The best Lemans car ever?

[sandwich]

Hello boyees,

what, in your opinion, is the greatest lemans car ever?

Was it fords all-conquering gt40? American muscle powered?

Porsche's dominating 917? The 917/30 with 1100 bhp?

How about the porsche 962?

The mclaren f1?

Which, in your opinion is the best? Whether all conquering or earth shattering technologically, which gets the thumbs up?

[megotmea7]

naturally im going to say the 787b, it was an awsome car with an awsome engine the much coveted 4-rotor R26b

[henk4]

How about the D-Type, the Ferrari Testa Rossa? I don't understand the choice for the Chaparral 2J. Are you sure it ever came to La Sarthe?

[sandwich]

I don't know much about the dtype.

I thought the chapparal was a great concept with the snowmobile engine to produce downforce (suction).

I just threw a bunch of cars together that I thought were worthy...i left the last selection open so people like you could suggest ones I hadn't thought of...I certainly don't know everything, i'm just an enthusiast :D

[henk4]

Yes I appreciate the effort, and by necessity such choices are always subjective. What I meant to say is when you look for the best LeMans car, we should take into account 24-hour cars, and probably not sprint racers as the 2J, (did it ever manage one hour??) although its concept was groundbreaking. 2F and 2D on the other did come to Europe, and the 2D even won the 1000 KM race on the Nurburgring in Germany in 1966.

Also the 917-30 was purely designed as a sprint car.

Possibly the best single LeMans car was GT40 #1075, which won twice, unique for the same car.
The best generic type in probably the Porsche 956-962, but at that time there was rather little competition.

[DasModell]

i'm gonna say a few cars that never won lemans ... 330P4 .. Lancia LC2 .. :)

[Falcon500]

Defintly the GT40 thats what you get for telling henery ford to jump in he lake mr enzo ferrari :D :cool:

[piledriver]

My vote goes to GT40...
it has an impressive looking, a great heritage, won more than one race...
it´s a real classic... and I love classics

[DwZX35]

other: Porsche 911 GT1 baby!

[megotmea7]

so its the GT40 in first and the 787b in second with the rest tied for third and forth

[sandwich]

the gt40 truly is a great car....

and though i love the rotary and the 787, i just can't justify it as the greatest LM car ever...though it certainly proved the rotary engine's feasibility...

i'm still on the fence, i love the 917's flat 12 but the GT's big v8 was just as spectacular

[more-boost1555]

the GT40 kicks ass and is one of the most beautifull and succesfull cars to ever race at Le Mans. But I had to vote for the 787 B, it's so unique and just awesome too. Yup, there's my two cents.

[unclesamoz]

i would go with Toyota gt-one, it should have won Lemans but lost due to a series of bad luck.

[Batmobile_Turbo]

i would go with Toyota gt-one, it should have won Lemans but lost due to a series of bad luck.
wow! I was thinking of the same exact car, uncanny huh? yes this was going to be my second to the GT40. the GT-1 came in second for the 24H of LeMans due to an untimely tire blowout not such a big deal if it wasn't that this was the first time this car ever ran the 24H LeMans it really should have won.
but the GT40 is first in my books because of the fact that 'ol henry used the philosophy "if you can't join them, beat them" on Mr. Enzo and came in 1 and 2 in the big race. (probably why I don't like Ferarri as much as I have been persuaded to think I should.) :)

[Matra et Alpine]

due to an untimely tire blowout .... it really should have won.
An epitaph written on the pit wall of MANY entries to Le Mans over the years :)


but the GT40 is first in my books because of the fact that 'ol henry used the philosophy "if you can't join them, beat them" on Mr. Enzo
Taking on the role of historian, to prevent the continued revisionist history, FORD did NOT manage to win Le Mans. They tried and tried and each race kept putting MORE power into the car. It took an English team and experience of racing endurance to produce the ultimate GT-40 :)

[Matra et Alpine]

Alpine A210 - won the "index of performance" many times. Beautiful track pre-cursor to the great A110 :)
http://www.alpine-renault.net/images/alpine/a210_g.jpg

Matra 670 , DOMINATED Le Mans 72 thru 74 and yet forgotten !!
http://www.carjoy.nl/Matrapics/M670-01f.jpg
http://www.matrasport.dk/Cars/Sportsprototypes/history.html fro all the models
http://www.zonepassions.com/passionlemans/matra.htm and click on 'ecouter' :)

Alpine-Renault A442B - another forgotten FRENCH domination of Le Mans in 78.
Came in to win the race, did it and then left !!
http://www.wheelsarchives.freeserve.co.uk/page-02/05-20-99.jpg

And I have to add the A610, PRIVATE entry came 13th in its first year - but multiple mechanical failures in pre-qualifying meant it never competed in 95 :(
http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1994/Le_Mans-1994-06-19-060.jpg

I'd have to go with the MATRA series as my favourite as these are beautiful cars and the sound of the V12 is awesome :)

[Batmobile_Turbo]

An epitaph written on the pit wall of MANY entries to Le Mans over the years :)

Taking on the role of historian, to prevent the continued revisionist history, FORD did NOT manage to win Le Mans. They tried and tried and each race kept putting MORE power into the car. It took an English team and experience of racing endurance to produce the ultimate GT-40 :)
yes i knew about the English company, that's why Ford can't use the name GT40. but it is still a pretty sweet car. another reason that i don't like Ferarri that much is the Ferrucio Lamborghini story.

[Matra et Alpine]

reason that i don't like Ferarri that much is the Ferrucio Lamborghini story.
Well, if it hadn't been for Enzo's initial arrogance, Ferrucio wouldn't have gone off to build his own, better cars.
And the antagonism over the years just made Lamborghini build better cars than Ferrari :)
If it had been sweetness and light we'd have ended up with a car with the Lambo badge and no soul earlier ( I hate the new Gallardo - they'd have been better badging it an AUDI :( )

[Batmobile_Turbo]

Well, if it hadn't been for Enzo's initial arrogance, Ferrucio wouldn't have gone off to build his own, better cars.
And the antagonism over the years just made Lamborghini build better cars than Ferrari :)
If it had been sweetness and light we'd have ended up with a car with the Lambo badge and no soul earlier ( I hate the new Gallardo - they'd have been better badging it an AUDI :( )
yes, he unleashed his wrath by creating cars that unleash wrath. i'm not crazy about the Gallardo either, they shoud have went with the Cala instead.

[UK CARS]

Jaguar d type, c type , e type