How an ingenious fix prevented Paul Newman from winning Le Mans
It's one of the great what-if stories in Le Mans history. Paul Newman finished second in the 24 Hours in 1979, but it could easily have been a famous victory were it not for the resourcefulness of the late Manfred Kremer.
The idea of a fifty-something Hollywood megastar, a future Oscar winner no less, pitching up at the Le Mans 24 Hours and winning the thing on his debut sounds absurd. But it nearly happened in 1979 in a plot line so fanciful that it would have been laughed out of Tinseltown.
The reality is that Paul Newman was deprived of victory in the French enduro by the ingenuity of Manfred Kremer.
Share Or Save This Story
Why Porsche doesn't expect another WEC domination at Imola
Ferrari, Toyota receive biggest BoP breaks for WEC's Imola round
Gounon replaces Habsburg for Alpine Hypercar debut at Imola's WEC round
Cadillac confirms two-driver Hypercar line-up as Imola WEC entry list announced
WEC set to introduce minimum two-car manufacturer Hypercar rule
Upgraded Peugeot 9X8 WEC hypercar has "even more potential than expected"
Why Peugeot had no choice but to revamp its radical Le Mans Hypercar
Peugeot reveals revised 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar with rear wing
Why Porsche doesn't expect another WEC domination at Imola
Quartararo: Marquez's Honda exit "woke a lot of people up" at Yamaha
Pourchaire to make IndyCar debut for Arrow McLaren
Bottas: Permanent fix for Sauber F1 pitstop woes "by Imola"
The Le Mans oddities that have added to the race's legend
The Peugeot rookies who conquered Le Mans but missed out on F1
Why the stars have aligned to bring Aston Martin back to the top class at Le Mans
Inside Toyota’s alternative path to the future of motorsport
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
