[LM24] Le Mans Sprint 1986

[LC2guy]

I'd not heard about this race before, does anyone know anything about it, or was there ? If anyone knows, I'm sure it will be someone here ! All I can find is below, it must have been the full circuit given the fastest lap time, but I can't find anything else and would like to know more.

https://www.racingsportscars.com/pho...l?sort=Results

https://www.racingsportscars.com/res...86-05-09s.html

Thanks in advance.

[GT6]

Seems to indicate it was a support race to the qualifying in may. I was there that year for the race but have never heard of these races, appears there were two

[Aysedasi]

That was my first Le Mans. I have no recollection at all of this. But this was before I bought my Le Mans anorak......

[Lorenzo S]

There's a very short entry about this in Ian Briggs' book "Endurance Racing 1982-1991". There's more data on the Racing Sports Cars website than in the book but you might find this bit interesting:

[Aysedasi]

That's really helpful, thanks Lorenzo.

[LC2guy]

Many thanks Lorenzo, that's great. Seems this pre-dates most of us, my Anorak is of 1983 Vintage, but I still hadn't heard of this race, so my Anorak must have a hole in it !!!

[Le Vieux]

Moity & Tesseidre in the 1986 LM year book cover this very briefly in the Test Day section. Comparatively few teams turned up on 9th May and not all took part in these sprints. Porsche - Jochen Mass and Bob Wollek - enjoyed themselves in the two thirteen lap races which saw the first time the roundabout at Mulsanne was by-passed.

In the first race, Mass lapped all other (few) competitors except the Schuster/Brunn Porsche 936 which finished over two and a half minutes adrift. In the second, Bob Wollek beat Mass' time by over 5 seconds, although Mass recorded the fastest lap.

These races also saw the debut of the four wheel drive Porsche 961

Curiously, Quentin Spurring in his "official history of the world's greatest motor race", doesn't mention these two sprints.

[Le Vieux]

A few more details at
https://www.racingsportscars.com/pho...986-05-09.html

[Samoan Attorney]

Originally Posted by Le Vieux

Moity & Tesseidre in the 1986 LM year book cover this very briefly in the Test Day section. Comparatively few teams turned up on 9th May and not all took part in these sprints. Porsche - Jochen Mass and Bob Wollek - enjoyed themselves in the two thirteen lap races which saw the first time the roundabout at Mulsanne was by-passed.

In the first race, Mass lapped all other (few) competitors except the Schuster/Brunn Porsche 936 which finished over two and a half minutes adrift. In the second, Bob Wollek beat Mass' time by over 5 seconds, although Mass recorded the fastest lap.

These races also saw the debut of the four wheel drive Porsche 961

Curiously, Quentin Spurring in his "official history of the world's greatest motor race", doesn't mention these two sprints.

The sprint races also get a few lines in Time and Two Seats and according to János a new roundabout had been installed at the approach to Mulsanne, the circuit had to be altered to accommodate this feature.

[Adam43]

Well, you learn something new everyday.

Originally Posted by Le Vieux

A few more details at
https://www.racingsportscars.com/pho...986-05-09.html

I’m being dim. I can only find the test day times not the race results.

Edit: here it is https://www.racingsportscars.com/pho...86-05-09s.html

[GCCheddaris]

I vaguely remember Autosport mentioning that there would be two races for the French Group 6 championship at the Le Mans test weekend with those Group C cars present invited to pad out the Group 6 race entry. Only two other French Group 6 races that season are mentioned on either wsrp cz or racingsportscars.com, both at Montlhery and attracting very small entries. 1986, unsurprisingly, appears to have been the last season of the French Group 6 championship.

[Samoan Attorney]

Originally Posted by Samoan Attorney

The sprint races also get a few lines in Time and Two Seats and according to János a new roundabout had been installed at the approach to Mulsanne, the circuit had to be altered to accommodate this feature.

Thinking about this a little deeper, Q may not have mentioned the sprint races due to space considerations, each chapter is an average of 7-10,000 words, and there is plenty to talk about. The publisher does not thank you for over writing.

[isynge]

A bit more from Time and Two Seats:
"...very few turned up for the event ... A pair of short sprint races were held in conjunction with the May preliminaries, but the few cars that participated considered it little more than an extension to the test session. Jochen Mass won in the factory 962C"
Doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement.