It’s that time of the year again. The world’s most advanced racing machines will once again descend on the Circuit de la Sarthe for the annual running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in just under two weeks.
It is a race entrenched in a rich history spanning exactly 90 years, with the inaugural event held in 1923. The Le Mans 24 Hour is generally considered the ultimate test of both man and machine, and victory in the great race remains one of the most prestigious achievements in global motorsport for drivers and manufacturers alike. For those of us who aren’t endurance racing aficionados, our ‘dummies’ guide to the Le Mans 24 Hour will bring you up to speed with one of the world’s greatest races held on 22nd/23rd of June this year.
The Purpose
Endurance racing has always presented an entirely different challenge to the traditional format of sprint racing. The Le Mans 24 Hour compels teams to produce a reliable, consistent race car which will hold up to the rigors of a 24 hour assault on the Circuit de la Sarthe. Often, it isn’t necessarily the outright fastest entry on the circuit that wins at Le Mans, rather victory is often credited to the car that can produce consistent laps and spend minimal time under repairs in the pits. The great race is often considered a showcase of innovations that we can expect to see on production cars in the near future, as teams incessantly seek to experiment with new and exciting components designed to improve performance and reliability.
The Format
Each entry was generally piloted by two drivers until the late 1980’s, however it is now stipulated in the rules that at least three drivers must share the driving duties for each team. The cars first take to the track on Wednesday for practise, while qualifying is generally conducted later on Wednesday evening and also on Thursday. The race traditionally commenced with the cars lined up diagonally along the main straight, and the drivers would sprint across the track toward their respective entries to start the race. However, this was discarded in 1970 in favour of a more conventional rolling start procedure, which remains in place to this day. Currently, the race commences at 3PM on the Saturday afternoon, and continues through until 3PM when the chequered flag is dropped on Sunday. While the victor was originally determined by the farthest distance travelled within the 24 hour period, the race is now decided by the number of laps completed.
The Cars
The Le Mans 24 hour has produced some of the most spectacular and ground-breaking vehicles to ever grace the global motorsport scene. The Circuit de la Sarthe presents a set of conditions that necessitate the production of highly aerodynamic vehicles that can achieve the highest possible speeds on the Mulsanne straight while remaining stable through the corners. In modern day Le Mans 24 Hour races, futuristic prototype vehicles share the track with more versatile, but slower GT entries. The unique bodywork of Le Mans prototypes allows for maximum down-force to be achieved during cornering, without sacrificing top speed. Entries also need to be very fuel-efficient and extraordinarily reliable under extreme duress in order to minimise valuable time wasted in pit lane. In recent years, Le Mans regulations have been altered to allow hybrid vehicles to enter the race. Last year saw the first ever victory of a KERS-equipped entry, achieved by the Audi R18 e-tron.
The Track
The Circuit de la Sarthe is located outside of Le Mans in the North of France. The current configuration is 13.6 kilometres in length, and consists of both permanent track and public road. Full throttle is applied a staggering 85% of the lap, which is even more astounding considering that a lap of the Circuit de la Sarthe includes 38 turns. The current lap record was set by a Peugeot 908 with Loic Duval at the helm. The Frenchman managed a 3.19.074 three years ago and has yet to be matched. Extensive alterations have been made to the circuit since its inception in 1923, where it essentially formed a triangle between the townships of Arnage, Mulsanne and Le Mans. A key feature of the circuit, the Mulsanne straight, was altered in 1990 when two chicanes were inserted for safety reasons. This was a result of the astounding speeds reached in the latter stages of the “Group C” era, where prototypes often touched 400 kilometres per hour before stamping on the brakes on approach to the hairpin at Mulsanne.
The Greats
Tom Kristensen is indisputably the greatest driver to ever compete in the Le Mans 24 hour. The 45 year-old Dane has won the great race a total of eight times, including a phenomenal run of six consecutive outright victories from the year 2000 through until 2005. Remarkably, Kristensen has stood on the podium 11 times, almost exclusively in Audi colours despite a brief stint with Bentley in 2003. They don’t call Tom Kristensen “Mr Le Mans” for nothing! Belgian Jacky Ickx has an impressive six Le Mans titles to his name, while Derek Bell, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro have all crossed the line first on five occasions.
In terms of the greatest manufacturers to ever grace the Circuit de la Sarthe, Porsche leads the way with 16 Le Mans 24 hour victories. The German sports car manufacturer’s most recent outright victory came in 1998; while they completely dominated the Group C era with the 956 and 962 models in the 1980’s. Audi sits second on the all-time winners list with a total of 11 victories at Le Mans. In recent times, Audi has been the leading outfit, taking outright victory in all but one race since 2004. Ferrari has a total of nine outright Le Mans 24 hour victories to their name; however the Italian manufacturer hasn’t fielded an outright contender for many years, reflected through the fact that they haven’t won the race since 1965.
The 90th Edition
The battle for outright honours will be well and truly on between the diesel-hybrid Audi R18 and the Petrol-hybrid Toyota TS030 in the LMP1 class. Audi Sport Team Joest will field three R18’s, while Toyota Racing will be represented by two TS030’s. Audi’s Tom Kristensen teams up with Allan McNish and Loic Duval in the #2 entry, with the Dane chasing his 9th Le Mans 24 Hour victory in 2013. The LMP2 class is bursting at the seams this year, with no less than 22 prototypes enlisted to engage in an epic battle for supremacy. In terms of GT honours, a mouth-watering clash between Ferrari, Dodge, Chevrolet, Porsche and Aston Martin is certain to draw many eyes away from the battle for outright victory. It’s simply too difficult to predict a winner, and that’s why we love this race.
Stay tuned to our front page over the next two weeks as RaceDepartment brings you all the news and analysis direct from the track in the lead up to, and after the race. We will also endeavor to set up a live stream of the action so you don’t miss a second of the great race. To chat about the Le Mans 24 Hour, head over to our
dedicated forums, and you can find a detailed ‘how to’ guide for spectators
here. The “Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency” isn’t far away now!
Click here to open the RaceDepartment live stream page and popular chatroom and enjoy the toughest race of the year with other endurance fans from all over the world.
The Le Mans 24H race starts on Saturday June 22 13:00 GMT (15:00 CET) with the finish a day later at Sunday June 23 2013.
Images: UltimateCarPage, TheRollingRoad
