1972 24 Hours Of Le Mans
The 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans was a motor race staged at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France on 10 and 11 June 1972. It was the 40th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the ninth race of the 1972 World Championship for Makes. 1972 marked the start of a new era with revised FIA regulations dictating the demise of the 5 Litre Group 5 Sports Car and the 3 Litre Group 6 Sports Prototpye categories and their replacement by a new 3 Litre Group 5 Sports Car class. There was also a significant change to the track with the construction of the new technical section subsequently named the Porsche Curves bypassing the dangerous Maison Blanche corner, which had been the site of many serious accidents in the past. Having already won the World Championship for Makes, Ferrari chose not to contest the race. Matra-Simca were strong favourites for the outright win after not running the other races to focus on its Le Mans preparation. Once the challenge from Alfa Romeo and Lola had dissip ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Circuit De La Sarthe
The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race. Comprising private, race-specific sections of track in addition to public roads which remain accessible most of the year, its present configuration is long, making it one of the longest circuits in the world. The capacity of the race stadium, where the short ''Bugatti Circuit'' is situated, is 100,000. The Musée des 24 Heures du Mans is a motorsport museum located at the main entrance of the venue. Up to 85% of the lap time is spent on full throttle, putting immense stress on engine and drivetrain components. Additionally, the times spent reaching maximum speed also mean tremendous wear on the brakes and suspension as cars must slow from over to around for the sharp corner at the village of Mulsanne. Track mod ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fédération Internationale De L'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for many auto racing events, including Formula One. The FIA also promotes road safety around the world. Headquartered at 8 Place de la Concorde, Paris, with offices in Geneva and Valleiry, the FIA consists of 246 member organisations in 145 countries worldwide. Its current president is Mohammed bin Sulayem. The FIA is generally known by its French name or initials, even in non-French-speaking countries, but is occasionally rendered as International Automobile Federation. Its most prominent role is in the licensing and sanctioning of Formula One, World Rally Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship, World Endurance Championship, World Touring Car Cup, FIA World Rallycross Championship, World Rallycross Championship, Formula E, and variou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rolf Stommelen
Rolf Johann Stommelen (11 July 1943 – 24 April 1983) was a racing driver from Siegen, Germany. He participated in 63 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, achieving one podium, and scored a total of 14 championship points. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races. One of the best endurance sports car racing drivers of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, Stommelen won the 24 Hours of Daytona four times; in 1968, 1978, 1980 and 1982 and the Targa Florio in 1967 in a Porsche 910. Career Stommelen won the pole position for the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 917 a year after finishing third in a Porsche 908. In this year, he became the first man to reach speeds exceeding on the Le Mans circuit's Mulsanne Straight in his Porsche 917 LH. In 1970, he made his Formula One debut with Brabham with sponsorship obtained from the German magazine ''Auto, Motor und Sport'' and raced both sportscars (Toj and Porsche works teams) and Formula 1 througho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Helmut Marko
Helmut Marko (born 27 April 1943) is an Austrian former professional racing driver and current advisor to the Red Bull GmbH Formula One teams, and head of Red Bull's driver development program. Biography Marko was born in Graz, Austria. He was a school friend of Jochen Rindt, who became Formula One world champion in 1970. Marko competed in several race series, including 10 Formula One Grands Prix in 1971 and 1972, but scored no World Championship points. He had more success in endurance racing, winning the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving a Martini- Porsche 917K with Gijs van Lennep. During that year, they set a distance record which remained unbeaten until the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans (5,335.313 km, at an average of 222.304 km/h). (Changes to the track reduced the average speed.) At the Targa Florio, he drove the fastest laps around the 72 km Sicilian mountain circuit in the 1972 race, catching up over two minutes on the leader within two laps to finish s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vic Elford
Victor Henry Elford (10 June 1935 – 13 March 2022) was an English sports car racing, rallying, and Formula One driver. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968. He scored a total of 8 championship points. Nicknamed "Quick Vic" by his peers Elford was mainly a famous sports car competitor as well as a successful rally driver, associated often with Porsche. Career Elford started as a co-driver, partnering David Seigle-Morris in a Triumph TR3A. By 1961 he had acquired the confidence to see himself as a potential driver in his own right: the confidence was not shared by team manager Marcus Chambers, and Elford purchased a race-tuned Mini which he rallied as a privateer with limited success before selling it at the end of the season. 1962 found him achieving success in several UK rallies driving a factory sponsored DKW Junior. The next year saw a return to Triumph and Elford achieved impressively fast times with the Triumph TR4s, although ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monocoque
Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, a true monocoque carries both tensile and compressive forces within the skin and can be recognised by the absence of a load-carrying internal frame. Few metal aircraft other than those with milled skins can strictly be regarded as pure monocoques, as they use a metal shell or sheeting reinforced with frames riveted to the skin, but most wooden aircraft are described as monocoques, even though they also incorporate frames. By contrast, a semi-monocoque is a hybrid combining a tensile stressed skin and a compressive structure made up of longerons and ribs or frames. Other semi-monocoques, not to be confused with true monocoques, include vehicle unibodies, which tend to be composites, and inflatable shells or balloon tanks, both of which ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carlo Chiti
