Porsche 911 at Le Mans: in Steve McQueen’s wheeltracks

The enduring relationship between the actor and the marque had been forged much earlier: McQueen’s first new car had been a Porsche 356 Speedster and, after working his way through a string of Ferraris and other exotics, in November 1968 he took delivery of a new, Slate Grey Porsche 911S, registered to his film company, Solar Productions.

He didn’t go wild on the options list, but did have the tachometer rotated so that the upper reaches of the rev range were visible through the steering wheel.

McQueen drove his cars hard, racing late at night on Mulholland Drive, the 21-mile road that snakes through the eastern Santa Monica Mountains, with a switch on the dash to turn off the rear lights in case of police interest.

He also bought a 911E in Slate Grey, registered to him – rather than Solar – in August 1969, which he kept until shortly before his death in 1980. He clearly liked the colour.

The Porsche 917 would win at Le Mans in 1970 and on celluloid a year later, but its co-star Steve McQueen fell for a rather more humble Stuttgart icon

When it came to making his racing epic, McQueen wanted the film to be a documentary, saying: “If we’re going to do this, we are going to do it right.

“No typical Hollywood bullshit – no clever twists, no perfect ending… And if we’re going to do it about one race, it has to be Le Mans.”

However, Hollywood dictated otherwise: there had to be a plot, and there had to be a love story.

After McQueen took over and director John Sturges – who had already worked with him on The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape – walked out, the film’s backers brought in a new director, Lee H Katzin, and insisted on at least a semblance of a story, threatening to shut down production if the star didn’t relinquish control.

Steve McQueen used the loan Porsche 911 to ferry his family around the local area while filming Le Mans © Porsche

It had all started so positively.

Solar hired the 12th-century Château du Viré in the village of Viré-en-Champagne, 50km west of Le Mans, as McQueen’s accommodation for three months of filming straight after the race, with his wife and children due to join him during the school holidays.

Two weeks before the 1970 24 Heures du Mans, the production company purchased a 1970 911S in exactly the same specification – down to the colour and the Federal headlights – as the car he had at home.

‘The car was driven, as is, directly to Le Mans by our people, for use by Steve and the Solar Productions crew,’ Porsche wrote in a letter confirming the 911’s provenance.

Steve McQueen and his Porsche 911 became a familiar sight for Le Mans locals in summer 1970 © Porsche

Clearly McQueen only had one car in mind for Delaney.

Optional extras included factory air-con, an upgraded interior and yellow foglamp lenses, taking the cost of the top-of-the-range 911 to $8338.61.

The production company had a selection of cars on loan from Porsche for the cast and crew to drive.

The German manufacturer was aware of McQueen’s love for the marque, and the plot of the film, and fully invested in the idea of Hollywood’s biggest star showing its products in the best-possible light.

It wouldn’t have hurt having a selection of top racing drivers being seen driving 911s.

‘It’s impossible to resist taking the Porsche 911 to the redline out of the slower corners, revelling in the fluttering flat-six’

Jonathan Williams was the only pilot employed by Solar throughout the race and the subsequent filming.

“We were given a Porsche 911 each to trundle around in,” he recalled, “it was good news.”

Derek Bell had an orange 911S – “fab car, but I never went anywhere in it, I was always filming!” – while Jo Siffert brought his own from Switzerland, where he ran a Porsche dealership.

Richard Attwood, who went on to win the 1970 race, already had a car on loan. He recalls: “The 911 I had was part of the factory drivers’ contract; their cars were to be seen in the paddocks for publicity purposes… We were allowed at the end of the year to purchase them at market value.”

While Steve McQueen’s Solar Productions filmed, Porsche achieved its first Le Mans win © Porsche

At least the drivers could be trusted to keep their cars on the road: director Sturges took his girlfriend on a lap of the circuit in his allocated 911S targa “to see what it would do” and promptly wrote it off.

Porsche quietly shipped the remains back to Germany.

