On Saturday morning, the dark clouds hanging over the circuit gave us a premonition of what we would be in for, but we had no way of knowing the amount of rain they would produce over the next 24 hours. We had qualified 25th out of a field of 51, and Chuck, due largely to his seniority, was assigned to take the first stint.

     The start of this year's race was unique in the history of the event in that the traditional "dash-across-the-track" start by the drivers had been abandoned for safety reasons, and instead everyone was strapped into their cars, which were lined up at an angle along pit row.  One moment there was total silence, then the starter's flag dropped and there was a cacophony of sounds as the engines fired in unison, and a massive cloud of dust and exhaust as the field shot away.

The Start at 4:00 PM Saturday

     The opening stages of the race were uneventful for us, and when Chuck pitted for fuel after one hour, I slipped behind the wheel of the 312 and was soon circulating around the 8.5-mile track at a steady pace.  The car was running perfectly, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself when, around dusk, the heavens opened up and the rain began to pelt down with such intensity as I have never experienced before or since in a race car.

     Our car, being a coupe, was very aerodynamic, and thus well suited to the high-speed Le Mans circuit, but watertight it was not.

Saturday afternoon before the rain began:  A lonely moment at 200 mph

            Le Mans 24 Hours

            June 13, 1970    cont.

Total Recall by a2z

Swimming through the first turn after the Dunlop Bridge

    The air scoops up near the windshield, designed to cool both driver and the various radiators, now acted as rain and spray collectors, funneling water directly into the cockpit.  It wasn't more than a lap or two after the downpour started that I was soaked to the skin.

Tony Adamowicz, Gary Wheeler, Tony a2z, Tony Adamowics, a2zRacer, Gary Wheeler, Tony Adamowicz

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Traffic jam at La Source.  This is the end of the Mulsanne straight, looks like the 312

caught up with the Corvette at the same time the Bell/Peterson 512 caught them both.

Same spot - but all alone this time

Some Brit above the Ferrari pit has some explaining to do!