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1972 Matra MS670

In the years following the end of World War II, motor racing witnessed a much greater influence from the aviation and aerospace industry in designing aerodynamically efficient designs to reduce drag and increase overall top speed. Then in the early 1960s, Jean-Luc Lagardere of Dassault Aviation would make a bold proclamation.

The 1970 and 1971 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans would see the Porsche 917 absolutely dominate the proceedings. Porsche would just be one of a long line of German, British and Italian manufacturers to dominate the French classic since Louis Rosier and his son won the race back in 1950. The French desperately longed for a win by a French manufacturer in their own race. But, it just wouldn't come. Not until Jean-Luc Lagardere arrived on the scene.

Lagardere had studied electrical engineering, and, upon graduation, would have a job with Dassault Aviation. Being involved in aerospace, Lagardere would become familiar with the numerous sub-contractors that would work with Dassult on numerous different projects, including missile development. One of those sub-contractors Lagardere would quit and go work for as chief executive. The company was known as Engins Mecanique Aviation-Traction, or MATRA.

Matra would actually be found to be involved in a number of different industries. From space to aviation, refrigeration, plastics, remote controls and a number of other civilian enterprises, Matra was involved in just about everything.

Being involved in the aviation industry, particularly weapons projects like missiles and the Mirage fighter jet, Matra would become very familiar with plastics and composite construction. Of course, tolerances in the aviation industry suited motor racing almost perfectly, and therefore, it was not at all surprising when Lagardere found out Matra had a motor racing division building racing cars for Rene Bonnet. Although Matra had earned a reputation for building quality racing cars like the Djet, Bonnet's company was suffering and close to closing altogether. And although Lagardere was by no means interested in motor racing growing up, he would set about making Matra as good as the Italian, British and German manufacturers dominating so much of motor racing at the time.

Lagardere was very much an entrepreneur. And upon joining Matra in 1963, and discovering its racing division shortly thereafter, Lagardere would quickly assemble some incredibly lofty goals for the company. Being the 'tireless entrepreneur' that he was, Lagardere would make the incredible announcement, despite Matra not being involved in any upper levels of motor racing, that Matra would, 'use the coming decade to master motor racing—and win the World Championship for constructors.'

This was the plan. As far as Lagardere was concerned, he was setting clear goals while providing the motivation and impetus to see them carried through. However, many others would read his words and would come to think of Lagardere as brash or just plain cocky. Only time would tell which was true.

Everyone, especially Lagardere, knew it would not happen overnight. That is why he gave the company a decade. But each and every year they would have to make consistent strides to be able to be counted amongst the best.

Matra-Sports would be founded in 1964 and would immediately set to work progressing toward Lagardere's goals. Being involved in aviation and composite construction the company already had a good foundation upon which to build. Therefore, they would take the remainder of the Djet fiberglass bodies and would make upgrades to it to produce the first prototype called the M610.

The first prototype, the M610, would have a Lotus twincam engine. The M620, the next prototype would be mated with a BRM 1.5-liter V8 engine, the same kind that had powered Graham Hill to his World Championship in 1962. However, instead of 1.5-liters, the engine would be upgraded to a 2.0-liter version.

The models would keep coming. In order to continue its necessary pace, Lagardere knew he would need the funds of a car manufacturer to help sustain the effort. And by 1967, Simca, which was a Chrysler's French company, would back the project. This would give rise to the Matra-Simca name and the 'MS' proceeding the prototype model numbers.

Fresh with Simca backing, the company would produce its next prototype, its MS630. A dramatic tubular chassis featuring smooth flowing lines, as well as, unique features aimed to make the car both aerodynamically and practically efficient. Jean-Pierre Beltoise would describe the car saying, 'The grip is excellent, the only criticism is the slightly heavy steering, which makes it more difficult to control the tail on opposite-lock.'

All while Matra had been focusing on building its own chassis, it had also been very busy designing and building its own engine capable of competing and defeating the best in the world. Matra's motor racing program was truly immense in its scope. Not only would the company be busy designing a prototype to go and capture Le Mans, but it was also just as busy designing a chassis to compete for the Formula One World Championship. To top everything off, Matra would also set out to build a big V12 engine to power both.

Near the end of the 60s decade the decision would be made to focus on Formula One first. Therefore, the sports car program would slow and the majority of the focus would be placed on the new V12 engine and the chassis.

