1984 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 52nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 – 17 June 1984. It was also the third round of the 1984 World Endurance Championship. There were two big stories going into the race weekend: the absence of the Porsche works team and their drivers, and the return of Jaguar. Bob Tullius had commissioned the new Jaguar XJR-5 to run in the IMSA series and entered two for Le Mans. Earlier in the year, FISA had announced abrupt changes to the fuel regulations to bring them more in line with IMSA. Porsche and Lancia objected strongly because of their strong investment in the existing rules. In the absence of dominant Porsche works team, the race was left wide open between Lancia and the number of strong Porsche customer teams.

Run in excellent weather, it was a race of excitement and tragedy. Lancia had qualified 1–2 on pole but from the start it was a hotly contested event. The lead changed fifteen times in the first 50 laps, as a half-dozen cars jostled for the lead with close racing that thrilled the spectators. This group did not include the Joest Porsche of former winners Henri Pescarolo and Klaus Ludwig, who had been badly delayed by fuel-pressure issues in the first hour and were down in 30th position. The previous fragility of the Lancias was not apparent and going into the night Bob Wollek's Lancia held a narrow lead. It was at 9:15pm, as dusk was falling, that the most serious accident of the race occurred. The two Nimrod-Aston Martins were travelling in line astern on the Hunaudières Straight when John Sheldon's leading car suddenly veered off the road at the Mulsanne kink leading up to the hairpin. Hitting the Armco barrier, it ricocheted violently across the track into the fencing on the other side and burst into flames. In avoiding the disintegrating car, his team-mate also hit the barrier. A track marshal, Jacky Loiseau, was killed by flying debris and another seriously injured. Sheldon was airlifted to hospital with serious burns. After an hour behind safety cars to allow repairs to be done, the race resumed. The Lancias soon established themselves 1–2 at the head of the field ahead of the pursuing pack of Porsches.

The race was also notable for the very large numbers of mechanical incidents with almost no car left unaffected and without a delay. It also meant no car was able to establish a dominant lead. Everything changed around breakfast time on Sunday. Having led through the night, the Wollek/Nannini Lancia had a long stop to fix its gearbox and the JFR Porsche in second pitted running on five cylinders. This all left the Pescarolo/Ludwig Porsche in the lead after charging back up the field after their initial delay. The American Porsche of Preston Henn was second, one of the few that had had a smooth run through the race. It stayed fairly static at the front for the rest of the race, with Pescarolo getting his fourth Le Mans outright victory, and Ludwig his second. The ailing JFR Porsche held on for third, while Wollek took the Lancia out in the last quarter-hour to come home eighth, the first non-Porsche finisher. Winner of the C2 Class was the Lola-Mazda sponsored by the BF Goodrich tyre company, while neither of the Jaguars finished although they had run in the top-10 for most of the race. Such was the attrition the winners distance was 11 laps fewer than that of the 1983 winner. It was also the biggest comeback in the race by a team after an early-race delay.