The 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 54th Grand Prix of Endurance as well as the third round of the 1986 World Sports-Prototype Championship. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, France, on 31 May and 1 June 1986. This year saw the return of a full Jaguar works team, to take on the strong Porsche works and customer teams. However, with the fuel regulations relaxed, the turbo-charged cars would be able to use more of their potential power to outrun the normally-aspirated 6-litre Jaguars.
Although the works Porsche team locked out the front row of the grid, the Joest car (victor in 1984 and 1985) took the challenge to them from the start of the race and holding the lead till nightfall. The Jaguar team was competitive but gradually fell behind, leading the rest of the field until forced out with transmission and suspension problems. Early on Sunday morning, third-placed Jochen Mass crashed out when he hit the C2 class-leading Ecosse of Mike Wilds who had spun on oil dropped in the Porsche Curves. Soon after however, there was a far worse incident when Jo Gartner was involved in a violent accident at very high speed as he accelerated onto the back straight. A transmission failure speared the Kremer Porsche into the barriers, and then got airborne hitting a telephone pole before ending upside down on fire, killing the driver instantly. The race was put behind pace cars for two hours to repair the damage.
While behind the pace-car the Joest car's engine failed, ending their chance for a third victory. From there, the works Porsche of Derek Bell and Hans-Joachim Stuck was untroubled and took a comfortable victory by a margin of 8 laps over the Brun Porsche of Oscar Larrauri, Jesús Pareja and Joël Gouhier. Bell joined an elite group of drivers with four Le Mans victories. Despite being the last classified finisher after a number of delays, the new Spice-Fiero won the Index of Thermal Efficiency prize.
Regulations The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) changed the championship format this year, introducing several shorter-length races among the longer, endurance events. The name was changed to the World Sports-Prototype Championship, to take the emphasis off endurance racing.Hamilton 1986, p.202Spurring 2012, p.236Wimpffen 2008, p.186 They also relaxed the fuel-restrictions. The C1 and GTP classes now had 2550 litres, up from 2210 litres, while the Class C2 went up from 1430 to 1650 litres. The fuel-rigs had the fuel-flow adjusted from 50 to 60 litres per minute, trimming the time for a full refuel by about 20 seconds.
FISA was risking alienating the manufacturers, with little consultation, with rules changes notified with relatively short notice. The Sports-Prototype Commission had only a single manufacturer's representative with the majority being from the race-tracks.
The public roads section of the circuit got a small modification this year. The département installed a roundabout at the Mulsanne corner as it was an accident black-spot. This in turn necessitated a section be built bypassing the roundabout, shortening the racetrack by 98 metres (320 feet). After the serious accidents in the previous year's race, the ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest) started putting triple-tier Armco along the length of the Hunaudières straight.Clarke 1999, p.60 Motor May 31, 1986 The ACO also re-initiated the pre-race test-day (last run in 1974), however only 17 cars availed themselves of the opportunity.
Finally, the hors course rule was reinstated, again given the number of cars running with mechanical unreliability posed a safety issue to the other cars running at full pace. This time it was modified to apply within the final four hours to disqualify any car that had run less than 60% of the distance of the leader.
Entries The biggest news was the full return of the works Jaguar team to the World Championship, and they had immediate success in the first two races in the series. This brought English fans to Le Mans in record numbers. Lancia had also run those first two races, but being outshone by Porsche and now Jaguar, chose to withdraw and focus on rallying.Spurring 2012, p.235 The increasing interest in Group C now saw Nissan join Toyota and Mazda from Japan in the top classes, to challenge the European manufacturers. For the first time since 1956 there were no American teams entered.
Class Quantity Turbo/Rotaryengines Group C1 34 / 29 26 / 24 IMSA-GTP 3 / 3 3 / 3 Group C2 26 / 16 9 / 5 Group B 2 / 1 1 / 0 IMSA-GTX 1 / 1 1 / 1 Total Entries 66 / 50 40 / 33 Note: The first number is the number accepted, the second the number who started.
Group C1 and GTP Once again, Porsche dominated the C1 entry-list with the mix of 962 and 956 models. The Rothmans Porsche works team arrived with the same four chassis that it had used in 1985, including the T-car.Spurring 2012, pp.238-9 With the retirement of Jacky Ickx, the lead #1 car was now run by Derek Bell and Hans-Joachim Stuck, with 1983 winner Al Holbert brought in with them for this race. Bob Wollek had left Lancia at the end of last season. He was promptly picked up by the works team to run the #2 car with Jochen Mass. The third car, just running at Le Mans, and driven by Vern Schuppan and Drake Olson, was fitted with Porsche's experimental, new, dual-clutch PDK transmission that offered automatic electronic gearshifts (and an in-car camera).
