No matter what the situation in the annual Sports Car Manufacturers’ Championship, everyone wants to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, not only because it was the one that started sports-car racing, but the very fast Le Mans circuit is a severe test of machinery, and 24 hours of such testing is very convincing to the outside world.
Before Le Mans began Porsche had won the 1969 Championship, with outright victories at Brands Hatch, Monza, Targa Florio, Spa and Nurburgring, and if the Championship had been their only interest they could justifiably have stayed away from Le Mans, but unlike driver champions who are only interested in points winning, the Porsche Racing Department were out to win the 24-hour race, regardless of any Championship.
They arrived in France with an enormous mass of men and material, with three long-tailed 908 coupés, the flat-8-cylinder 3-litres, one new open or Spyder 908, with a new long-tailed body, and four of the incredible 917 coupés, with 4½-litre flat-12-cylinder engines.