As well as the grey film car, McQueen had a 911S for his own use while in France.

He would drive his borrowed 911 flat-out – he didn’t drive any other way – to and from Le Mans every day, and rumour has it his target time was 15 mins (an average of 120mph).

‘Our’ Signal Yellow Porsche 911 2.2T is a bit less powerful – and more conspicuous – than Steve McQueen’s fuel-injected, Slate Gray car

To find out if that’s possible, we’re heading down to Sarthe ahead of this year’s race in a classic 911 of our own.

We are recreating the sequence in an entry-level, carburetted 1970 911 2.2T, rather than McQueen’s injected S, but it’s still brisk enough to give an authentic experience.

This Signal Yellow example was originally a USA car, but has belonged to Porsche France since 2013 and feels suspiciously as if the engine produces rather closer to the 180bhp of the S than the 125bhp with which it left the factory. 

Despite its cantankerous gearbox and reputation for wayward handling on the limit, its controls are precise and it’s packed with character.

Daring you to push harder, this car is magnificent both to look at and to drive in 2026; it must have been a revelation on these roads in 1970.

First stop: the site of the Solar Village, the Le Mans film crew’s headquarters

Used to driving in the Californian mountains, McQueen will have revelled in the smoothly surfaced roads winding through rural France.

With a 911 at his disposal and 100km to drive daily, he’d have been in his element exploring different commutes.

The production company pitched the Solar Village, a gaggle of offices and stores prefabricated in Switzerland and hired at a cost of $30,000, behind the Houx campsite in the centre of the track, and rented a large garage in the village of Arnage where the cars could be stored and maintained under ex-Lotus competitions manager Andrew Ferguson.

The garage in Arnage, near Le Mans, where Solar Productions kept its cars for Le Mans

In 1970, the quickest and most direct path would have been an arrow-straight main road – now bypassed by the autoroute – from Angers to Le Mans, but the track is c8km south of the centre, and there’s a more challenging route snaking from hamlet to hamlet and skirting the Sarthe river that is – significantly – more scenic.

Significant because it’s here that we find the locations from the opening scenes of Le Mans.

As composer Michel Legrand’s Golden Globe-nominated score begins, Delaney drives the 911 across a bridge at Brûlon on the wrong side of the road, taking the racing line into the following right-hand bend.

McQueen would have passed Brûlon, the closest village to the east of Viré-en-Champagne, every day, and little has changed here in the past half a century.

The Porsche 911 negotiates the bridge at Brûlon – and its distinctive bump

A route départementale, its Tarmac – like most of the roads we’ll drive along today – is excellent despite being a relatively minor tributary.

It’s been resurfaced since 1970, but the dip on the bridge evident in the film is still there.

It’s a fantastic sequence, with the right-hander leading into a sharp left before snaking on through the village of Chevillé.

The roads are open and relatively straight, interspersed with wide, fast bends and with virtually no other traffic.

The Porsche 911 powers into a right-hander, retracing Steve McQueen’s commute to the Le Mans circuit

It’s impossible to resist the temptation to take the 911 to the redline out of slower corners, revelling in the fluttering flat-six, accurate steering and this early car’s delicate dimensions.

But while McQueen wouldn’t have been bothered by speed limits (the film brought a huge amount of money and employment to the region), now we are constrained by 80kph restrictions on routes départementales, dropping to 50 when you pass a village or town sign and down to 20 in the centre, enforced by a few sleeping policemen.

Like today, the best-selling cars in France in 1970 were from Renault, Citroën and Peugeot; a 180bhp 911 would have been out of this world among the 2CVs and Quatr’elles.

The Porsche 911 explores the handsome, tree-lined route that follows the side of the canal into Fillé

There was genuine excitement in the area and to this day people still remember when and where they spotted the famous actor.

The current owner of Château du Viré, Gilles Guichemer, recalls: “At the time, there was no speed limit. Steve McQueen set a quarter of an hour to travel between Le Mans and Viré.”

