	Rank 11
Prototype Unlimited	Bruce McLaren	Chris Amon	Ford GT40 MK II	Overall victory
Prototype 1601-2000 cm³	Joseph Siffert	Colin Davis	Porsche 906 / 6L Carrera 6	Rank 4
Prototype 1151-1300 cc	Henri Grandsire	Leo Cella	Alpine A210	Rank 9
Sports car	Günter Klass	Rolf Stommelen	Porsche 906/6 Carrera 6	Rank 7
GT car 3001-5000 cm³	Piers Courage	Roy Pike	Ferrari 375 GTB / C	Rank 8
GT car 1601–2000 cm³	Jacques Dewez	Jean Kerguen	Porsche 911S	Rank 14

Racing data

• Registered: 112
• Started: 55
• Valued: 15
• Race classes: 8
• Spectators: 350,000
• Honorary starter of the race: Henry Ford II , chairman of the board of directors of Ford Motor Company
• Weather on the race weekend: warm and dry on Saturday, rainy on Sunday
• Route length: 13.461 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 360
• Distance of the winning team: 4843.090 km
• Winner's average: 201.795 km / h
• Pole position: Dan Gurney - Ford GT40 MK II (# 3) - 3: 30.600 = 230.103 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Dan Gurney - Ford GT40 MK II (# 3) - 3: 30.600 = 230.103 km / h
• Racing series: Round 7 of the 1966 World Sports Car Championship

reception

The 2019 motorsport film Le Mans 66 - Against Any Chance picks up on many details of the race, especially the close finish.

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : Le Mans 24 Hours 1966  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• About the race

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information about the race
2. ↑ Brooklands, Le Mans, The Ford an Matra Years 1966-1975 Amon and McLaren started on Firestone tires and switched to Goodyear that night

Previous race 1000 km race on the Nürburgring 1966

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 500 km Mugello race in 1966