the first night of practise when he clocked the fastest time of 3:20.0. Vic Elford then went out on Thursday and put in a 3:19.8, fractionally faster than Vaccarella to take the pole position. The Wyer Porsches were third and fifth, split by Merzario's Ferrari, then there was a row of Ferraris: the other two works cars of Ickx and Bell, and the two Filipinetti cars of Parkes and Wisell. Slowest of the 917 qualifiers was the third Porsche-Salzburg car of Herrmann/Attwood, doing a 3:32.6 after struggling with brake-issues, to start 15th . Just ahead of it, in 14th, was the fastest of the Prototypes – the Matra of Brabham/Cevert (3:32.2), ahead of Stommelen's Alfa Romeo in 17th. Yet, after a year of development the Matras were disappointing – coming in three seconds slower than the previous year's 3-litre Porsches. Best of the 2-litres was the new Ligier (4:03.4), and quickest GT was the Léopard Corvette (4:07.2) The biggest moment of the practice sessions was on Wednesday night when Dieter Spoerry's 908 and Jack Brabham's Matra arrived at the Ford Chicane at the same time. Spoerry's car disintegrated and burst into flames, but the driver got out only lightly injured. However, badly shaken from the experience and an injured leg, he subsequently failed his medical test and the two cars he was cross-entered in (the third Salzburg 917 and the wrecked Martini 908) were withdrawn. A disconcerting feature of the Wednesday practice was the extreme number of punctures – the JWA team alone had ten, and Ferrari had six. JWA's team manager David Yorke attributed it to the excessive number of bolts and pieces left by the Armco crews the day before. The wide, soft tyres used and hot summer temperatures may also have contributed, but the circuit was swept before the Thursday practice sessions. Race Start After a very hot week, Friday afternoon brought thunderstorms and then rain overnight. Although further storms were predicted by the time of the race-start the weather was overcast but dry. Most cars that were lined up with wet-tyres were quickly changed back to slicks for the start. Following the bad (including one fatal) accidents at the start of the previous two years, the ACO finally abolished the traditional “Le Mans start”. This year the cars were lined up in echelon (but a shallower angle to allow easier getaway) with the drivers fully belted