Carlo Chiti (19 December 1924 – 7 July 1994) was an Italian racing car and engine designer best known for his long association with Alfa Romeo's racing department. He also worked for Ferrari and was involved in the design of the Ferrari 156 Sharknose car, with which Phil Hill won the 1961 championship. Early life Born in Pistoia, Tuscany, Chiti graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Pisa in Italy in 1953. Motorsport career Chiti joined Alfa Romeo in 1952 and designed the Alfa Romeo 3000 CM sports car. When Alfa Romeo's competition department was closed down in the late 1950s Chiti was invited to join Scuderia Ferrari. At Ferrari Chiti was involved with the design of the 1958 championship winning car Ferrari 246 F1 together with Vittorio Jano and the Ferrari 156 Sharknose car, with which Phil Hill won the 1961 championship. He also mentored a new generation of aspiring designers who had begun a period of apprenticeship at the team, inc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alfa Romeo Tipo 33
The Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 was a sports racing prototype raced by the Alfa Romeo factory-backed team between 1967 and 1977. These cars took part for Sport Cars World Championship, Nordic Challenge Cup, Interserie and CanAm series. A small number of road going cars were derived from it in 1967, called Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. With the 33TT12 Alfa Romeo won the 1975 World Championship for Makes, and with the 33SC12 the 1977 World Championship for Sports Cars, taking the first place in all eight of the championship races. Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Alfa Romeo started development of the Tipo 33 in the early 1960s, with the first car being built in 1965. It was sent to Autodelta to be completed and for additional changes to be made. It used a straight-4 engine from the Alfa Romeo TZ2, but Autodelta produced its 2.0 litre V8 soon after. The 2000 cc (122ci) Tipo 33 mid-engined prototype debuted on 12 March 1967 at the Belgian hillclimbing event at Fléron, with Teodoro Zeccoli winning. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Weslake
Weslake & Co also known as Weslake Research and Development was founded by Harry Weslake, described as England's greatest expert on cylinder head design, with premises in Rye, East Sussex, England. Weslake is most famous for its work with Bentley, Austin, Jaguar and the Gulf-Wyer Ford GT40 Mk.I. Early days Harry Weslake was born in Exeter in 1897 to Henry John Weslake, a director of Willey and Co, gas engineers, whom he would join from school. At 16, he modified a Rudge Multi to race at local hill climbing events. In World War I, he joined the Royal Flying Corp, against the wishes of his employers Willey & Co, who wanted him to continue his apprenticeship. When he was demobbed in 1919, he had already received his first patent with his father in 1918 for a device to improve carburettors. However both his parents died shortly after, and with no link to Willey's, Weslake left and set up a workshop with 3 others in Exeter. The workshop marketed his Wex carburettor design, which w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Wyer
John Wyer (11 December 1909 in Kidderminster, England – 8 April 1989 in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States), was an English automobile racing engineer and team manager. He is mainly associated with cars running in the light blue and orange livery of his longtime sponsor Gulf Oil. Biography As team manager and team owner, Wyer won the 24 Hours of Le Mans several times. His first victory came in the 1959 edition, in his tenth anniversary as Aston Martin team manager, along with Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby, win with the DBR1. The team made their base for Le Mans at the Hotel De France from 1953 - 1975. The race cars would be tended within the courtyard and garage adjacent to the hotel before being driven to and from the circuit on the road for practice, qualifying and the race. The team also won the 1000 km Nürburgring over three consecutive years. In 1963 he left Aston Martin for ''Ford Advanced Vehicles'' (FAV) In 1964. After dismal results with the GT40s in their ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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12 Hours Of Sebring
The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and in the past has been a round of the now defunct World Sportscar Championship, IMSA GT Championship and American Le Mans Series. In 2012, the race was the opening event of the FIA World Endurance Championship. History The track opened in 1950 on an airfield and is a road racing course styled after those used in European Grand Prix motor racing. The first race was a six-hour race on New Year's Eve 1950. The winning car is currently on display at the Edge Motor Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The next race held 14 months later as the first 12 Hours of Sebring. The race is famous for its "once around the clock" action, starting during the day and finishing at night. From 1953 to 1972 the 12 Hour ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ferrari 312PB
The Ferrari 312 PB was a Group 6 Prototype-Sports Car introduced in 1971 by Italian carmaker Ferrari. It was officially designated the 312 P, but often known as the 312 PB to avoid confusion with a previous car of the same name. It was part of the Ferrari P series of Prototype-Sports Cars but was redesignated as a Group 5 Sports Car for 1972. Development In 1970, a change in the regulations for sportscar racing for 1972 was announced. The loophole for the big 5-litre sports cars (such as the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512) was closed, and the minimum weight of the 3-litre prototypes was raised to . Porsche considered this too heavy as their Porsche 908/03 were lighter, and this advantage would have been lost . On the other hand, their air-cooled two-valve engine was low on power with , and the development of a new engine would have been necessary. Thus, Porsche did not enter world championship sports car races after 1971 and sold the 908s to customers who would have to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |