This decade at Le Mans began with the first victories by Porsche, whose awesome 917 racing car, capable of more than 240mph, established a distance record that would stand for almost four decades. One of a hat-trick of wins by Matra, effectively the French national team, was achieved in a famously frantic, head-to-head duel with Ferrari. In 1975, the oil crisis led the ACO to run its race to a 'fuel formula', and it was won by the Ford-supported Gulf-Mirage team. Porsche, using motorsport to develop its turbocharging technology, won again in 1976 and in 1977, when Jacky Ickx produced one of the greatest drives ever seen in motor racing anywhere. A massive effort by Renault, again with a turbocharged engine, delivered success in 1978. The decade closed, as it had started, with a soaking wet race that was won by Porsche.
- Highly detailed year-by-year coverage of the decade's ten races, giving over 30 pages of information and photographs for each year.
- Official status provides a number of unique features, including the reproduction of the full-colour race poster artwork for each year and photographs from the ACO's archives.
- The images include rare colour, and the emphasis is on photographs that enthusiasts will not have seen before.
- The story of each race is told through photographs and an accompanying commentary.
- Complete data for each year includes technical regulations, entry list, circuit changes (with diagram), lap chart, full results and category awards.
- The whole work is beautifully designed and presented.
- The 1970s boiled down to a Franco-German era, with Matra's three wins of 1972-74 breaking Porsche's new-found supremacy, which was established so memorably by the magnificent 917 cars that won in 1970-71.
About the Author: A past editor of Autosport, the world's top motorsports weekly, Quentin Spurring has a long-held passion for the Le Mans 24 Hours - he has reported from the race 26 times - and is the ideal author for this series of officially endorsed books. In addition to his books in this Le Mans series (1923-29, 1930-39, 1949-59, 1960-69, 1970-79, 1980-89 and 1990-99), he has written books about Jim Clark, Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson, and his book Grand Prix: Images of the First 100 Years, from David Bull Publishing, won an award from the American Publishers Association (APA). He has been the European Motorsport Correspondent of the US publication, AutoWeek, since 1982.
