The 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 44th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1976. This year the FIA introduced its new Group 5 and Group 6 regulations and the race was now open to nine distinct classes, although it was again not part of a World Championship. Porsche introduced its new models, the 936 in Group 6, the 935 in Group 5 and the 934 in Group 4. In response, BMW had its modified 3.0 CSL in Group 5. It was the year that turbos arrived in considerable numbers, with over a dozen turbocharged entries, led by the Renault Alpine A442. It saw the arrival of French prototype manufacturers Jean Rondeau and Gérard Welter in a new GTP class and a first-time invitation to American IMSA and NASCAR entries.Clausager 1982, p.169-70
Once an initial challenge from Renault Alpine was seen off, the 936 of previous race-winners Jacky Ickx and Gijs van Lennep built a relentless, inexorable lead that was never headed. Even a 30-minute stop to repair a cracked exhaust on Sunday morning was not enough for the following pack and they won by a comfortable 11-lap margin. Second was the Mirage of French drivers François Migault and Jean-Louis Lafosse – the same car that had finished third the year before. Alain de Cadenet’s privateer effort showed far greater reliability this year and he achieved his best Le Mans result with third place.
The works Porsche 935 turbo of Rolf Stommelen and Manfred Schurti was fourth, easily winning the Group 5 class. After early issues, Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise bought their new Inaltéra home in 8th to take the inaugural GTP-class win. André Gahinet's privateer Porsche 911 was the unexpected winner in Group 4 when all the major teams, and their new Porsche 934s faltered. The race also saw the death of Frenchman André Haller when his Datsun 260Z crashed at speed at the Mulsanne Kink and caught fire.
Regulations After a year's delay, the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale - the FIA’s regulations body) issued its new regulation. The former Group 5 was renamed as Group 6. Engines permitted were either a standard production engine up to 5-litre capacity or racing engines up to 3-litres (or 2.1 litres if turbo-charged). The FIA revived the World Sportscar Championship for the Group 6 cars.Spurring 2011, p.202 The new Group 5 was for Special Production Cars. A silhouette formula that allowed considerable modification of a Group 2 or Group 4 car, with no minimum production required.Wimpffen 2007, p.186 The FIA used the separate World Championship of Makes (with more endurance races) for the new Group 5 with Group 4 and Group 2 cars, run separately but in parallel to the Group 6 cars. To encourage manufacturers to join in, the FIA also dropped the required production number of Group 4 cars from 500 to 400.
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) saw the small fields in these events and decided it needed to open its entry to both categories in one race, against current FIA policy.Clarke 1997, p.28: Motor Sport July 1976 The FIA promptly scheduled a championship race at the Circuit Paul Ricard on the same weekend which, unsurprisingly, then had to be cancelled for lack of entries.Clarke 1997, p.22: Autosport Jun17 1976 Ostracised by the FIA, the ACO instead developed closer bonds with the developing IMSA organisation in North America. A new Le Mans-Daytona Trophy was inaugurated linking the 24-hour sports-car races. The ACO opened its entry list to IMSA-category cars as well as NASCAR racers to encourage American participation.
For their own part, the ACO continued with its GTX non-homologated class – a counterpoint to Group 5. Significantly, this year it also introduced its new GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) class – a counterpart of Group 6. These cars were closed-topped cars at least 110 cm high, 850 kg minimum weight (heavier than Group 6) and without wings, nominally as prototypes for new GT designs.Clarke 1997, p.31: Road & Track Oct 1976 GTP was to become the forerunner of the Group C regulations used in the 1980s.Wimpffen 2007, p.206 All together there were now nine separate classes of entry.
The ACO's 1975 experiment with the fuel limitations was not repeated (although GTP cars had to use less than 25 litres of fuel per 100 km). Consequently, the freedom to replace and repair all parts was also rescinded. It was now not permitted to replace the engine block, cylinder heads, gearbox or differential within the course of the race. The ACO stated that all entries had to have been built from January 1, 1972. They also dictated that every driver had to do at least 1 lap with 125% of the fastest 3 laps done by drivers in their category.
Finally, there was no Index of Thermal Efficiency competition. Instead, this year the ACO offered £1000 prizemoney to the cars that covered the most laps within each 6-hour period.Clarke 1997, p.37: Autocar Jun19 1976
Entries This year the ACO received 97 applications, of which 68 were accepted and 58 arrived for qualifying on race week. Significantly, it was the first Le Mans with no Ferrari entrants since that company's founding in 1947.Spurring 2011, p.261Laban 2001, p.179 Works teams from Porsche, BMW and Renault arrived. It was notable that with the times of limited finances, even major manufacturers only ran 1-2 car works teams.Laban 2001, p.180 It did see an increase in the number of turbo-powered cars. With the 1.4x capacity equivalence, the power increase versus extra weight made them very attractive: 17 turbo cars arrived for race week.
Class Large-engines >2.0L classes Medium-engines < 2.0L classes Group 6 S Sports 3-litre 10 / 9 9 / 8 Group 5 SP Special Production16 / 16 0 Group 4 GTS Special GT10 / 10 0 Group 2 TS Special Touring 1 / 1 0 GTP Le Mans GT Prototype 4 / 4 0 GTX Le Mans GT Experimental 2 / 1 0 IMSA GT 4 / 4 0 NASCAR Stock car 2 / 2 0 Total Entries49 / 47 9 / 8 Note: The first number is the number of arrivals, the second the number who started.
