1971 LE MANS 24 HOURS

The Speed Merchants Collection
1971 Le Mans 24 Hours

[@jamesb9575]

"The Golden Age Of Racing" Vic Elford, a gentleman and a true friend, RIP my friend.

[@roland2879]

As a teenager, I followed this race from rare radio flashes, from my native Africa. When I had the pleasure of seeing "for real" all these legendary cars (Montlhéry - Golden Age Cups, Le Mans Classic, etc.), I was amazed. Thank you for sharing these eternal images. Picture of the "Captain" and Donohue is magnificent.

[@jakkovaningen8350]

Gijs van Lennep! Met him a few times over the past year. Amazing storyteller and super nice guy! This generaties of cars and drivers was just unreal ❤

[@375GTB]

Thanks for all the pics of Tony & Sam #12 512M.... First Ferrari home... MEMORIES! J.C.

[@samlancaster1277]

Wonderful memories of the true Golden Age of motor racing. God bless those now departed.

[@375GTB]

Danke Schoen! Ausfahrt! Safe Journey ALLES! J.C.

[@giorgiolazara3367]

Porsche 917 LH .. che bei fanalini posteriori !! Pure X Mr X … Tak ! !

[@aureliobrighton1871]

Beautiful pictures and arrangement. The closeups are magical. I was seven by that time and this brings it to life altogether. Thankyou :).

[@MichelFABRE169]

Talented photographer and driver : congrat’s !

[@fireblademan494]

Great memories for you. Great Photo's for us. Why would anyone hit thumbs down. ? Shows their mentality.

[@karpabla]

Thank you so much!! Very beautiful pictures of one of my favorite LeMans's editions, together with 1970. Beautiful cars, beautiful times, great drivers and characters... What more can we ask for?

[@Inazuma68]

Great pics. Just listened an interview with Wlli Kauhsen. So many funny stories....

[@bennyrees123]

Amazing collection of photos! Thank you for sharing 🙏 A fantastic era.

[@fidelgarat2433]

excellent photography, extrordinary music

[@olivierriviere7527]

Very nice pictures of a golden era of endurance racing. Many of the 917s of this edition are to be seen in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. I spent almost a full hour in front of them remembering this race. I was 13 in 71 and memories are so vivid (my first souvenir of Le Mans is 66).

[@joshuaman1126]

I love the photos I love the photos

[@madrettorfotrop6016]

Absolutely wonderful photo's! A joy to watch. As a yearly visitor from 2004 onwards, it is wonderful to see how charmingly simple everything was back then. Very little distance between the track and the vistors. So accessible and a sort of chaotic entourage. Less buildings and of course the straight Hunaudieres. Things have changed a lot at Le Mans, even in recent years. The entourage on the circuit has become more professional, but also lost a bit of its French charm. No complaining though, still a hell of a wonderful event!

[@jodavies8952]

Fabulous compilation of pics, and you are very talented. The golden era of racing captured in this, the pics on end of Mulsanne are so clear👍

[@franciscoturrillodubois7069]

Thanks for sharing. It was an extraordinary era full of very gifted drivers and incredible cars!

[@arnaudfauchere1769]

🏁Merci pour la vidéo.🏁

[@enricoasdrubali4564]

Bellissime foto, di una Le Mans del periodo migliore: fantastico !

[@dunhamchurches3342]

Great pictures. Only feels like yesterday!

[@fiat6425]

Very good thank's

[@wf1g]

Thanks Michael !!!

[@petermcdevitt3984]

Thank you for posting and sharing. Those 917LHs were amazingly fast on the Mulsanne, I can only imagine the sights and sounds as they came down to the corner. Congratulations on the Class win too. What great memories 😃

[@thethirdman225]

Believe it or not, figures from the ACO speed trap from that year show they were only 3 km/h faster than the fastest Ferrari.

[@petermcdevitt3984]

@@thethirdman225 Those 512 Coda Lunga Ferraris were gorgeous as well as fast.

[@stephanepizzo1240]

fantastic photography, thank you for sharing, those special years

[@thethirdman225]

Yeah, it is good photography. No auto focus back then.

[@ryansoucyracing]

Love your writing in Vintage Motorsports too. Great stories well told.

[@michael1axy]

Thanks for your comments on my stories. Ancient history

[@bloqk16]

In checking the Mark Donohue autobiography: "The Unfair Advantage," co-authored by Paul Van Valkenburgh, the Penske 512M Ferrari was down on power and wasn't as aero slippery as the 917s at Le Mans. Top speed was at 212 mph - 341 Km/h compared to the Porsche 917s attaining 240 mph - 386 km/h. But, four hours into the race the Penske 512M was ahead of the eventual winner of this race; but then a piece of debris clogged an engine oil passage which seized an engine part, ending the race for the Penske team. Prior to the start of the race, Ferrari itself was short of spare engines, as they approached the Penske team to borrow an engine for Michael Parkes's 512. The deal struck was for Ferrari to give the Penske team a new engine after the race. The Parkes's 512 blew up the borrowed engine in the race. Afterwards the Penske team received a 512 engine from Ferrari, but it was not new. Instead, it was a rebuild of the blown engine from Parkes's car. Donohue pulled no punches with regards to the difficulties the Penske team had with Ferrari in that 1971 racing season; along with the challenges the team had with improving on the car's design and materials to make it competitive with the 917s. The Penske/Kirk F. White Ferrari 512M was rebuilt from the ground-up, with what Donohue called a "common sense" approach with re-wiring and re-plumbing the car. Penske even had the body-panels made by an after-market fabricator, where the body parts were lighter and fitted better than the Ferrari original pieces. After reading the experiences the Penske Team/Donohue had with Ferrari with the 512M, one could make a case that Ferrari seemed to be their own worse enemy when it came to compete against Porsche in 1970 and '71. That Sebring win in 1970 for Ferrari was a lucky one; where they almost got beat by a 3 liter Porsche 908 spyder. A piece of trivia about the 5 liter V12 Ferrari engine: It was machined to such tight tolerances that no head gaskets were used to seal the heads to the engine block. Ferrari informed Penske that their engine design did not allow for head gaskets. Hence, when Penske put one of those engines on an engine dynamometer, exhaust gases were seen coming from the seam where the engine head was mated to the engine block. Donohue referred to that engine as *the leaker.*

