LeMan’s 1970 Series – A Preview

The 1970 LeMans series looks to be a Porsche vs Porsche battle with a few other makes joining in for some added spice.

With most of the pre-entries in it looks like the potential 13 car field will be headed by 9 Porsche 917’s, one Matra, one Lola T70, one Porsche 908LH and one Ferrari 312P.

The Porsche entries will be run by a wide range of club racers with varying degrees of experience and preparation skills.  The Porsche is a strong performer out of the box but it will be interesting to see what modifications and changes are made by each of those choosing to run the car.  Here are some highlights of what we know going into the first race weekend.

Gordon Racing Porsche is one of the first to be produced but has been upgraded to the latest chassis version with adjustable front axle mounts.  Shawn is one of the clubs best tuners and should be able to get this great platform to run at the front of the field.

The Cass team – Jordan and David both have factory fresh Porsche’s 917’s and although they are new to the track they had a strong Group C series that should give them more knowledge of what it takes to set up a car to run fast.

There is even a Porsche 917 team that will be flying in for each round of the series.  They are very competitive at their home track but have only run practice laps on the clubs track and have yet to run a lap in anger.  The cars they have run have been very well set up and should be a serious threat to finish on the podium.

The French Matra will be running a new resin bodied racer that is smaller and narrower than the Porsches and is claimed to be significantly heavier than the Porsche’s but is being developed by Ary Racing Works and I am sure it will be a threat to finish at the front.

The sole Lola T70 is running the tried and true Chevy power plant and even though the Lola is not the latest technology it is a proven winner and in the hands of the Russell Mill garage it is sure to be fast.

The big Porsche-Ferrari battle that was rumored will not take place after all the hype as the Ferrari factory could not find any willing takers for their latest 512S challenger.  Ferrari’s only hope for victory lies with the only Ferrari entered – a two year old 312P re-bodied in coupe configuration in the hopes of having more straight line speed.

The Ferrari is heavier than the Porsche’s but may benefit from two years of development.  The Ferrari is a very stable car and should at least be an easy car to drive.

Along with all the Porsche 917’s there is one Porsche 908 in the field.  This 908 is running in the latest long tail revision of this tried and true platform and benefits from years of development and time spent in the University of Munich’s wind tunnel.  It should be interesting to see this car run against the 917’s.

That is what the field on the upcoming LeMan’s 1970 field looks like.  It should make for some interesting racing with so many different make and configurations running. The first race is Saturday, April 5^th at 1:00pm.   Can’t wait to see what happens.