Page 1 of 1 During the second half of the 1960s, Matra Sports emerged as a challenger in single seater and sports car racer. To achieve its ambitious goal of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other major endurance races outright, two distinct new cars were developed ahead of the 1969 season. The first of the pair was the coupe-bodied MS640, which was followed by the open MS650.
Both cars were built around a similar steel spaceframe chassis with independent suspension on all four corners. Fitted amidships was Matra's proprietary three-litre V12 engine. Dubbed the MS12, it a was sophisticated unit with double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. In endurance racing trim, it produced around 400 bhp. This was fed through the rear wheels through a ZF five-speed gearbox.
For the bodywork, Matra Sports called in the services of Robert Choulet, who had previously penned very slippery designs for Deutsch & Bonnet. He created a bulbous shape with a relatively blunt nose, a small cockpit and a long tail. To keep the car straight at high speeds, two large fins were mounted on the tail. The aerodynamics could be trimmed further by small winglet mounted on the trailing edge of the rear bodywork.
Designed specifically for high-speed tracks like Le Mans, it was submitted to a unique private test at the La Sarthe circuit in April of 1969. Driver Henri Pescarolo was instructed to gradually increase the speeds on the long Hunaudières straight. At around 250 km/h, the nose went light, the car flipped and flew into the trees. The mechanics arrived at what looked like the scene of an airplane crash with Pescarolo barely alive.
Fortunately, Pescarolo made a recovery and was back behind the wheel of an MS650 in time to win the 1000 km of Paris in the fall of 1969. The MS640 prototype was destroyed and the project abandoned. Disappointed by this decision, Choulet left Matra for Porsche at the end of the year. It was later determined that a contributing factor to the crash was the bending of certain parts of the fibreglass bodywork like the top part of the doors.
This was not quite the end of the story as the moulds for the bodywork were discovered in the early 1990s. With the permission of Matra Sports, an enthusiast commissioned the construction of a second MS640 using the gearbox salvaged from the original. Sophisticated technology was fitted to monitor the bodywork when driven at speed. Henri Pescarolo was once again entrusted with the car, now safely achieving speeds of nearly 300 km/h. Page 1 of 1
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During the second half of the 1960s, Matra Sports emerged as a challenger in single seater and sports car racer. To achieve its ambitious goal of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other major endurance races outright, two distinct new cars were developed ahead of the 1969 season. The first of the pair was the coupe-bodied MS640, which was followed by the open MS650.