Though the engine would not be ready in time, Matra would enter its MS80 chassis for the Formula One World Championship in 1969. And with Jackie Stewart at the wheel of the Matra chassis with a Ford Cosworth DFV engine, Matra would dominate the season. Stewart would take the Driver's Championship and Matra-Ford would win the Constructors' Championship. With that, Matra had reached one of its goals, and well within a decade. Now it just needed to go after Le Mans.

After the MS640, Matra would produce the MS650 for the 1969 season. There would end up being a number of design elements of this car that would carry on through the derivatives to follow. Of course, one of the biggest aspects that would continue to be developed but that would carry over from the MS650 to the following examples would be 3.0-liter V12 engine.

The improvements would be made in design and performance. After the MS650, Matra would introduce its M660 at Le Mans in 1970. In the 1971 running of the French classic, the 3.0-liter V12 Matra engine powering the MS660 would actually manage to keep a distant pace compared to the Ferrari 512s and Porsche 917s. And by the mid-morning hours Chris Amon would be running in 2nd place until a fuel-metering problem caused him to come to a stop along the Mulsanne.

Lagardere and the rest of the people at Matra-Sport knew they were heading in the right direction. Like everything in life, to be successful the team just needed a little providence. And providence wouldn't be knocking any more clearly than what it was the following year.

As a result of Matra's focus on taking the Formula One World Championship, as well as, wanting to win at Le Mans, the company had been focused on building a 3.0-liter engine for Formula One. While this would be a disadvantage against the bigger engines powering most all of the prototypes racing at Le Mans, efficiency could make up for much of the performance lost. Therefore, this is why Lagardere would make the decision to focus on developing the engine for Le Mans and would allow the Formula One program to run with the Ford Cosworth DFV engine for the 1969 season.

Then, heading into the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans providence would swing things very much in the favor of Matra. The bigger engines would be banned in favor of 3.0-liter engines, the same as that used in Formula One. This was an amazing breakthrough for Matra as they had already developed its 3.0-liter V12 engine and it had already proven itself in a couple of the 24 hour races. All the team needed to do was to build a car around the engine that was capable of being aerodynamically efficient and incredibly predictable in handling to keep its drivers comfortable for 24 hours of racing. Enter the MS670.

Matra's designer, Bernard Boyer, would start out designing the MS670 using what, of the previous prototypes, had proven itself to be working and effective. Therefore, just a quick glance of the MS670 would cause many to think they were looking merely at an updated version of the MS650 and MS660 instead of an all-new model.

Immediately recognizable as the MS650 or MS660 would be the low-profile wide-mouth radiator inlet positioned across the nose of the car. The front wheel fenders then were pulled in and blended into the inlet in the nose. This design, of course, was meant to help direct airflow around the side of the car. The sweeping arc of the pulled in fenders would help prevent airflow from becoming blocked as it passed around the side of the car. Of course, with the sides pulled in as they were the all-important headlights necessarily had to be positioned in an offset 'I' configuration.
Just back from the nose would be two deep channels meant to use the air flowing over the top of the fiberglass panel to create a low pressure that would help pull the air through the radiator thereby improving cooling operations. This would be a feature that would be very prevalent in grand prix cars of the day and would be even used in the Ford GT40 Mk II.

The front suspension of the car would be very straight-forward. It would feature a double wishbone arrangement with coil springs placed over dampers. To aid in stability and to provide that all-important comfort and ease to the drivers for 3,000 miles an anti-roll bar would be utilized in the suspension arrangement as well.

The same set-up would exist at the rear of the car with just some minor adjustments in order to provide the best fit and the best possible arrangement for ease of maintenance, which would be important over the course of a 24 hour race. Besides the wishbones, coil springs over dampers and anti-roll bar, the rear suspension, just because of layout concerns and arrangement, would use trailing arms.

One thing that would be the same at each corner of the car would be the use of Girling disc brakes on each of the wheels. This, combined with the rack and pinion steering and suspension, would help to provide the stable handling and assuredness needed.

The top line of the bodywork would flatten out before slightly rising to cover the back wheels and providing a mounting position for the endplates attached to the rear wing. The area of the two-seat cockpit and the engine position in between and behind the seats would sit down in somewhat channeled-out fiberglass bodywork.

The actual driver's cockpit would be surrounded by an aerodynamic shroud that actually wrapped tightly around the driver in the cockpit. The cockpit would be simple in its layout. Power from the 450 bhp 60 degree V12 Matra engine would be delivered to the rear wheel drive via a ZF 5 speed manual transmission. Right to the back of the driver would be the large roll hoop and the airbox for the engine. Matra would actually come to innovate the airbox idea placing the air inlets for the engine in between the banks of the engine so that they would be close together. By placing them close together such an airbox could be created that would efficiently channel air into the engine thereby increasing power, and actually helping to make the car more aerodynamically efficient at the same time.

