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).

"Le Mans start"

Traditionally, the race starts at 16:00 on the Saturday, although in 1968 the race started at 14:00 and in 1984 the race started at 15:00 due to the conflicting French General Election.

Related Topics:
1968 - 1984

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The races used to begin with what became known as the "Le Mans start": cars are lined up on one side of the track, drivers on the other. When the French flag dropped at 16:00, the drivers ran across the track to their cars, entered and started them. This became a safety issue after the introduction of safety belt harnesses, which needed to be properly strapped. At that time pilots entered the first curves with unfastened belts and locked their belts in the straight.

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In 1969, for his first Le Mans 24 hours, a young Belgian talent and F1 GP winner, Jacky Ickx, made a pointed demonstration of the danger of this start method, when instead of running across the track to his machine, he slowly walked, then entered in his car and locked the safety belts properly. Sadly, in the first lap of the race, the privateer racer John Woolfe was killed. Despite starting in the last position with an outdated car, Ickx managed to win the race in a dramatic finish 24 hours later by only 120 meters. Ironically, while driving a Porsche 911 to Paris after the race, Ickx was involved in a road accident where he escaped unharmed, having worn his seatbelt.

Related Topics:
1969 - Jacky Ickx - Porsche 911 - Paris

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So the traditional Le Mans practice was partially discontinued the next year in 1970; for this year, the cars were still lined up in echelon formation along the pit straight, with engines off, but the drivers were strapped in prior to the start. On the starter's signal, the drivers could start thier engines and start the race. In 1971, a full rolling start was introduced, as in Indianapolis 500. This new start procedure remains known to Le Mans enthusiasts as the "Indianapolis Start".

Related Topics:
1970 - 1971 - Indianapolis 500

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The Le Mans start is also the reason why left-hand-drive Porsche street cars continue to have their ignition switches on the left of the steering column rather than on the more customary location of the right-side: this enabled the driver to start the engine with left hand while engaging the 1st gear simultaneously with the right hand, thus allowing the Porsche to get off the starting line more quickly than other race cars.

Related Topics:
Left-hand-drive - Porsche

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