|
| Francois Migault |
| C'est merveilleux de rouler au Mans dans le lever, car, même si on en voit très peu, il y a une atmosphère suspendue et immobile qui ressemble presque à une renaissance. |
| Sportscar Portugal |
|
| Emanuele Pirro |
| Plus difficile que de voler la nuit, c'est au lever du soleil. Parce qu'à chaque tour, l'intensité lumineuse est différente et le problème est que pour ceux qui conduisent, et passent chaque tour par les mêmes endroits, il a toujours la même apparence alors qu'en réalité ce n'est pas le cas. Mais en tout cas le plus dangereux est la phase de la soirée, car le manque de lumière est accentué et progressif. |
|
|
| Richard Attwood |
| I said yeah, yeah, yeah, and carried on driving it as 24-hour race,not a sprint. With three hours to go we were six laps in the lead when the gearbox broke. Six laps is a lot so speed-wise we had no problem. I do believe that if I had been driving with a more considerate driver it would have been an easy race to win. |
|
| À propos de l'édition 1970 |
|
| Richard Attwood |
| After the race we had a de-brief. We told them about the aerodynamics and everything and they said 'OK, we will make the car better'. They ran through most of the changes we wanted and eventually in both the wet and the dry it was a fantastic car. They switched from a five to four-speed gearbox in an effort to prevent engine damage during missed changes up into fifth. Although computer designed in the end it was trial and error that sorted it out. |
|
| À propos de l'édition 1970 |
|
| Richard Attwood |
| I said I wanted a short-tail car and asked if I could drive with Hans Herrmann. Hans was about ten years older than me and a steady guy. By the time of the race in June of course the 5-litre was a stonking engine, there were no more gearbox problem. But we had the 4.5-litre engine and out of the slow corners at Arnage and Mulsanne it was not beefy enough. We could only use second, third and fourth so we were losing six to eight seconds a lap because we didn't have the bigger engine and couldn't use first gear. We ended up 15th or 16th on the grid because most of the others had 5-litres and the Ferrari 512's were going well too. |
|
| À propos de l'édition 1970 |
|
| Richard Attwood |
| I said we can forget this race because we have got too many cars in front of us and they are not surely all going to have trouble. I was resigned to the fact I had made the biggest mistake of my life. That year there was rain, there was a lot of competition between Ferrari and Porsche and the first few hours of the race were like a Grand Prix I remember one particular accident - two of the Ferrari 512's collided when one of them spun at White House, I think. Derek Bell drove through the carnage in the third Ferrari but dipped the clutch and over-revved the engine. Three potential winners were out. |
|
| À propos de l'édition 1970 |
|
| Richard Attwood |
| I saw and incident where Siffert was impatient to get by three or four cars and they were all racing alongside each other. Coming right up the pit lane - there was no wall then - to pass all these cars in one go, he went from third gear to fourth, missed it, and the engine was gone. There were so many things like that happening it was just ridiculous and after ten hours we were in the lead. I could hardly believe it. We then had to defend the lead. to the end, which we dit without difficulty. I really think that if Hans Herrmann had been with me the year before we would have won that as well. |
|
| À propos de l'édition 1970 |
|
| Philippe Alliot |
| Pour moi, Le Mans, c'est l'un des somets du sport automobile, l'une des plus grandes courses avec Indy et Monaco. Gagner les 24 Heures, ça vaut tous les grand prix... Maintenant, une victoire est impossible à programmer, sourtout au Mans ou on nous demande de mener au bout des 24 Heures de véritables Fórmules 1. Physiquement et techniquement c'est quelque chose de dur, de très dur... |
|
|
| Patrick Dempsey |
| Quand je suis au Mans, je ressens tout le poids de l'histoire de la course. Cela me rappelle également Steve McQueen et Paul Newman |
|
|
| Fabien Barthez |
| Au début, mon objectif était de rouler, de me faire plaisir. Et puis, aprés, il y a un truc que tous les sportifs de haut niveau on dans les génes: l'esprit de compétition... Pour tous les passionnés de sport auto, Le Mans est un mythe. Depuis mes débuts, cette course était un objectif à atteindre. En football, mon rêve était de jouer un coupe du monde, la Ligue des Champions... en Sport Automobile, c'est de participer un jour aux 24 heures du mans. |
