13th June 1953: The Race That Rewrote The Rules Part 3

Three races share the 13th of June. Three times, the result confounded expectations.In 1953, Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton spent the night in a French bar after being disqualified before the race had started. By Sunday afternoon they had won — at the first average speed of over 100 miles per hour in Le Mans history — in a Jaguar C-Type running disc brakes for the first time in competition.In 1970, the dominant JW Automotive Gulf Porsches of Jo Siffert and Pedro Rodriguez were eliminated by driver error and mechanical failure through a rain-soaked night. What was left was a race of survival. Of 51 starters, only seven cars were classified. The winner was a car that had qualified fifteenth, driven by a man who had promised his wife he would retire the moment he won Le Mans.In 1987, a change in fuel specification destroyed most of Porsche's own fleet within the first hour. Jaguar, who had won the four preceding championship rounds, appeared set to end Porsche's six-year winning streak — until a tyre failure at 230 miles per hour changed the course of the race. One Porsche survived. It was enough.Send us Fan MailMusic by #Mubert Music Rendering