Article: Olympia Charger Returns To Le Mans

[Dale Harvey]

In post #3,first photo,I would reckon that is the rear of the Brock BMW to the very left of the shot.
Dale.

[Howard Wood]

I was at Le Mans in 1976 helping run the deCadenet car (we finished 3rd overall) and clearly remember the American involvement, particularly the Greenwood Corvette. Le Mans had lost a bit of its pull at this stage and always had its own quirky take on the regulations, I guess they hoped the Americans would add some new dimension to the event.

The Greenwood car, let alone the NASCAR entries looked so incongruous in that setting although the noise of the Corvette was pretty hard to miss! "Les Deux Monstres" would not have been meant in a complementary way. I think the French used a similar term to describe the Briggs Cunningham Cadillac engined entry in 1950.

As 1976 was the beginning of the Turbo era, the Renaults and Porsches in particular were unbelievably quick in qualifying mode but they had to really turn down the wick for the race to have any chance of running for 24 hours let alone get around the refuelling frequency rules so the Charger's qualifying time nearly 1 minute slower is not nearly as bad as it sounds.

[Steve Holmes]

I was at Le Mans in 1976 helping run the deCadenet car (we finished 3rd overall) and clearly remember the American involvement, particularly the Greenwood Corvette. Le Mans had lost a bit of its pull at this stage and always had its own quirky take on the regulations, I guess they hoped the Americans would add some new dimension to the event.

The Greenwood car, let alone the NASCAR entries looked so incongruous in that setting although the noise of the Corvette was pretty hard to miss! "Les Deux Monstres" would not have been meant in a complementary way. I think the French used a similar term to describe the Briggs Cunningham Cadillac engined entry in 1950.

As 1976 was the beginning of the Turbo era, the Renaults and Porsches in particular were unbelievably quick in qualifying mode but they had to really turn down the wick for the race to have any chance of running for 24 hours let alone get around the refuelling frequency rules so the Charger's qualifying time nearly 1 minute slower is not nearly as bad as it sounds.

Thanks Howard. I always enjoy and appreciate your recollections.

[Steve Holmes]

In post #3,first photo,I would reckon that is the rear of the Brock BMW to the very left of the shot.
Dale.

Good spotting Dale!