STEVE BURNS : quite a nice article can be found at
1975/76 lemans
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Yes - Chris Gray has done a LOT of good research on this car, and the article is now overdue for a re-write. Much more about the car is now known. Shows what can be done by an enthusiastic researcher who wants to get to the bottom of a story like this.
I've been able to help in my own small way by filling in some history and background on the Works-built Japanese domestic race cars, and suggestions of where the car actually came from and what it actually started life as ( including identifying parts which pointed to its identity ).
I won't steal his thunder by posting too much about it - that honour should go to Chris himself ( possibly with a new article ) - but the following is a taster:
*It appears that the same car WAS indeed used in both '75 & '76, and the presumption that the '76 car was a different car probably came from the fact that the engine capacity was quoted as larger in the '76 entry.
*It was NOT the ex-Works rally car registered "TKS 33 SU 6466" - although it used a registration plate with that number on it during the 1975 race.
*The car came to France from South Africa, having been used in two Springbok Series races there. Two Works-built 240ZR's were raced in the Springbok Series, with one of them being driven by two Japanese SCCN Works team drivers, and the other by two local drivers.
*Previous to racing in S.A. the car driven by the two local drivers was campaigned as a full Works SCCN team 240ZR in Japanese domestic races, with all the usual 240ZR aerodynamic parts and mechanicals. It is now thought that this was the car that was left in S.A. to contest the full Springbok Series ( cancelled after two races ) and then later went to Le Mans.
*The car was comprehensively destroyed in the crash that sadly proved fatal to Andre Haller, and its fate is so far unknown. Only the people who disposed of the remains of the car will know exactly what happened to it. However, the car that has been claimed to be the same car ( owned by M. Pierre Bourgoin in France ) is NOT the actual Le Mans car, despite what M. Bourgoin has claimed in a magazine article. Fortunately he now seems to be backtracking on this claim.
A certain amount of creativity and rule-bending seems to have been involved in getting the car into the race in '75. The attachment of the Works rally car registration plate seems to have been part of passing off the identity of the car as "6466" - perhaps convincing the ACO that the car would be legal to race.
Its perhaps best to be a little bit circumspect when pointing the finger with regard to any rule-bending issues, especially considering Haller's fate and the fact that Hans Schuller is also no longer with us.
Anyway, Chris will I am sure be updating his article in the near future. The story is not fully clear, but many questions have been answered.