[E.B]

A bit more about the fuel, its development story and the race in the words of Thierry Perrier himself.....

“Our 911 SC dated from 1977. We took advantage of the wish to promote new energies issued by the ACO to be on the list of admitted cars. I had read a study on “new energies” published in “L'Automobile”, written by two engineers, Georges Agache and Roger Oswald. With Roger Carmillet who was an instructor at AGACI and who also worked at Ferodo, we therefore met these two people who had worked on an Audi engine running on pure alcohol. Reasonably, we preferred the option of a 50-50 blend, exactly 48% ethanol and 52% gasoline.

The Interprofessional Association of Sugar Beers in France, very interested in the project, provided us with the raw materials and took care of the various essential authorizations. Our mechanics, François Bellepomme and Guy Dardat, set to work to make the necessary modifications to the injection, ignition and heating of the engine compartment.

For those 24 Hours, we had a vat of gasoline, a vat of alcohol and a vat of mixing that we kept, lest we throw something into these vats. The weather that year was appalling. Although it is June, it was cold and it was not ideal for our fuel. Over the course of the race and retirements, we methodically climbed up the rankings. The Porsche ran like clockwork and, apart from changing the brake pads, our only stops were for refueling and tyre changes. Of the 24 hours, our 911 SC was only in front of the booth for 53 minutes. Only three cars did better, and narrowly: the Rondeau M379 B Belga of the Martin brothers and Gordon Spice and the Porsche 924 GT of Andy Rouse / Tony Dron and Derek Bell / Al Holbert, two official Porsches who only spent a few minutes less in the pits!