Finally, a brand-new chassis (only unveiled a month before) was built (A443) that had a 15cm longer wheelbase and was broader to carry wider wheels. Two short-tail chassis from the last season were given the new engine (A442A), while another was given a longer chassis (A442B). They did unprecedented testing, covering over 10,000 miles (16,000 km) at Circuit Paul Ricard and Istres airfield. The chassis also got scrutiny, with side-skirts and a Perspex bubble-canopy trialled. Īfter a disastrous showing the previous year, Renault Alpine did extensive work on the 2.0-litre twin-turbo engines, making over thirty modifications. Jochen Mass and Reinhold Joest were designated as reserve drivers. Americans Hurley Haywood and Peter Gregg were given the winning car from 1976 and '77, still fitted with the twin-cam, single-turbo engine. For Wollek, it was his first drive with the works team, after fulfilling a prior commitment with Kremer the year before. Jürgen Barth had a new co-driver in Bob Wollek, driving the car that failed to finish last year fitted with the new engine. Once again, the endurance experts Jacky Ickx and Henri Pescarolo were paired up, and given the new car. The cars were also fitted with the same gearboxes the Can-Am Porsche 917s had used to handle the great engine power. The extra engine power meant higher running temperatures and for the first time, Porsche had water-cooling, combined with its regular air-cooling. Wound up to 1.7bar, it was a bit slower at top speed 345 kp/h (215 mph) but overall, with new aerodynamics, much faster around a complete lap. The 2140cc engine with twin KKK ( Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch) turbos had been enhanced with quads-cams and at 1.4bar of turbo boost now put out 580 bhp. Note: The first number is the number of arrivals, the second the number who started.ĭefending winners, the Martini-Porsche works team, brought back the 936 for its only race of the season.Once again, the only manufacturer works teams were from Porsche and Renault, bolstered by entries from small-scale racing specialists Mirage, Osella and WM. The ACO received only 70 applications, the smallest number in a decade with 60 chosen for qualification with a further 7 kept on reserve. Finally, the Daytona-Le Mans Trophy was repeated. Not sanctioned by the FIA, it was a series that linked American races at Daytona, Sebring and Talladega with Le Mans and the Nürburgring. IMSA also inaugurated the World Challenge for Endurance Drivers. The IMSA regulations allowed a lower minimum weight and wider rear wheels than Group 5. This, in turn, meant the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) could merge the IMSA and GTX into a single class. This year, the IMSA GT Championship added the Le Mans GTX class to the incumbent GTO and GTU classes. No changes were made to the race regulations. With the predictable demise of the FIA Championship for Group 6 ( World Championship for Sports Cars), Le Mans was left as the only significant race that combined Group 6 and Group 5 racecars. The race also saw several high-speed crashes on the Mulsanne straight, but fortunately only one driver was seriously injured. Porsche were second and third, the remaining Renault fourth with the Porsche 935s of customer teams in the next four places. Although the second-placed Porsche pulled back two laps, this time Renault would not be denied, and Pironi took the flag for a popular local victory with a record race-distance. The sister car of Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi inherited the lead, with a 7-lap margin over the Porsches. When the lead Renault stopped on the circuit with a jammed gearbox, there was a sense of déjà vu for the French team. But a loss of fifth gear cost them half an hour to repair it. Once again he set about driving back through the field during the night, getting up to second by midnight behind the Jabouille/ Depailler car. Like the year before, after the Ickx / Pescarolo car had early problems, Ickx was transferred to the second Porsche of Barth/ Wollek. Renault soon established a solid hold of the top three positions. This time it was the Porsche team that had reliability issues – on only the second lap of the race two of their cars were in the pits. The race was not valid (did not count points) for any championship. In many ways it was a continuation of the race from the year before – the two main protagonists would be the very evenly-matched works teams of Alpine-Renault and Porsche, with four cars each. The 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 46th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 10 and 11 June 1978.
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