Legendary driver and expert at improvised repairs !

The legend of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has achievements both great and small… here is one of them.

A harness and plug spanner "jury rig".

Saturday, 13th of June 1987 - Ten years after its debut at Le Mans, Sauber appeared for the first time among the legitimate contenders to win overall. To achieve this he renewed the contract of his top driver Henri Pescarolo, 44 ​​years old and already four-time winner of the event. The other French name in the adventure was Yves Saint Laurent, whose Kouros eau de toilette sponsorship, would quickly give a new name to the C9 prototype

From the start, nothing went as planned. Dominated by Porsche and Jaguar, the Swiss car had countless electrical problems and quickly dropped into the depths of the rankings. Worse still, at about 8pm Henri Pescarolo stopped in the Porsche curves. The transmission had not withstood the torque of the big Mercedes turbo V8. The fault was known, it had been the cause of retirement 12 months earlier ...

Pescarolo however, refused to give up. He opened the engine cover and tried to make the best use of the mechanical skills acquired Matra then refined on the Dakar. For over an hour, with any means at hand he tried to fix the problem enough to continue to the pits. Using what he later called a "combine de voyou" (jury rig or bodge) in the form of a piece of harness and a spark plug spanner he managed to get going. At low speed, of course, but enough to return to pit No.68, which - surprise, surprise - was deserted! Garage door down and truck being loaded ...

He opens the door to the surprise of the pit crew. Action stations! Engineers set about rebuilding the transmission while Peter Sauber struggled to convince the organizers to reinstate the car in the rankings. It was, but the Kouros would be striken again in the early morning, this time by a double puncture. After a night in the rain without wipers in 1968, it was another incredible feat by Henri Pescarolo that went unrewarded. 

Julien HERGAULT / ACO

Henri Pescarolo, winner in 72, 73, 74 and 84, was 44 years old in 1987. Photo : Williams F1 Team	The Sauber Mercedes C9 "Kouros" and mechanics. Photo : Jean-François RIOM	The 5 litre Mercedes V8 turbo ad its fragile transmission. Photo : Daimler AG.