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With
the 2008 Le mans approaching (date to be confirmed but in June),
I had a look at the history of this great race.
It is a
sports car endurance race held annually since 1923 near the
town of Le Mans, Sarther, France. Commonly known as the Grand
Prix of Endurance, it is organised by the Automobile Club de
l’Quest (ACO) and run on a circuit containing closed public
roads that are meant not only to test a car and driver’s
ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24-hour period.
At a time
when Grand Prix racing was occurring throughout Europe, Le
Mans was envisioned as a different test from motorsports at
the time. Instead of focusing on the ability of a car company
to build the fastest machines of the time, 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 Le Mans, a drive 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.
Beginning
in the late 1970s, the demand for fuel economy from around the
world led the race to adopt a fuel economy formula known as
Group C in which competitors were given a set amount of fuel,
from which they had to design an engine. Although Group C was
abandoned when teams were able to master the fuel formulas,
fuel economy would still be important to some teams as
alternative fuel sources would appear in the early 21st
century, attempting to overcome time spent during pit stops.
These technological innovations 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 race
field has usually consisted of about 50 competitors. Each car
is required to have no fewer than two seats, although in
recent years only the ability to place a seat in the cockpit
has been understood but not enforced. No more than two doors
are allowed - open cockpit cars do not require doors.
Although all cars compete at the same time, there are separate
classes. An overall winner is awarded at the end of the event,
while class prizes are given as well. Classes have varied
over the years, but currently there are four. Custom-built Le
Mans Prototypes are the top two classes, LMP1 and LMP2,
divided by speed, weight and power output. The next two
classes are production-based grand tourer classes, also
divided by speed, weight, and power output as GT1 and GT2.
Although the top class is the most likely winner of the event,
lower classes have won on occasion due to better reliability.
Originally, there were no rules on the number of drivers in a
car or how long they can drive. Although almost all teams
used two drivers in the early decades, some Le Mans drivers
like Pierre Levegh attempted to run the race themselves,
hoping to save time by not having to change drivers, although
this was later banned. Up until the 1980s, there were teams
where only two drivers competed, but by the end of the decade
it was placed into the rules that at least three drivers were
necessary.
By the
mid 1990s, due to the speeds of the cars and the strain it put
on drivers, further rules were put in place in order to aid in
driver safety. Drivers could not drive more than four hours
consecutively, and no one driver could run for more than
fourteen hours total. This has reduced driver fatigue during
the races.
Although
the 24 Hours of Le Mans was part of the World Sportscar
Championship for most of its existence, it has regularly had
rules which differed from those used in other series,
partially due to the length of the event. Some rules are for
safety reasons, while others are for the purposes of
competition. For many decades, cars were required to run at
least an hour into the race before they were allowed to refill
fluids for the car such as oil or coolant, with the exception
of fuel. This was an attempt by the ACO to help increase
efficiency and reliability. Cars which could not last the
first hour without having to replace lost fluids were
disqualified. Another rule that is unique to Le Mans is a
requirement for cars to be shut off while they are being
refuelled in the pits. Based not only on the notion that it
is safer and less of a fire hazard to do so, this also allows
for another test of reliability, due to the fact that cars
have to test their ability to restart many times under race
conditions. Another element of this rule is that mechanics
are not allowed to work on the car or its tyres while it is
being refuelled, which has led teams to adapt innovative ways
in which to decrease the time of these lengthy pit stops. As
an exception to this rule, drivers are allowed to get out of
the car and be replaced by another driver during refuelling.
At Le
Mans there are various traditions that have been seen over the
years. One of the longest lasting is the waving of the French
tricolour to start the race. This is usually followed by a
fly-over featuring jets trailing blue, white and red smoke. A
similar flag tradition is the waving of safety flags during
the final lap of the race by track marshals, congratulating
the winners and other finishers.
The 24
Hours of Le Mans also saw the first known instance at a major
race of a winning driver celebrating by spraying champagne
instead of drinking it. When Dan Gurney won the 1967 race
with co-driver A J Foyt, the two drivers mounted the victory
stand and Gurney was handed a magnum of champagne. Looking
down, he saw Ford CEO Henry Ford II, team owner Carroll Shelby
and their wives, as well as several journalists who had
predicted disaster for the high-profile duo. Gurney shook the
bottle and sprayed everyone nearby, establishing a tradition
re-enacted in victory celebrations the world over ever since.
Gurney autographed and gave the bottle of champagne to a LIFE
magazine photographer, Flip Schulke, who used it as a lamp for
many years. He recently returned the bottle to Gurney, who
keeps it at his home in California.
The first
ever Le Mans race was held on May 26 and 27 1923 and has since
been run annually in June, with exceptions occurring in 1956,
when the race was held in July, and 1968, when it was held in
September, due to nationwide political turmoils earlier that
year. The race has been cancelled twice - once in the year
1936 (Great Depression) and from 1940-1948 (World War II and
its aftermath).
Traditionally the race starts at 16:00 on a Saturday, although
in 1968 the race started at 14:00 due to the lateness of the
race on the calendar. In both 1984 and 2007, the start time
was moved ahead to 15:00 due to the conflicting French General
Election. In 2006, the ACO scheduled a 17:00 start time in
order to maximise television coverage in between FIFA World
Cup games. Discussions are being held that may see the
regular start time being moved to 15:00 from this 2008 race
onwards.
Originally the race results were actually determined by
distance. The car which covered the greatest distance was
declared the winner. This is known to have caught out the
Ford team in 1966. With a dominant 1-2 lead, the two cars
slowed to allow for a photo opportunity at the finish line,
with Denny Hulme slightly ahead of Bruce McLaren. However,
since McLaren’s car had actually started much farther back on
the grid from Hulme, McLaren’s car had actually covered the
farthest distance over the 24 hours. With the margin of
victory determined to be 8 meters, McLaren and co-driver Chris
Amon were declared the winners. This distance rule was later
changed with the advent of rolling starts, leading to the
winner being declared by number of laps.
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