How One Man Ended The Le Mans-Style Start
- Finlay Ringer
- Jan 13
- 4 min read
For decades, the spectacle of drivers running to their cars to start the Le Mans 24 hours was a staple of the event, but how did Jacky Ickx's heroic protest spell its end in 1969?
1925 is an important date in the history of Le Mans because it saw the introduction of a new start procedure, one that would become a hallmark of the event for years to come. In what was known as the Le Mans-style start, the cars would be lined up at a 45-degree angle from the road in front of the pit lane, whilst their drivers would stand opposite them on the other side of the track. At the drop of the flag, drivers would dash to their cars before setting off on their 24-hour long battle.
For over 40 years, the dramatic scene of drivers running to their machines wowed fans, but it came at a cost. In the manic rush to set off and take the lead, chaos and crashes were almost guaranteed. These first lap incidents were commonplace and sometimes had fatal consequences.
Drivers who were hyper-focussed on the lead put themselves in needless danger to get out in front. It wasn’t uncommon to see drivers leaping into open-cockpit race cars or vaulting over car bonnets to get to their cars faster than their closest rivals.
Oftentimes, drivers would even forgo fastening their safety harnesses to save time on the start, meaning they would go hurtling down the Mulsanne Straight with no seatbelts.
It may seem trivial to take such a risk for only a few seconds of time saving, especially at the start of a race which is 24 hours long, but drivers and teams valued the notoriety that came with taking the lead on the first lap. It was seen as beneficial for a team’s image to lead from the outset, so it was typical for drivers to be incentivised with bonuses if they were to get off the line first and take the lead.
Teams like Porsche were so focussed on shaving precious seconds off of the start that they specifically designed their cockpits so that the ignition was on the outside of the steering column. This meant that the driver could start the car with his left hand whilst simultaneously shifting into first gear with his right hand. The traditional layout is still included in Porsche road cars today as an homage to Porsche’s roots in racing.
The sacrifice of safety for mere seconds had a number of disastrous results. For instance, in 1968 Belgian driver Willy Mairesse had an almighty crash on the opening lap of the race when his Ford GT40 careered off the road at high speed. The incident was blamed on his hurriedly closed door opening mid-lap, which disrupted the aerodynamics of the car and caused him to lose control.
This tiny mistake made amid the pandemonium of the start would cost Mairesse everything. His injuries were so severe that he was told he would never drive again – for a career racer, it was a devastating blow. Tragically, Mairesse would take his own life in September 1969.
Just three months before Mairesse’s passing, his Ford teammate Jacky Ickx stood across from his JWA Racing Ford GT40 in striking Gulf colours at the 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours. Ickx, a veteran of Formula One with eight wins to his name with the likes of Ferrari, Lotus and Brabham, chose his moment to protest the unsafe start procedure.
Despite driving the exact car that had won the race the previous year (chassis 1075), he and teammate Jackie Olivier were sitting in a lowly 14th place on the grid. As depicted in a now-iconic photograph, Ickx casually walked to his car whilst his fellow competitors ran with all available speed. He made sure to buckle his harnesses, then pulled away. Dead last.
In a grim twist of fate, Ickx’s protest would be emphasised when the privately entered Porsche 917 of John Woolfe veered off the road ahead of him on the opening lap of the race. Woolfe was thrown from the car and killed instantly, all because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.
While the Le Mans start provided a dash of showmanship to the race, 1969 would show how trivial it truly was. Despite taking the start of the race in last place, Ickx and Olivier would go on to win the race by the slimmest competitive margin in Le Mans history.
In spite of this record, Ickx’s actions that day would still show that the small gains one could make at the start were futile in a 24 hour race, as a team could still claim victory from the back of the grid. 1969 would be the undoing for the Le Mans start – Ickx’s protest and another brutal accident would be enough to force a change to the race start for good.
For 1970, the drivers would start the race in the same configuration but already strapped into the car. By 1971, the rolling start procedure which is still used today was in effect.
There are still several nods to the classic start in sportscar racing, including in the World Endurance Championship where cars are parked in a line against the pit wall at the same 45-degree angle before their formation lap.
Similarly, certain Le Mans Classic races see drivers run to their cars in the same way that the contemporary drivers of their cars used to, before taking off on the formation lap.
However much the Le Mans start put on a show for the fans, its chequered legacy means its probably best left in the past. Besides, the complicated start procedures and oodles of safety checks on modern Le Mans cars make it impossible to just get in and go – the days of turning a key and setting off are long behind us.
This article was originally published on The Sportscar Database's social media.
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