Not something we are going to try to replicate today.

Another local we talk to remembers seeing McQueen drive past, and recalls how the whole region was buzzing at the presence of the Hollywood star.

This bar, L’Accord, in Fillé centre was a restaurant back in 1970

We follow the D35 southward to Chantenay-Villedieu then take the D79 to Fercé-sur-Sarthe, across the Sarthe river and into the town of La Suze-sur-Sarthe, significantly larger than the village of 56 years ago.

While the roads are little changed, the rural population has increased by 40% and relatively relaxed planning rules mean urban eras have grown substantially.

Heading east, Delaney skirts along the edge of the canal that straightens a series of bends in the river, following a tree-lined road that looks to all intents and purposes like any main route départementale, but is recognisable from the movie as the road into Fillé, with only the pollarded trees on one side remaining.

We get a view across a wide river, beyond a weir the church and bridge across the Sarthe with Delaney driving from right to left, coming back towards the canal scene then passing a restaurant.

The Porsche 911 enters Le Mans city centre

Pausing in the same spot today, a man in his 20s sitting in the shade of what’s now the bar L’Accord asks me what’s going on – he’s never even heard of Steve McQueen.

Back on celluloid, Delaney drives into the Place des Jacobins in the centre of Le Mans, until recently a large car park, overlooked by the Catholic Cathédrale St-Julien du Mans.

Completed in the 15th century, this Gothic masterpiece is part of the old city, one of the finest and most unspoilt medieval quarters in France.

Here, leading lady and love interest Lisa Belgetti, played by German actress Elga Andersen, is buying flowers in the market below the cathedral.

Steve McQueen’s Porsche 911 in one of the opening scenes of Le Mans © Alamy

Today, the Place des Jacobins has recently been pedestrianised, an empty sea of grey concrete; stuck in a traffic jam, and with the road McQueen followed across the square now gone, we escape the city centre to head back to the track for the final scenes.

Everything has changed here, too, not least the circuit itself.

It used to follow the public road through Maison Blanche in an almost straight line on to the pit straight, but after John Woolfe’s crash in 1969, and with the speeds of cars ever increasing, the track was redirected to the right between Arnage corner and Maison Blanche into the challenging Porsche Curves, before a short straight leads into a left kink and the Ford Chicane then up between the grandstands.

‘Our’ Porsche 911 at Arnage junction

Delaney drives between nothing but fields and trees to turn right and join the circuit at the crossroads towards Maison Blanche, but now there are no signs left of its agricultural past.

The crossroads has also gone, replaced by a roundabout. The tree line in the background remains, but how long will it be until that, too, is supplanted by campsites and parking?

Maison Blanche, the white house, is still there, with the road – and old track – wrapping around it, but it’s not white any more and no longer has ‘MARTINI’ writ large on its roof tiles.

Approaching Cathédrale St-Julien du Mans and Place des Jacobins in Le Mans

Delaney stopped here, outside a house on the other side of the track, to look at some freshly replaced Armco, indicating where a car has crashed – though not where David Piper went off in a 917 during filming, which was before he reached the corner itself.

McQueen had visited the race in 1969, and the combination of the close Ford vs Porsche finish (dramatised as Ferrari vs Porsche) and Woolfe’s accident provided the film’s sole plot elements.

The house now lies behind another massive fence, erected some years ago to secure the Maison Blanche campsite from people hopping the old railing to access the track without paying.

The Porsche 911 with Maison Blanche in the background

Could McQueen really have driven from Viré-en-Champagne to Le Mans in 15 minutes? Even in the middle of the night and with significantly fewer houses, no speed limits and other traffic, it seems highly unlikely.

Would he have tried anyway? At least one 911 driven by the star went back to Porsche for repair, while another had to be rescued from a ditch by members of the crew.

In her autobiography, his then wife Neile McQueen mentions: “As soon as Steve pulled out of the driveway, it was clear that this was an accident waiting to happen.”

