Le Mans 24 Hours 1981 | The first ever safety car as tragedy strikes
Vložit
- čas přidán 10. 06. 2024
- More than 50 thoroughbred racecars set off for almost 3,000 miles of fascinating competition for the 1981 running of the Le Mans 24 Hours Race at the Circuit de la Sarthe, with speeds along the infamous Mulsanne straight topping 230mph.
Le Mans legends Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell would lead the Porsche charge in the amazing works 936. Tragically, 1981 entered the record books as the first year in Le Mans history a safety car had been deployed, to slow the field while the aftermath of Thierry Boutsen's horrific 230mph crash was cleared. Shockingly, the safety car was deployed again a few laps later following Jean Louis Lafosse's fatal accident.
Buy the 1981 Le Mans Review:
www.dukevideo.com/prd4018ED/Le-Mans-1981-Download
#lemans #lemans24hours #1980s
Follow us on X: x.com/DukeVideo
Like us on Instagram dukevideo
Check out our Facebook page: dukevideo - Sport
Some say the barrier hammerer is still hammering away to this day...
The old 917 in yellow, fascinating
YES, that beauty caught my eye instantly! I had a yellow 917 A/FX slot car in 1981, I can't remember if I knew of this car back then, all I can remember is news reports of the deaths...the news likes tragedy.
It was a newly built car in 1981. The chassis was built at Kremer's with the original blueprints from 1969. The engine was a flat 12 though.
as much as i love that straight, im glad they added the chicanes to it, the later group c cars were hitting 240mph+ one tire blowout or suspension failure usually ment someone was going to get killed
Nissan still hit 238 mph AFTER the chicanes were installed 🤯
Was it a track surface problem? Not to tout one over the other, but qualifiers at this year's Indy 500 were hitting 240+ entering turn 3 and averaging over 230 mph on a 2.5 mile course with 4 corners...seems like driving in a dead straight line would decrease the chances of a wreck...
@@codymoe4986Mulsanne is essentially French public roads so there's only so much that can be done compared to a purpose built facility like Indy.
There were more accidents after the installation of the chicanes than before. The fatal accidents of Lafosse and Gartner happened accelerating up to the restaurant before the first chicane location so were not due to the long straight. More dangerous accidents have occurred on the run from Mulsanne to Indianapolis. The removal of the long straight was entirely political and not safety based in any way.
Yeah, big difference being hit by a flying car at 240MPH rather than 218mph.......just sayin'
Love Neville Hay, what a voice!
Thank you for this video. 🙏
1981 is my year of birth.
Mine too!
@@victorvance2573 👍
@@romb1818 In April and you?
@@victorvance2573 June
Is this where all the 43 year olds are congregating?
Last 24h before 956 era.
Nice view of the oddball Porsche 917K-81, entered a decade after it's previous exit from the WEC. It was competitive.
No sorry it was not at all competitive despite the field being weak.
The Kremer 917 qualified 17 seconds behind the pole 936, in practice (and the race) it could barely get past 180mph because of the drag from the full width spoiler and the design had left the engine starved of air. It would only rev to 7000rpm instead of 8 so they fitted the bigger 4.9 litre engine for the race and drilled holes all over the engine cover to try and help but it made little difference. It only raced once more that year before being sold to a collector.
@@marks7197 Oops. Thank you for the correction. I read the car had been 'competitive' at a later Brands Hatch event (no idea of the competition) and mistakenly applied it to LM. My bad.
Z&W Enterprises also entered a McLaren M12 as a Mazda in 1981, just as old, maybe even older, it didn't even qualify.
@@peterf1 No worries, the Kremer led very briefly at Brands in the 1000km although a quick look at the entry list makes you realise this wasn't something to boast about.
very sad year for Le Mans, RIP to all those who where killed
As much as I loved watching this old footage of Le Mans from the 1980s with the full four miles of the Mulsanne straight, it is a good thing that the chicanes were added in 1990 to slow it down. Four miles straight at 240+ miles an hour, which the current LMH and LMDh cars would surely be reaching, is just too fast.
Roll on the WE 🏁
I miss these sounds.
I remember when it was just a fact of life that at least one person would get killed in Le Mans or F1 every year.
Thierry Bootsahn (sorry....that pronunciation of Boutsen is a bit off)
If they didn't have balls of steel going round there for a whole day and night, they would've had it surgically implanted!
❤
There is footage of LaFosse's accident which was much worse than the WM's. Why isn't that shown?
Comme l'a si bien dit Pescarolo (4 fois vainqueur au Mans), avant avec les hunaudières, c'était 1 fois à 350 kms, avec les chicanes, c'est 3 fois. Donc 3 fois plus dangereux.
Kinda crazy. Basically like "Look at how this barrier is destroyed! So were going to stand behind it under racing conditions with cars going 230+. If it happens again, well all be dead just like the guys that got killed in the 1st crash" like really? Wtf?
Maybe they recorded it under full-course yellow conditions
童夢が走ってた。
Remove the Mulsanne chicane. Better racing with the full straight. I was at LeMans with no chicane. Real men and machines. Real balls
No need to die absurdly. There already are Top Speed competitions anually in the salt lakes in the USA.
@@julianr.7186Restore the Mulsanne straight. I'd like to see 250 mph speeds again..
@@julianr.7186Both drivers fatal accidents in the 80's happened before the first chicane so nothing to do with speed. The taller Armco was what was required which is what probably saved Win Percy. The run to Indianapolis has always been more dangerous.
The FIA won’t allow it - the track will lose its FIA certification, WEC without LM won’t exist anymore, the end
@@godwindracing6056 LeMans has had some great races that were outside the World Championship, the FIA ended up with too much power.
The safety car is a result of the new properga. You are no longer allowed to decide your own fate . These drivers are fully aware of the dangers ( the same wrisks applies to the tt riders) but big brother decides how far you can go. Eg over 4 hours of this years race behind the safety car as it deemed to dangerous for the best drivers in the world to drive in the dark when it was raining? Let me tell you it always rains at le mans and always will . How long before we have a complete 24 hour race behind the safety car ?