The Magic of Le Mans
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 16 2007
Hurley Haywood once claimed of Le Mans – “If you have one ounce of energy left, then you have not done your job properly.”
The Le Mans 24 Hour race holds a very special place in the history of motor racing, built over 75 years of competition, with a heritage that remains unequalled by any other event in the world. It’s all about endless endurance racing, funfairs, frites and sunburn.
It is one of the world’s greatest races, a truly durable endurance event that has been won by many of the sport’s top names. In 1932 Le Mans held a 24 hour race for sportscars for the first time and it was such a success that it has carried on to this day, stopping only for the Second World War and the immediate post-war years. Sportscar racing’s great marques such as Porsche, Ferrari, Ford, Aston Martin, Audi and Jaguar have all won here.
A victory at Le Mans is a significant achievement in any driver’s career and many return year after year in their quest for the ultimate prize of a Le Mans 24 Hour race trophy.
The fans come in their hundreds and thousands every year, making the pilgrimage to this mecca of racing; its heady mix of an octane-fuelled track with its super quick Mulsanne Straight and the sideshow of the traditional funfair with its bigwheel dominating the skyline have become an addiction for drivers and spectators alike.
Today’s top racing machines are capable of speeds of over 230 mph and while many tracks have been revised to limit top speeds, Le Mans retains the Mulsanne straight, one of the fastest straights of any circuit, only slowed by two chicanes to keep speeds within acceptable safety parameters.
The event begins in a gladiatorial atmosphere, with over fifty cars and drivers jostling for position in the opening laps, even though there are around 390 more to come and by Sunday afternoon it is a question of survival. The cars are travel-stained, tape covering bruises on the bodywork, drivers nursing tired engines, cars cruising just to pass the chequered flag, without any hope of success, but claiming a finish to bring its own rewards.
In the pits, sleep overcomes the mechanics who have been alert all night, but a crackled message from a driver or from the signallers at Mulsanne Corner immediately brings them back to life. Mid-afternoon it’s all over. Three drivers mount the balcony of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and on to the podium to wear their garlands and raise aloft the unique 24 Hour trophy, spraying the thousands of fans below with victory champagne.
Night and day offer spectators contrasting race spectacles. The gaggle of cars set off in late afternoon and after a few hours of listening to the 700 horsepower machines roar past and watching top drivers balance the cars through the Dunlop curves in a balletic movement, dusk falls, with a shift in atmosphere. The partying starts, the drone of cars becomes part of the music of the evening, while the bright headlights illuminate sections ahead and the blaze of the brakediscs cast a fiery glow across the track. Over six hours later the relentless pounding of the circuit continues, while the sun awakens, yet the greatest race is only at the half-way point. The second half needs the stamina to kick in and with the attention of a passionate pitcrew, the cars are nurtured to the finish. Unsurprisingly, fans dip in and out with the changing hours, camp fires, barbecues, tiredness and cold fight with the addictive on-track action.
The Le Mans race at its inception was envisioned as a different test from other motor races at the time. Instead of focusing on the ability of a car company to build the fastest machines, the 24 Hours of Le Mans would instead concentrate on the ability of manufacturers to build sporty yet reliable cars. This would drive innovation in not only reliable but also fuel-efficient vehicles, since the nature of endurance racing requires as little time to be spent in the pits as possible.
At the same time, due to the design of the Le Mans circuit, a compelling force would be created for better aerodynamics and stability of cars at high speeds. While this was shared with Grand Prix racing, few tracks in Europe featured straights the length of the Mulsanne. The fact that the road is public and therefore not maintained to the same quality as some permanent racing circuits also puts more of a strain on parts, causing more emphasis on reliability.
Since the late 1970s, the demand for fuel economy from around the world led the race adopting a fuel economy formula. Today this challenge is met by some teams moving to alternative fuel sources and further advances in this area are expected as the challenge to move away from fossil fuels remains.
The technological innovations seen in endurance racing have had a trickle-down effect, with technology used at Le Mans finding its way into production cars several years later. This has also led to faster and more exotic supercars due to manufacturers wishing to develop faster road cars for the purposes of developing them into even faster GT cars.
The 24 hours of Le Mans race was also famously featured in a 1971 movie, titled simply Le Mans, produced by and starring Steve McQueen. This film remains a classic which is still appreciated by racing fans. It was filmed on the circuit during the 1970 race using genuine racing cars of the day, like Porsche 917, Ferrari 512 and Lola T70.
Le Mans is a ceaseless quest for speed with stamina that has helped build the reputations of some of the foremost manufacturers of sports cars. There is a romance attached to the Le Mans race that makes it quite unlike any other event on the motor racing calendar, and since its inception it has held the attention of drivers and spectators.
