Matra MS650
The Matra MS650 was a sports car prototype from Matra from 1969.
Development and racing history
Parallel to the construction of the 640 , the further development of which was discontinued by Henri Pescarolo after the serious test accident , Matra was working on a completely new vehicle concept in 1969 . While the previous Matra prototypes were all closed sports cars, the MS650 was the first Spyder. However, since the spelling with “Y” was protected by Porsche , the car received the addition “Spider” internally. In the starting lists of Le Mans , the vehicles and the successor models were also shown as Spiders.
The by Bernard Boyer constructed Spider had a monocoque from aluminum and was driven from its own 3-liter 12-cylinder engine. After the Pescarolo accident, the development of the MS650 was accelerated in order to be prepared for Le Mans , as every year the highlight of the racing activities at Matra. In previous attempts, no Matra sports car had seen the checkered flag at Le Mans.
However, the MS650 turned out to be surprisingly fast and stable. Although Matra benefited from the large number of breakdowns (all Porsche 917s and the two Ferrari 312Ps failed), the cars were able to keep up with the speed of the Porsche 908 over long distances . The team management had sent four works cars into the race and recorded only one retirement. In addition to an MS650, an MS630 was used. There were also two MS630 / 650, two racing cars whose chassis came from the MS630 from the previous year, but which already had the body of the MS650.
After 158 laps, Johnny Servoz-Gavin and Herbert Müller's car , an MS630 / 650, had to be parked with an electrical system damage. Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Piers Courage , the MS650, came in fourth place and were doing the same lap as the third-placed Ford GT40 of David Hobbs and Mike Hailwood . Behind them were Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella in the MS630 in fifth and Nanni Galli with partner Robin Widdows , in the second MS630 / 650, also achieved a top ten result in seventh. Although this success was outshone by the legendary last hour of this race, when Jacky Ickx and Hans Herrmann fought a grand prix-style duel for victory, Matra's relief at the first finish line was great.
At the end of the year, Matra celebrated its first victory in a major sports car race with the MS650. Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo won the 1000 km of Paris in Montlhéry .
At an auction in Paris in April 2009, the winning car from Montlhéry was auctioned for 1,490,646 euros.
literature
- José Rosinski: Matra, La Saga . ETAI, Boulogne 1997, ISBN 2-7268-8301-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ruoteclassiche, Issue No. 244, April 2009, page 130.