at Sebring the car had improved reliability and an aerodynamic long-tail version (coda lunga) was built. Eight such cars were prepared for Le Mans. Four were in the works team, led by their two F1 drivers Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni, paired with hill-climb specialist Peter Schetty and Arturo Merzario respectively. Ickx was carrying an injury after escaping from a burning car at the Spanish GP and then suffering a fuel leak at Spa just two weeks ago. In the other cars were Le Mans winner Nino Vaccarella with Ignazio Giunti and young F1 drivers Derek Bell and Ronnie Peterson. Bell replaced Jean Guichet who had been injured in a road accident and missing his first Le Mans since 1959. Ferrari customer teams were also equipped with the 512S. Scuderia Filipinetti had three cars led by experienced drivers. Mike Parkes/Herbert Müller and Swedes Jo Bonnier/Reine Wisell in longtails; and Italians Gianpiero Moretti/Corrado Manfredini (and his Scuderia Picchio Rosso). The North American Racing Team (NART) had two: a longtail driven by Americans Sam Posey/Ronnie Bucknum, and a standard for Helmut Kelleners/Georg Loos (and his Gelo Racing Team). Former regulars Ecurie Francorchamps also entered a longtail, returning after a four-year absence. There was also an entry for the new Spanish Escuderia Montjuich team who ran the open-top “spyder” variant. The only other cars in the big Group 5 class were a pair of Lola T70s. However, even with the 5-litre Chevrolet developing almost 500 bhp, they were no longer any match for the Porsches and Ferraris. This year the 3-litre Prototypes were not expected to be able to keep up with the power of the big Porsche and Ferraris. Matra had kept away from the championship to concentrate on winning Le Mans. However, development of the new MS660 had been difficult and only one was ready - entrusted to works drivers Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise. Despite using an upgraded F1 V12-engine (detuned back to 420 bhp) it proved slower than the two MS650s entered. The long-tail MS650 was driven by Jack Brabham/François Cevert, while Patrick Depailler/Jean-Pierre Jabouille had a short-tail version. Autodelta, the racing division of Alfa Romeo, returned to Le Mans after a difficult year. They had the latest iteration of the T33. The 3-litre V8 developed 400 bhp and its longtail format gave it a bump of 25 km/h (15 mph). The team brought four cars and had a