Hans Herrmann (left) and Richard Attwood after their 1970 Le Mans win © Porsche

The 1970 race was won by Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann in their 917, and Porsche secured every class and performance trophy that year.

It marked a comprehensive power shift in sports-car racing, with Stuttgart in the ascendancy after that first victory: only Ferrari (six) and Ford (four) had won in the 1960s, but Ford hasn’t entered a car in the top category since, and Ferrari didn’t win again until 2023.

McQueen had never wanted Delaney to win, however, he was always destined to lose: the film could only be about racing and the drivers who risked – and lost – everything for their sport.

And in the end McQueen really had lost everything.

‘With the road McQueen followed across the square now gone, we escape the city centre to head back to the track’

He’d been banned from competing in the 1970 race in a 917 (he never raced a car again); his marriage and his production company had fallen victim to his determination to make the perfect motorsport film; and both his control over the movie and his wage for it had been taken away in a deal to get it finished.

As his dream project began to slip from his fingers, the only thing over which McQueen had complete control was the time he spent on his own, commuting in his 911.

And the only thing he took away from the production was his co-star in the opening scenes and his one true constant, as the Slate Gray Porsche 911 was shipped home to California.

Images: Simon Fox

Thanks to: Jean-Eric Raoul, Mathieu Bruyere, Jason Williams and Jens Torner

Porsche 908/02: the world’s fastest camera car

The Solar Productions Porsche 908/02 during Le Mans © Getty

Steve McQueen met Rico Steinemann, Porsche’s motorsport director, on his scouting mission at Le Mans in 1969.

McQueen wanted his character to race a Porsche, and Steinemann could see the marketing potential.

Porsche agreed to sell Solar Productions a 3-litre 908/02 – probably seen as more forgiving than a 917.

Chassis 022 had started its racing life in February 1969 at Daytona as a Langheck coupé, but was converted to lighter Flunder spider bodywork.

McQueen won three races in 1970 and blew a gearbox in the fourth.

“I needed to familiarise myself with a car like the 908 in order to drive [at Le Mans] with any kind of authentic feel,” he said. “If I can’t cut it in the 908, there’s no point in making the film.”

He also needed to qualify for an international licence.

Car and driver were entered in the Sebring 12 Hours, but two weeks before the race he broke his foot in a motocross event, and he arrived with a leather boot fitted over his plaster cast.

Steve McQueen racing the 908/02 at Sebring © Porsche

Sebring was a perfect opportunity for McQueen to test himself against the top aces.

To that end, he hired as his co-driver professional racer (and Revlon cosmetics heir) Peter Revson, who lapped the Solar 908 2-3 secs faster than McQueen.

As rivals dropped out, McQueen found himself first in class and second overall, but in intense pain. 

Revson took over and led the race as first Andretti’s Ferrari 512S and then the Rodríguez/Siffert 917 hit trouble.

Ferrari called in the third-placed 512S, dropped in Andretti and told him to drive like crazy.

He overtook Revson on the final lap to win: the closest finish in Sebring history and the peak of the star’s racing career.

“McQueen had a lot of talent, and he was ambitious, practically obsessed,” recalled Kurt Ahrens, who drove a works Porsche 917 in the race. “And he was fast – if not quite as fast as Revson.”

The plan was for McQueen to drive the 908 at the Le Mans practice day, then a John Wyer team 917 in the race. But backer Cinema Center Films found out and pulled the plug: he was simply too valuable to be allowed to compete.

Porsche realised the marketing potential in its relationship with Steve McQueen © Porsche

Herbert Linge and Jonathan Williams were employed to drive the 908, fitted with a trio of Arriflex cameras.

Linge recalled: “The additional attachments, which were integrated very skilfully, added an extra 40kg, which barely affected the balance and speed of the car – there was a lot of nonsense written about this.”

Director Sturges wanted the start filmed from all three.

