24 Hours of Le Mans

24 hours of Le Mans (24 heures du Mans) is the most famous sports car endurance race. It is held at Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France, in the French Sarthe département. It is organised by the Automobile Club de L'Ouest (A.C.O). The first race was held on May 26 and 27, 1923 and has since been run annually in June, with the exceptions of 1956 (July) and 1968 (in September, due to nationwide political turmoils in spring see May 1968), and was cancelled only in 1936 (economy) and from 1940 to 1948 (World War 2).

Related Topics:
Sports car - Endurance race - Le Mans - France - Sarthe - Département - Automobile Club de L'Ouest - May 26 - 27 - 1923 - 1956 - 1968 - May 1968 - 1936 - 1940 - 1948 - World War 2

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The race is run on a non-permanent track which is over 13 km (8.1 mi) long, using mostly normal country roads. Over the years, several purpose-built sections replaced the normal roads, especially the Porsche Curves section which bypasses the dangerous former Maison Blanche section between buildings. The permanent Bugatti Circuit surrounds the facilities at start/finish.

Related Topics:
Km - Mi - Bugatti Circuit

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Usually, 46 cars race simultaneously in a number of different categories and classes, from dedicated prototypes to street cars, the overall winner being the car that has covered the greatest distance in 24 hours of continuous racing. This rule appears obvious, but the 1966 race saw a surprise winner. Ford expected a level finish with two GT40 Mark II crossing the line at the same time in a staged finish, but the car that made the worse time during practice was pronounced the winner, as it had started further behind on the grid and thus covered a bigger distance in the same time. In addition, a car must cross the finish line after 24 hours to be classified, which leads to dramatic scenes where damaged cars leave the pits to crawl around the track one last time in order to finish or, sometimes, less dramatic scenes where damaged car's drivers are confident enough in the ability of the engine to start again and simply stop on the border of the track close to the finish, line waiting for the last lap to restart their engine and cross the line.

Related Topics:
1966 - GT40

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Nowadays, each car has a team of three drivers. Before 1970 only two drivers per car were allowed, and even solo driving was permitted in the early decades. Until the early 1980s most of the cars were raced with a two driver team. In 1950, Louis Rosier won the race with his son Jean-Louis Rosier, who drove the car during only two turns. In 1952, Frenchman Pierre Levegh competed alone and looked like the winner but made a shifting mistake in the final hour which handed victory to a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR.

Related Topics:
1970 - 1980s - 1950 - Louis Rosier - Jean-Louis Rosier - 1952 - Pierre Levegh - Mercedes-Benz

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