The 44th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Porsche. As of 1976, endurance racing was split into two championships. Prototypes belonged to Group 6 and GT racing cars were classed as Group 5. With the 935 and 936, Porsche qualified for both. Belgian Jacky Ickx and Dutchman Gijs van Lennep drove the 936 to victory that year, the first car with a turbo engine to win Le Mans. Meanwhile, a local driver, Jean Rondeau, had been busy building his own racing cars.

Rondeau had raced the 24 Hours three times before he began designing prototypes. Powered by a 3-litre V8 Ford Cosworth engine, the cars were named Inaltéra, after their main sponsor. The drivers of the first car were also household names: Henri Pescarolo (winner in 1972, ’73 and ’74) and fellow Frenchman Jean-Pierre Beltoise. They finished a promising eighth overall and won the GTP class. The second Inaltéra, driven by Christine Beckers, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Jean Rondeau himself, had a more traumatic race. First of all, the headlights failed during the night and then the door threatened to come off. At one point, Beckers steered one-handed as she struggled to hold it on! However, they managed to see the race out.

By 1980 the Rondeau M379, as it was now called despite little change being made to its outer appearance, had become a serious rival to the Porsche 936. That year, Jaussaud and Rondeau emerged victorious from a nerve-wracking, rain-sodden battle with Ickx and Joest. To date, Jean Rondeau remains the only driver to have won Le Mans in a car of his own design. Rondeau continued snapping at Porsche’s heels until 1984 but the German manufacturer was on a roll, notching up seven consecutive wins from 1981 onwards.

Ticket sales for the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans are now open to ACO members and will be available to non-members from Friday 6 November.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO

Translated from French by Emma Paulay
 

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, LE MANS 24 HOURS, SUNDAY 13 JUNE 1976, RACE. Both Inaltéras completed the race. Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise (here at the wheel of the #1 car) finished 8th and Jean Rondeau, Christine Beckers and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud 21st.