Besides the airbox, more air would be captured running along the side of the car. This air would be channeled and would be used for other functions on the car like cooling the rear disc brakes.

Really, the final design element to the MS670 would be the rear wing. In the case of Pescarolo and Hill, their version of the MS670 would be the short-tail. Therefore, as the name implies, the shorter tail would cause the endplates and the rear wing to be moved further forward than what they were on either of the other Matra team cars entered in the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans. And as a result of the short-tail design, the rear wing would actually be smaller in width than the other. However, this would be a little consequence since the rear wing would be really nothing more than a large main plane that would have a much smaller adjustable plane attached to the backside of the main plane.

The one thing about the design of the endplates being incorporated into the inboard portions of the rear wheel fenders is that the narrow channel created in the bodywork would really help to make the rear wing much more efficient. The narrow channel between the rear fenders would utilize the endplates, effectively, as blockers to the flow of air out to either side and would force the airflow toward the rear main plane of the wing. From there, it would either be forced under or over the main plane helping to make the rear wing a bit more efficient.

The design, its elements; the powerful engine and overall reliability of the Matra-Simca chassis and engine would all work to near perfection on the 10th and 11th of June in 1972, the first year for the chassis design.

Matra would enter four cars. Three of them would be MS670s. The other would be an updated MS660. Out of the four that would start the race, two would end up finishing. But it would be the kind of finish everyone at Matra would long to see.

After a spirited fight for the lead throughout the event, it would be the number 15 short-tailed Matra-Simca of Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill that would survive in the best shape. They would end up taking the victory by eleven laps over the number 14 sister-car driven by Francois Cevert and Howden Ganley.

Jean-Luc Lagardere and Matra would do it. All of the goals laid out so brashly less than a decade prior had been achieved. A French manufacturer would win the World Championship and would win Le Mans. And the team would do it with a French driver at the wheel. It had been since 1950 that a French car and driver had won at Le Mans, but Matra had added their name to the record books. What was more, by bringing Graham Hill on, despite it being the later-stages of his racing career, Matra-Simca would have the honor of providing Hill the third part of his quest for motor racing's Triple Crown.

Lagardere would later explain his comments made years earlier. He would explain how he was setting very clear goals that were as much motivation and words of what could be possible than that of cockiness. He would say it this way: 'A team must know exactly what they are doing, and why they are doing it. My job has been to get it across what the aims are, and to carry the job through. The team knew we could go a long way and their efforts proved what I said in the first place.'

In a very short period of time, Matra-Simca would go a very long way. Their hard work and belief in what was possible would lead to championships for drivers and would propel men into the realms of greatness that would only continue to inspire future generations of hopeful racing drivers. That is Matra's legacy. That is the place the MS670 has in motor racing history.

Sources:
Seidler, Edouard. 'MATRA: Formulas for Success', (http://www.matrasport.dk/Misc/AUTO_69.html). Matrasport.dk. http://www.matrasport.dk/Misc/AUTO_69.html. Retrieved 3 February 2012.

'The Matra-Sports Prototypes', (http://www.matrasport.dk/Cars/Sportsprototypes/history.html). Matrasport.dk. http://www.matrasport.dk/Cars/Sportsprototypes/history.html. Retrieved 3 February 2012.

'Business Day: Jean-Luc Lagardere, 75, Executive, Dies; Founded an Aerospace and Media Empire', (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/16/business/jean-luc-lagardere-75-executive-dies-founded-an-aerospace-and-media-empire.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm). The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/16/business/jean-luc-lagardere-75-executive-dies-founded-an-aerospace-and-media-empire.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm. Retrieved 3 February 2012.

'People: Jean-Luc Lagardere', (http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cref-lagluc.html). GrandPrix.com. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cref-lagluc.html. Retrieved 3 February 2012.

Wikipedia contributors, '1972 24 Hours of Le Mans', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 12 September 2011, 18:05 UTC, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1972_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans&oldid=450119228 accessed 3 February 2012

'Matra MS670', (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3021/Matra-MS670.html). Ultimatecarpage.com: Powered by Knowledge, Driven by Passion. http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3021/Matra-MS670.html. Retrieved 3 February 2012.

By Jeremy McMullen

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