14 replies to this topic

[Joe Fan]

Does anyone know why the 1968 Le Mans 24 Hour race was not contested in June like it had customarily been?

[scheivlak]

Hey Joe, there was something happening there in France!

Following the Paris May days of '68, the French police had something else to do than lending a helping hand to the Le Mans 24 hour organisation. I think that might have been the most direct reason.

[LittleChris]

I thought that it was because it would have clashed with the proposed French elections if held in June 1968.

[scheivlak]

I'm pretty sure there were no elections; however there was a referendum on De Gaulle's general policy a few weeks later (don't think that referendum would have taken place if there were elections just before that)

[Vitesse2]

Scheivlak is correct - the fallout from the May riots caused the postponement. And I don't think any French politician would have seriously considered holding an election on the Le Mans weekend!

[FEV]

Les 24 Heures du Mans 1968 should have been held the weekend of the 15 and 16 of June. It was less than two weeks after the "Mai 68" events (some would say revolution) and besides the security forces not being free to help the organisers, the entire France was still partly paralysed. There had been a general strike and riots for almost a month and no sporting or cultural event of this importance could have been organised so little time after the events. But elections were indeed held June 23 and 30 because De Gaulle had dissolved the parlement.

[Rob29]

The Reims F2 meeting was also postponed to September.French GP at Rouen was held as scheduled on July 7-I was there.

[Rainer Nyberg]

There was some kind of turmoil in several major cities during the spring of '68. London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, even in Stockholm. Often created by left-oriented students. At least in Sweden many of those riot leaders later became prominent personalities.

The postponement of Le Mans was a direct result of the riots.

[FEV]

We can add the tragic Praha events to the lot... In France too many of the students leaders became prominent political personalities. Most famous is Daniel Cohn-Bendit (a.k.a. Dany Le Rouge) who was the leader of the Nanterre students and is now a European deputy. He was exiled to Germany for his 1968 exploits and made most of his political career there as an Ecologist party member. Back in France since a few years.
I often think about 1968 as one of the craziest years of the 20th Century. Motorsport had its share of oddities, dark ones being of course the sad streak of death among major Grand Prix drivers. But so many things changed during this year : sponsors and wings for instance are responsible for a lot of changes in Grand Prix racing.

[fines]

So Cohn-Bendit is actually French? Never knew that...

[FEV]

IIRC he has dual nationality because one of his parents is French and the other German. That's why it was possible to exile him in 1968.

[BRG]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
I don't think any French politician would have seriously considered holding an election on the Le Mans weekend!

But I seem to remember (although the memory isn't what it was!) several years when the race started earlier, at 2pm instead of 4pm, because the Sunday was an election day. Presumably, after the finish and inspired by the race, good French voters set off for the polls at a suitably high speed!

[FEV]

Originally posted by BRG
But I seem to remember (although the memory isn't what it was!) several years when the race started earlier, at 2pm instead of 4pm, because the Sunday was an election day. Presumably, after the finish and inspired by the race, good French voters set off for the polls at a suitably high speed!

This rings a bell indeed, maybe for the 1974 presidential elections ? But the race already had lost a part of its success and was not the worldwide event it used to be until a few years before. I agree with Richard that during the late 60s, the LM heydays, nobody would have thought about holding an election on the same weekend as Le Mans.

[scheivlak]

Originally posted by FEV
But elections were indeed held June 23 and 30 because De Gaulle had dissolved the parlement.

oops, so I was wrong about that!

[Joe Fan]

Thanks for the info. I knew someone here would know this right off the top of their head.