and head injuries which left him in a coma for two weeks and ended his racing career. At the end of the first lap, Porsches were in the top four places, with Stommelen in the lead. Siffert took the lead on the fourth lap (already lapping tailenders), with the Fords running in 5-6-7. Johnny Servoz-Gavin bought the Matra in with a malfunctioning windscreen-wiper. The rain had stopped and the track was drying. Soon Hawkins and Rodríguez were in, with their wet-weather tyres ruined. Then on lap 12, the lap it was due in, the third Ford went off when Muir planted it in the sand at the Mulsanne corner. After three hours of digging he burned the clutch out in his departure. By the end of two hours Siffert had lapped the field. Teammate Elford was second, with the two Gulf-Fords, Buzzetta's 908 and the Alpines of Guichet and Bianchi next. Eighth was the leading 2-litre car, Giunti's Alfa with the Matra and Piper's Ferrari filling out the top-10. Porsche then also started having problems as Stommelen and Elford both had electrical issues delaying them. Worse though was when the leading car's clutch broke just before 7pm, stranding Siffert out on the track unable to get back to the pits for repairs. Night This left the two Gulf Fords of Rodriguez/Bianchi and Hawkins/Hobbs swapping the lead going into the night. Then at 9pm Hobbs came into the pits also with a faulty clutch and they lost nearly 2 hours repairing it. Although they got going again, the engine soon expired spectacularly at the end of the Mulsanne Straight, just after midnight. During the night the Guichet/Jabouille Alpine had pitted from 6th but lost three-quarters an hour getting a new starter motor fitted. Approaching 9pm, with the Fords and Porsches now all back on the same lap, the order was changing as often as the pitstops took place. The four Alfas had a stranglehold on the Index of Performance. Soon after, Henri Grandsire had another accident in the Alpine, when it got airborne over the hump at the end of the Mulsanne straight. Again, he was fortunate to be able to walk away uninjured. Then the Mitter/Elford Porsche snapped its alternator belt. When the officials found that the team had changed the alternator they were disqualified (much to the chagrin of team manager Huschke von Hanstein) as that was a part