[@thethirdman225]

The ACO speed trap figures show the highest speed achieved in what was then called “practice” was a Ferrari at 359 km/h and the highest speed achieved in the race was a 917 at 362 km/h: www.mulsannescorner.com/maxspeed.htm In case anyone is getting jaded, that’s still bloody fast.

[@fittipaldi7326]

Awesome information .. thanks

[@roland2879]

@Bloqk: Penske has bitten his fingers to collaborate with "the Old Man". An alliance between Florentines and pragmatists don't bring anything good. I hope the "Captain" can finally get on the top step with Porsche.

[@diddleysquat6644]

Wonderful

[@fittipaldi7326]

Fantastic images ... the quality is superb.

[@rogerwilliamson7161]

Super! Greetings from Germany!

[@angelmarialequericazorrozu1070]

So beautiful collection of pictures!!! :-)

[@SpiritAMX]

Thanks for the great pictures! Brings back some very fond memories since I was fortunate enough to be there for the 1971 and 72 race. I was 17 years old and travelled down to Le Mans by train from Sweden and the hitchhiked back home again... Never forget the song of the Matra V12 going down the Mulsane straight!

[@michael1axy]

Glad you enjoyed the photos. I took them in 1971 and then raced there myself in 1972....which was a little different....

[@SpiritAMX]

@@michael1axy I bet it was a different experience! What car did you race in 72? Took some pictures myself from the grandstands and perhaps you are among them...

[@michael1axy]

@@SpiritAMX #41...Yellow 911ST. My e-mail is [e-mail]

[@thethirdman225]

Good to hear you gave it a red hot go.

[@alaincabeau1827]

Cette année là j'étais aux s d'arnage enceintes populaires

[@signorpippistrello]

Thanks a lot Michael for that awesome collection of really good photographs! This race is rather special to me, not only because the whole style and flair of the day is what even much younger people like me miss in today’s motorsports. It was also one of the few Austrian victories in that event, the first being achieved by Jochen Rindt (Helmut Marko‘s close friend, Ferrari‘s last #1), the last two by Alexander Wurz. The fact that Marko and Van Lennep did it in THE most iconic race car ever and set a distance record unbroken for about 30 years makes this one even cooler. Little piece of criticism: music always polarizes the audience, but I would have gone with something from the era at least. Anyway big THX again for sharing those great memories with us!

[@michael1axy]

Thanks. You can reply to me at [e-mail]

[@robertotriulzi331]

Complimenti filmato e foto eccezionale,grazie

[@DSW964]

Awesome!

[@julianlockwood3040]

I feel lucky to have been at Le Mans for the height of the Group C era. Perhaps this was even better?

[@WindTunnelRacing]

Helmut Marko For The Win!!

[@slottestsuperlativeslottes2163]

Very Nice Video...I´ll share it in my facebook!

[@hectordelgado3162]

Falto una fotografía del mejor piloto: Pedro Rodríguez.. Y el orden correcto de los pilotos es RODRÍGUEZ /OLIVER

[@petr7856]

Good choice, sitting behind the wheel rather than holding on to a piece of glass and camera body attached thereto!

[@alexpalermo682]

[@americobeirao5869]

Sensacional!!!!

[@thethirdman225]

10:04 look at how that driver's side window has popped.

[@mattg432]

Not popped, intentionally enlarged "bubble" to fit tall drivers.

[@colinspasm3329]

Hello, I wonder if you could help me. My father worked for Gulf Porsche up to 1972 (I think) and it would seem to me that you both had ' unrestricted access ' to the pits and drivers because the collection of photographs I have are (rubbish compared to yours being honest!) very similar in content. His name was Hugh Flannery and would have been in his late 30s at the time. From what I can gather he was a manager of sorts, a problem solver maybe, I'm not sure. No worries if you don't know. I've recently uncovered 10 reels of 8mm film that I never knew existed, 2 of which are from le Mans 72, just waiting for a new projector bulb! If you'd like to see any of the photos I'd be happy to show you privately. Thank you. Nick.

[@michael1axy]

You can e-mail me at [e-mail] - Michael Keyser

[@dennisesplin3285]

Michael.... I wonder what happened to the miles of footage not used in the Le Man's movie. Possibly distroyed. Nowadays a valuable archive.

[@michael1axy]

Someone recently found all the unused footage from Le Mans and there was an article about that, but I don't recall where.....

[@dennisesplin3285]

@@michael1axy Thanks for that. Best wishes.