The 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 35th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 10 and 11 June 1967. It was also the seventh round of the 1967 World Sportscar Championship.
Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt, driving a Ford Mk IV, won the race after leading from the second hour, becoming the first (and, as of , only) all-American victors - car, team and drivers - of the race. Ferrari were second and third, and these top-three cars all broke the 5000 km mark in total distance covered for the first time. All overall records were broken – fastest, furthest, a new lap record and biggest engine to win, along with a number of class records.
Regulations
After the previous year's complete change in the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale - the FIA’s regulatory body) – the FIA Appendix J – there were no significant changes or updates to the regulations.
In an effort to reduce the speed disparity between the classes, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) lifted its minimum average speed for qualification, from to . They also now required all cars to qualify to be within 85% of the pole-position car’s average speed. There was also about a 2.5% increase to the minimum distances on the Index of Performance.
Entries
Once again there was a marked imbalance between the categories with only six Sports Cars and seven GTs versus the 41 Prototypes in the starting line-up. It brought together the best of the world’s racing drivers with 37 who had, or would, race in Formula 1. There were five World Champions and in the previous month, eleven drivers had raced in the Monaco Grand Prix and seven in the Indy 500.
Entry list for the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans:
Defending champions Ford, along with Porsche, had the biggest representation with ten cars. The new Ford GT40 Mark IV was an updated version of the Ford J-Car, which was shelved following the fatal accident of Ken Miles in August 1966 (The Mk III being a small-production road-car). The Mark IV had an all new chassis designed and built in the United States. The big-block 427 cu in (7-litre) Ford Galaxie-derived engine from the Mk.II was now pushing out 530 bhp. Four cars were ready for Le Mans: two for Shelby American who had the American pair of Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt in one car and defending champion Bruce McLaren with Mark Donohue in the other. The team had to fabricate a roof "bubble" to accommodate the helmet of Dan Gurney, who stood more than 190 cm (6 feet, 3 inches) tall. The other two went to Holman & Moody with its teams of Mario Andretti/Lucien Bianchi and Denny Hulme/Lloyd Ruby.
After a humiliating loss to the Ferrari works team at the opening round at Daytona (who finished 1-2-3) Ford had won the next round at Sebring with Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren driving the new Mk IV. For safety in numbers, Ford also entered three Mk IIB's (lightened versions of the previous year's car) run by Shelby American (Ronnie Bucknum/Paul Hawkins), Holman & Moody (Frank Gardner/Roger McCluskey) and Ford France (Jo Schlesser/Guy Ligier)
This year Ferrari chose to concentrate its efforts on the large-Prototype category. The latest evolution of the 250P, the 330 P4 had new bodywork, a better gearbox and the engine reworked, now putting out 450 bhp. Although lighter and with far better handling, it could not match the big Fords on sheer straight-line pace. Four were built and all were at Le Mans. The works team, now under Franco Lini, brought three of the cars. F1 team drivers Chris Amon and Lorenzo Bandini had won at Daytona and Monza but after Bandini was killed at Monaco Amon drove with Nino Vaccarella in the open-top, spyder, version. Team regulars Ludovico Scarfiotti/Mike Parkes had the second and Klass/Sutcliffe the third. The other P4 was run by the Equipe Nationale Belge for Willy Mairesse/”Beurlys”.
There were also three updated P3's (now called the 412 P) for the other customer teams: Maranello Concessionaires (Richard Attwood/Piers Courage), Scuderia Filipinetti (Jean Guichet/Herbert Müller) and the North American Racing Team (NART) for Pedro Rodriguez/Giancarlo Baghetti. NART also ran their older modified-P2 again.
After the success in 1966, John Wyer and Ford had split amicably. J.W. Automotive had purchased the Ford Advanced Vehicles facility and set about adapting the GT40. With a new narrow-cockpit body design by Len Bailey, the Mirage M1 had new suspension and carried the 351 cu in (5.75L) Ford engine. After Jacky Ickx and Dick Thompson sensationally won the Spa 1000km, race two cars were entered for Le Mans. Ickx co-drove with Alan Rees and Thompson had David Piper.