24h Le Mans
Steve McQueen: The Man and Le Mans, a documentary about the filming of the famous 1971 film Le Mans is due to be screened during the Cannes Film Festival, which opens tomorrow, Wednesday 13 May.
When Enzo Ferrari learned that the scenario of Le Mans depicted a victory for a Porsche 917 after a close fight with a Ferrari 512 S in the last laps, he refused to be directly involved in the film. It is true that Steve McQueen at the wheel of a sky blue and orange Porsche 917 was always going to be excellent publicity for the German manufacturer and for Gulf, but probably less so for Ferrari.
However, the Italian manufacturer’s cooperation was a necessity, so journalist Gérard Crombac, consultant for Solar, Steve McQueen’s production company, contacted the Belgian Jacques Swaters. As the biggest importer of Ferraris in Europe, Swaters was close to Ferrari’s “Commendatore” yet agreed to provide the Ferrari 512 prototypes used for filming and enabled the crew to shoot in the Ecurie Francorchamps pit. He also hired the 1970 Le Mans Ferrari drivers, Hugues de Fierlandt and Derek Bell, who took part in the film shoot after the race.
The story goes that Swaters needed another 512 chassis for the film, which he collected from the factory in Modena and brought back on the roof of a Mercedes taxi!
The Belgian, who died in 2010, always stated his involvement in the film as one of the best business decisions of his life, because it secured the future of his Francorchamps business. Swaters was a prominent figure at Le Mans 24 Hours in the sixties and seventies, with his teams Ecurie Francorchamps and Ecurie Nationale Belge. The head-to-head between his Ferrari 250 LM driven by Pierre Dumay and Gustave Gosseling and the other Ferrari driven by Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt (NART, owned by Luigi Chinetti, US importer) remains a highlight in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO Translated from French by Emma Paulay
Photo: D.R. Archives ACO
Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, LE MANS 24 HOURS, SATURDAY 13 & SUNDAY 14 JUNE 1970. Jacques Swaters and his Ecurie Francorchamps finished fifth in the 1970 24 hours, with a Ferrari 512 driven by Allistair Walker and Hugues de Fierlandt.