The Porsche customer teams were again proving very competitive. Joest Racing had upheld Porsche honour, winning in 1983, and then beating the works team in 1984. This year, they brought that same lucky 956B chassis back with the same winning trio - Klaus Ludwig, Paolo Barilla and Louis Krages. In the absence of any American teams, Joest ran an all-American crew in their second car. Decked out in stars-and-stripes livery, Kenper Miller drove with former Can-Am champion George Follmer (20 years after his other Le Mans appearance) and John Morton. Getting racetime, the latter two had run with Barilla, the only Joest entry at the prior round at Silverstone where they finished sixth.Spurring 2012, p.241 Brun Motorsport had three cars in the championship this year, made up of a pair of 962Cs (built at their own workshopHamilton 1986, p.206) and their 956 workhorse. Owner Walter Brun stepped up to the lead car for Le Mans with Massimo Sigala and Frank Jelinski, bought in as a replacement for Stefan Bellof, killed in 1985. The other regular drivers Oscar Larrauri and Jésus Pareja, joined by Joël Gouhier, had the second 962C; while the 956 was driven by Thierry Boutsen/Didier Theys/Alain Ferté.Spurring 2012, p.244 Kremer Racing were also regrouping after the death of their lead driver, Manfred Winkelhock. Austrian Jo Gartner came into the team, having won the Sebring 12 Hours earlier in the year with Stuck and Bob Akin.Clarke 1997, p.68 Road & Track Sept 1986 After a 3rd-place at Silverstone with Tiff Needell, he would race with Sarel van der Merwe and Kunimitsu Takahashi in the 962C. The team also brought out their 956 for Moroccan Max Cohen-Olivar and Frenchmen Pierre Yver and Hubert Striebig.Spurring 2012, p.240 The John Fitzpatrick Racing team, likewise entered their 962C and reliable 956B (in conjunction with the Spanish Danone Porsche team).Spurring 2012, pp.250-1 In the 1985 race, Richard Lloyd's modified 956B had been the only car able to keep up with the Joest car. Now renamed the RLR Liqui Moly team, they had drivers Mauro Baldi, Rob Dyson and Price Cobb. Hans Obermeier's team again returned with their 956. An outlier entry was the ex-Joest Porsche 936CJ car. Last seen in 1983, it had been purchased by German Ernst Schuster and entered again.Spurring 2012, pp.250-1 In total, Porsche would field an impressive armada of 15 cars in the top class. There was also an interesting internal Porsche tyre-battle brewing: Of the major teams, the works team had a long-standing relationship with Dunlop, Kremer had a new contract with Yokohama while Joest, JFR and Richard Lloyd ran with Goodyear. With Lancia's withdrawal, Michelin switched to support the Brun team.Wimpffen 2008, p.185
Jaguar Cars had been impressed with the strong effort in the past seasons by the American Group 44 Racing team of Bob Tullius. The company thought a full works effort was viable, but instead chose to ally with Tom Walkinshaw Racing - who had latterly been running the Jaguar XJ-S in the ETCC (European Touring Car Championship).Clarke 1999, p.59 Motor May 31, 1986Laban 2001, p.204 Designer Tony Southgate (who had worked with Shadow, Lotus and Theodore in F1) had produced the new XJR-6 model and it had run in the latter-half of last season. In the close-season, much work was done to simplify and lighten the key components. The twin-valve 6.0-litre V12 engine had a single-overhead camshaft, with a 60 degree cylinder angle. TWR's engine-specialist, Allan Scott, could tune the engine to 630 bhp, with a top speed of 370 kp/h (230 mph). It was fitted to a March-Hewland gearbox with the suspension running large 19" wheels, and the longtail body-styling gave it 70% more downforce than the Porsches. The season drivers were current F1 drivers Eddie Cheever/Derek Warwick, and Jean-Louis Schlesser/Gianfranco Brancatelli (current ETCC champion). For Le Mans, Schlesser joined the first car, and TWR driver Win Percy joined Brancatelli in the second. A third car had former Group 44 teammates Brian Redman and Hurley Haywood, with Hans Heyer. The team had an excellent lead-up, with Warwick and Cheever winning the Silverstone round, and then Cheever throwing down the gauntlet to Porsche with the fastest times at the test-day.Spurring 2012, pp.242-3
Sauber had a difficult return to Le Mans in 1985. The C8 of John Nielsen had got airborne and flipped on the Mulsanne straight during practice, but subsequent analysis showed that it was due to mechanical failure not the fault of aerodynamic design. Development continued on the car, and engine, but downforce remained an issue and the top speed was limited to 330 kp/h (205 mph). Mercedes-Benz, however, stayed committed to the project, and was able to secure considerable sponsorship from Kouros cosmetics. This money could draw in experienced drivers and for Le Mans they had 4-time winner Henri Pescarolo, with F1 driver Christian Danner and Dieter Quester in one car and Nielsen co-driving Mike Thackwell in the other.Spurring 2012, p.248 There were concerns, though, regarding the fuel economy as the Silverstone entry had encountered issues toward the end of that race.
Both the Dome and TOM'S Racing teams returned to Le Mans, with the latest Dome-Toyota model. The 86C was built on a strengthened aluminium monocoque chassis. Adjustments were made to the Toyota 2.1-litre turbo engine to improve fuel economy, however its unsatisfactory power output meant it could not keep pace with the Porsches. For Le Mans, the two cars were fitted with longtail bodyshells. All the drivers returned, although the teams were rearranged – Geoff Lees/Satoru Nakajima/Masanori Sekiya ran the TOM'S car, while new man Beppe Gabbiani (ex-Lancia) joined Eje Elgh and Toshio Suzuki were in the Dome entry.Spurring 2012, p.254