- 1968 was the first time the most famous livery in the history of endurance racing took victory. The Gulf Oil company’s sky blue and orange colours were sported by the Ford GT40s fielded by John Wyer’s British outfit. The American constructor claimed the third of its four straight wins plus the 1968 world manufacturers’ championship, of which Le Mans was the final round. Cars flying the Gulf colours also won in 1969 and 1975.

- Porsche had been competing at Le Mans regularly since 1951 and moved a step closer to its ambitions for overall victory with its new 908 prototype. Four cars lined up at the start, alongside a reconditioned version of the 907 fielded the previous year and now renamed 907/8.

- The German marque’s aspirations became apparent after qualifying when Swiss driver Jo Siffert achieved its first Le Mans pole with a time of 3:35:4 (an average 225.109 km/h). Three 908s took the first three spots on the grid, in front of the Ford GT40 driven by future winners Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi.

- The start of the race was marred by Willy Mairesse’s accident. The door on his Ford GT40 wasn’t closed properly when he set off and it flew off not long after, sending him spinning violently off the track. The Belgian eventually emerged from a long coma but would never race again. At the 1969 24 Hours, fellow Belgian Jacky Ickx protested against the dangerous run-and-jump start by walking slowly to his car.

- Henri Pescarolo drove the fastest Matra during qualifying (P5) and achieved something of an exploit during the race, driving through the night in the rain with no wipers, cheered on (mainly over the radio) by the excited French media. The legend of the "man in the green helmet” really began at that race in 1968, four years before the first of his four wins.

- Alpine also achieved a fine performance on home turf, with four of its cars finishing the race one after the other, from eighth to eleventh. Crossing the line eighth was André de Cortanze, the future designer of the Peugeot 905 that took victory in 1992 and 1993. He shared driving duties in the #30 Alpine A220 with Jean Vinatier.

- Alfa Romeo also enjoyed a strong result: the first Italian constructor ever to win at Le Mans (from 1931 to 1934) finished fourth, fifth and sixth that year.

- Belgian Lucien Bianchi and Mexican Pedro Rodriguez won the race on their thirteenth and eleventh Le Mans appearance respectively. Bianchi sadly lost his life a year later at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo prototype during the test sessions for the 1969 24 Hours. Rodriguez, who despite a total 14 Le Mans outings, only crossed the finish line twice (seventh in 1965, victory in 1968), succumbed to a similarly tragic fate in 1971.

Read the first part of our story of the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Photo: André de Cortanze’s A220 leads a pack of four Alpines, ranked eighth to eleventh overall.