The Porsche works team returned with two new designs for the new regulations. Norbert Singer had led the development of the Group 5 Porsche 935 from the 934 Turbo of 1974. The 2.85-litre flat-6 engine was augmented by a KKK (Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch) turbo, producing 590 bhp and capable of 335 kp/h (210 mph). The chassis only weighed 900 kg, well under the 970 kg minimum stipulated for a 4-litre car in the rules, allowing the compulsory ballast to then improve weight distribution. Regulations also permitted the lights to be recessed into the front spoiler further improving aerodynamics. For Le Mans, the works car was driven by Rolf Stommelen/Manfred Schurti.Spurring 2011, p.209
The Porsche 936 was even newer – developed in only nine months. Group 6 cars were allowed 40 litres more fuel and to be more than 200 kg lighter. Its 2.1-litre flat-6 engine was also turbocharged and could produce 520 bhp and, when the turbo was wound up, could reach 320 kp/h (200 mph).Spurring 2011, p.204-5 Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass had been doing double-duty running both the works 936 and 935 in alternate races of the World Championships, and were entered in the lead 936 for Le Mans. A second works car was prepared, taking over an entry of Joest Racing and driven by that team's regular drivers, Reinhold Joest himself with Jürgen Barth.
Renault-Alpine would be Porsche's main opposition in the shorter-format World Championship races. Gérard Larrousse had retired from racing at the end of 1975 and taken up the role of motorsport director at Renault. The company bought out the final share of Jean Rédélé at Alpine and renamed it Renault Sport. Over the winter the A442 had been developed and a longtail version was found to be best for Le Mans. With its Garrett turbo, it could produce 500 bhp and reach 335 kp/h (210 mph). As the race clashed with the Formula 1 Swedish GP, Larrousse had fewer driver options, so only one car was entered. This would be driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille, José Dolhem and Patrick Tambay (in his first race out of a single-seater).Spurring 2011, p.206
With John Wyer’s retirement, the Gulf-Mirage operation was taken over by American Harley Cluxton. With John Horsman still as technical director, the same two cars that had finished first and third in the previous year's race were entered again. Rebadged as Mirages again, they were driven respectively by Derek Bell/Vern Schuppan and former Ligier drivers François Migault and Jean-Louis Lafosse.Spurring 2011, p.210 Without the tight fuel restrictions of the previous year, they could run the cars back at higher revs.Clarke 1997, p.23: Autosport Jun17 1976
The rise of the privateer car-builder continued. Alain de Cadenet, with his regular co-driver Chris Craft, returned with a slightly modified version of his Lola T380, now capable of 320 kp/h (200 mph).Spurring 2011, p.212 This year was the production debut for another man passionate to win the race in a car of his own design: Le Mans local Jean Rondeau’s team was the first to build a car to the ACO's new GTP specification. Financed by Charles James of French home-furnishings company Inaltéra, the car had the proven Cosworth DFV V8 engine and Hewland gearbox. A team of notables was brought in to run the cars: Vic Elford was team manager, with Henri Pescarolo/Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the lead car and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud/Christine Beckers with Rondeau himself in the second car.Spurring 2011, p.213 Peugeot designer Gérard Welter and engineer Michel Meunier had started making their own racing cars under the name WM. They designed the P76 for the new GTP formula, using the Peugeot 2.7-litre V6 PRV engine. In patriotic red-white-blue, they had French drivers Claude Ballot-Léna, Guy Chasseuil and Xavier Mathiot.Spurring 2011, p.219 The final GTP entry was a return of Lancia after 23 years. The Lancia Stratos, homologated in Group 4, was a successful rally-car for the works team, and was being adapted to the Group 5 regulations by designer Giampaolo Dallara and ex-Ferrari racer and engineer Mike Parkes. A privateer entry of French rally drivers Robert Neyret and Bernard Darniche added a KKK-turbo to the 2.4-litre Ferrari V6 and modified the bodywork and suspension. Driver were the female pairing of Lella Lombardi and Christine Dacremont.Spurring 2011, p.224
Kremer Racing was one of the strong customer Porsche teams and the first to get the new 935. Under their own modification, what became known as the 935K-1 retained more of the look of the original 911 RSR. Team driver Hans Heyer teamed up with Mexicans Juan Carlos Bolaños, Eduardo Negrete and American Billy Sprowls.Spurring 2011, p.218 Porsche also supplied the RSR 2.1-litre turbo engine to customers to retrofit into their 908 prototypes to keep them competitive. Reinhold Joest and Egon Evertz both entered their uprated cars.Spurring 2011, p.223
The under-2000 class was essentially a battle between Lola and Chevron. The cars were designed to fit a variety of powerplants, with most teams settling on either the British Cosworth FVC or French ROC engines. A solid entry of nine cars was accepted that also included two from the Société ROC and cars from small manufacturers Jörg Obermoser (Toj) and Charles Graemiger (Cheetah).