|
|
| Emmanuel Collard |
| Dans la courbe «Porsche» située dans la nouvelle portion, la force centrifuge est de plus de 3 G, c'est-à-dire que le poids du corps du pilote est à chaque passage multiplié par trois, la tète avec le poids du casque en Kevlar pèse alors 12 kilos et, pour un passager non entrainé, le moindre mouvement dans cette situation est imprécis, voire impossible, alors que le pilote doit lui réagir en miliseconde. |
|
|
| Stirling Moss |
| Ce n'est pas le bruit des moteurs qui m'empêche de dormir, c'est le bruit de cette incroyable musique des haut-parleurs qui m'empêche de le faire ... |
|
|
| Peter Collins |
| Lorsque vous prenez le droit des Hunaudières, l'accélérateur est déprimé et il n'y a rien d'autre à faire que de reculer tranquillement dans le siège et d'attendre deux longues minutes pour que la voiture voyage seul les trois milles de long de cette ligne droite. |
|
|
| Phil Hill |
| Le Mans 58 was my first big race, the first really important race and unquestionably the best of my three wins there. It's such a huge thrill reeling off all those laps and then coming in to cross the line almost at a crawl, all those people flooding onto the track. In 58 we had terrible weather. It was hard to see, the rain was torrential, and my trick was to get the tool bag out from under the passenger seat and sit on it so I could see over the windshield. The other guys had mops, towels, and sponges but they were floundering while I'd duck down, look up, duck down and look up again over the screen. Boy, I had the worst neck ache for a month after that. But hey, the need to see was so much greather than the pain. I picked up a whole lap on the guys that night in the rain, just because I could see. It was an important win for me, period. |
|
|
| Eric Helary |
| J'adore. Depuis deux ans, nous avons d'excellentes voitures dans ces hybrides, les Toyotas, Audi et Porsche. Je pense que pour les pilotes ça doit être très difficile physiquement. C'est intéressant car ils utilisent des technologies différentes. Ils brûlent beaucoup moins qu'avant et cela aide la voiture dans son ensemble. Cela doit continuer. |
|
|
| Jackie Oliver |
| Le Mans, Sebring, Daytona, não são corridas [de automóveis]. Não passam de uma prova de longa distância. Não têm nada a ver com velocidade, com um piloto ser rápido. Um piloto tem, apenas, que seguir as ordens da equipa, como sucedeu comigo. Nunca passar os limites que te dizem, se queres acabar a corrida. Para mim, uma corrida, é a F1. Ou melhor, isso era dantes - hoje, a F1 não passa de um espectáculo, um negócio, que nada tem a ver com velocidade. nos anos 60/70 é que era bom: um piloto tinha mesmo que ser rápido, mas um piloto tinha sempre a escolha, a liberdade de andar sempre a fundo! E, muitas vezes simplesmente... quase ganhava. Como eu... [Oliver quase ganhou o GP da Grã-Bretanha (desistiu quando liderava com o motor partido) e do Méxixo, em 1968, com um Lotus 49B (foi 3º, depois de recuperar desde o 14º lugar na grelha); e do Canadá de 1973, com um Shadow DN1 (foi 3º, depois de uma enorme confusão provocada por um inesperado aguaceiro perto do final da corrida).] |
| AutoSport |
|
| Fritz d Orey |
| Logo na primeira sessão de treinos [livres] a meio de uma recta [antes da Maison Blanche] fui tocado de lado por um Jaguar [Walt Hansgen]. Seguia a uns 270 [km/h] e não houve controlo possível. O carro saltou para fora da pista, bateu numa árvore e se quebrou em dois. Fui cuspido e fiquei ali no meio do mato. Quando me encontraram, deitava sangue pelos olhos, pelos ouvidos, pelo nariz, pela boca, por todo o sítio de onde era possível jorrar sangue. Tive fractura do crâneo, do esterno e o braço [direito ficou] quase cortado em dois [pelo cotovelo, as cicatrizes ainda são bem visíveis]. fui levado de helicóptero para o hospital [de Le Mans]. Junto ao helicóptero, estava um jornalista da France Press. Ele pediu para fazer a ligação por telefone para a sede da sua agência e, como tinha pressa para dar a notícia do acidente, pediu aos médicos, que me davam só duas horas de vida, que fossem mais precisos. 'Pode por aí que ele morreu às 22h00'- terá então dito um médico. E foi então que o jornalista mandou para a agência: 'Il deceda à 22h00'. Eu nessa altura, era muito forte. Era magro, mas muito forte. Não bebia, não fumava, fazia desporto a toda a hora. Sobrevivi. Fiquei 18 dias em coma e passei oito meses no hospital. Levei mais de dez anos para ficar mais ou menos direito... |
| AutoSport |
|
