Who won, the first time you went?

[Matt Harper]

Guess the year.....

[Matt Harper]

I very obviously did not explain my concept very well then!

I figured that everyone remembers their first 24 hours of Le Mans.

I thought it might be fun to recall the drivers (not the team) who one your first Le Mans and post pics of them. Then, it would be interesting to attempt to identify the year in question by recognizing the drivers and figuring out when they won.

Mine (above) could have been one of three years, as the Ickx/Bell partnership triumphed in 75, 81 and 82, so another clue would be that it was not associated with oil or tobacco.

That said, maybe this is way too convoluted to be worthwhile. I just thought it might make a change from speculating whether 2021 will even have a LM24.

[Matt Harper]

LM240 said:

• Edited to play along **

Too be honest I’d struggle to work it out just based on this. TK would give a time frame but the others make it a bit harder.

Edited by LM240 on Saturday 6th February 10:27

Guy Smith is the give-away - TK won with Capello 3 times, I think. So, 2003

[Matt Harper]

The Leaper said:

No pics of the drivers(sorry):

Davy Jones, Manuel Reuter, Alexander Wutz.

R.

Apology not accepted.
Too easy without pix - '96

[Matt Harper]

MCSV8 said:

Jochen Mass trying to figure out the mechanics of Champagne bottle. 89 - the return of the Silver Arrows - great race.

[Matt Harper]

Great Dane said:

MCSV8 said:

Is that Bob to the very left below Strietzel?

I think it is - It was just a terrible shame what happened to him over here at Sebring in 2001. A stellar sportscar legend, gone too soon.

[Matt Harper]

Great Dane said:

My first year.... and I have included a driver who struggled a bit up against Mr K that year during the night :-)

Edited by Great Dane on Sunday 7th February 23:31

Dindo getting grey - 2008

[Matt Harper]

swiveleyedgit said:

Ickx and Oliver, I was 16 at the time. Been a couple of dozen times since, and enjoyed it every time.

Wow! Now we're talking! In a GT40/Ford GT, back in the summer of........

[Matt Harper]

stemll said:

Ha! Look at plumy John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute...

[Matt Harper]

Lovey1 said:

I was 16 at the time. i have only missed 4 since (incl. 2020)

'84 "Economy Race" - was it this one where Reinhold Joest said, "The faster we go, the less fuel we use", or was that '85?

[Matt Harper]

TypeR said:

‘81 or ‘82 I guess?
My first Le Mans was ‘87. I’ve been about 20 times since. I stopped going after the Audi diesels started sounding like vacuum cleaners as they went past.

Correct -1981. Went to every race after that until 2002, as I'd recently relocated to the USA. I started going again (from the US) in 2005 until 2017 when they wouldn't let us in with our beer coolers. Frankly, the 'Audification' of Le Mans was already taking it's toll on my willingness to do an 8000 mile round trip to stare at the back of a hospitality tent, where I used to watch the race from.

I also had the distraction of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the wonderful Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring both of which are less than 2 hours away from where I now live. That said, I have some utterly fantastic memories from my Le Mans experiences, which I wouldn't have missed for anything.

[Matt Harper]

MrOvershoot said:

1989