Said Williams: “Herbert, chosen to start by virtue of [having] a cooler head than I, was told to activate the front camera 30 secs before the drop of the flag, and the rear one just prior to engine start, to record a maximum of mayhem… After that, filming would be selective and at the driver’s discretion.”

The car had to make extra pitstops – Solar found it quicker to swap the whole camera for one with a fresh canister – and had just one unscripted delay, when the starter motor overheated.

By the finish it was nominally in eighth, but was disqualified for a minor infraction and, due to all those stops, didn’t run the minimum distance to be classified.

Yet Porsche would take its first overall victory, with the Hermann/Attwood 917 completing 61 more laps than the 908.

The camera car was sold and competed at Le Mans three further times, its best result being seventh overall in 1973.

Steve McQueen and Heuer: keeping an eye on the time

McQueen’s Heuer Monaco was prominent on screen © Getty

By the late 1960s, the Heuer watch company was expanding rapidly, with its Autavia and Carrera manual chronographs already on the wrists of racing drivers such as Jochen Rindt and Mario Andretti.

Battery-powered watches were by then threatening the market, however, and Heuer saw the automatic chronograph as the answer.

Still a relatively small firm, Heuer joined forces with Breitling, Hamilton, Buren and Dubois-Dépraz to share development costs, and in March 1969 the new movement was launched, with Heuer choosing to show this new technology in an equally radical, square-cased watch: the Monaco.

By chance, Jack Heuer was introduced at his local golf club to a successful young hotshoe called Jo Siffert.

They agreed a sponsorship deal where Siffert would, in exchange for CHF25,000 (about the cost of a new 911T) sport Heuer patches on his overalls, wear its watches while he raced, and become an agent to sell Heuers to fellow drivers.

As a Porsche dealer, Siffert also convinced Heuer he needed to be seen driving something more sporting and sold him a 911.

Steve McQueen was an admirer of Siffert, and the Swiss ace would go on to rent 10 cars to McQueen’s Solar Productions for Le Mans.

A beautiful and rare 1970 blue-dial Heuer Monaco, just like Steve McQueen’s in film Le Mans

What Jack Heuer couldn’t have foreseen, however, was how important that sponsorship patch on Siffert’s race suit would prove.

Don Nunley was property master for Le Mans in charge of sourcing clothing, accessories and set dressing.

He saw the importance of McQueen’s look to the actor, and chose his wardrobe with care.

Nunley laid out the race suits of the top six drivers for McQueen to look at and he immediately chose Siffert’s, so a replica was made for him, complete with a Heuer patch.

Then McQueen was shown a table of watches from Omega, Heuer, Rolex, Bulova and Tissot.

He picked up an Omega but, on being told the Speedmaster was associated with NASA, he chose the Monaco.

Like the movie, initially the Monaco wasn’t a success, perhaps due to the radical shape of the case.

As Jonathan Williams, the only driver employed full-time by Solar, said: “All us drivers at the time thought they were incredibly naff.” Only later did it become an icon, thanks to its starring role on McQueen’s wrist.

TAG Heuer relaunched the blue-dial Monaco in 1998 – using an image from Le Mans modified to show McQueen wearing the new watch – and variations have been on sale ever since.

The value of the McQueen association is huge, and in 2020 one of the six blue-dial 1163B Monacos supplied to Solar – and later given by McQueen to his mechanic, Haig Altounian – sold at auction for $2.2m.

Enjoy more of the world’s best classic car content every month when you subscribe to C&SC – get our latest deals here

READ MORE

Porsche 917K: thunder and lightening

Bullitt Mustangs: Ford’s silver-screen icons

Greatest movie cars: a celebration of classics on camera

• Share
• Share
• Email

Share

FeaturesPorsche

Simon Fox

Related Articles

The specialist: Early 911S

Features

| 6 Apr 2026

Buyer’s guide: Porsche Cayman (987)

Features

| 18 Mar 2026

Porsche 911 targas: lifting the lid

Features

| 15 Dec 2025

Porsche 928: technical knockout

Features

| 5 Nov 2025