1968 24 Hours of Le Mans

1968 24 Hours of Le Mans
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The 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 36th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 28 and 29 September 1968. It was the tenth and final round of the World Sportscar Championship.

The race was originally planned for June 15 and 16, but had to be delayed until September due to massive protests in France during May. The rescheduled race increased the chances of the Prototypes against the Sports, as the new Prototype cars had matured during the season.

Prior to the 1968 race, modifications were made in the run from Maison Blanche to the pit straight, involving the installation of the first Ford chicane to slow speeds along the open pit area. The changes added around 10 seconds to a lap.

In 1968, the rules of sports car racing were changed to reduce speed. Cars with engines larger than 5.0 L were banned from competing in the Sports categories, which was the end for the big block Ford Mk II and Mk IV GT40 and Chevrolet-powered Chaparral at Le Mans. A 3.0 L limit on engines was adopted for the Sports Prototype class, facilitating the use of Formula One motors to save development costs. Cars with up to 5.0 L engines were still allowed to compete in the Sport category if there were at least 50 cars built. This allowed old customer cars like the Ford GT40, the Lola T70 and the Ferrari 275LM to compete against factory prototypes powered by sophisticated 3.0 L engines.

Enzo Ferrari was disappointed to have to take his P4s to the museum and refused to compete for 1968, despite having an F1 engine. John Wyer had to retire his GT40 derived 5.7 L Mirage M1 as well. Wyer chose to dismantle his M1s and to build new GT40s on the Mirage chassis which was close enough to the GT40 to comply with homologation. The Gulf GT40s received some of the improvements of the Mirage, and a significant effort was made to reduce the weight of car using high-tech materials. A large part of the body was made of a very thin polyester sheet reinforced with carbon fibre. Wyer entered 3 GT40s but the team wasn't at its best. Its fastest driver, Jacky Ickx, had broken his leg practicing for the 1968 Canadian Grand Prix, and Brian Redman was still out after breaking his arm in a crash in the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

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