When did the race start? Who is the most successful? Where can tickets be purchased? Answers to the most important questions concerning the 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a myth and the most famous car race in the world. It is important for the sports car scene because it is one of the few races that is a household name beyond the core motorsport audience. For those watching the race for the first time – and those looking to further their education around the endurance classic.
Where to buy tickets for the race?
Tickets for the 24 Hours of Le Mans can be purchased on the organiser’s official site. Knowledge of English or French is required.
Where is the best place to stay overnight?
Because hotels in Le Mans can only be booked at lunchtime prices and also usually have to be booked for two complete weeks (due to test day), campsites are the best option for staying overnight. An overview of the different campsites can be found here.
When did the 24 Hours of Le Mans start?
The first 24 Hours of Le Mans took place on 26 and 27 May 1923. It was one of only four editions not held in June. The other times were 1968 (civil unrest in the wake of the student movement), and 2020 and 2021 (COVID-19 pandemic).
Why was the race introduced?
After the First World War, motor racing slowly professionalised. In the then still fragile machines, mainly Grand Prix races were held, which were very popular with the public. This is why the race was given the official name “Grand Prix d’Endurance”.
In Le Mans, reliability was the most important issue from the very beginning. For decades, 24 hours was a distance that you never drove at the limit of your car – especially in the early days when most of the roads were still mud tracks. Long repair stops during the race were the rule. Whereas in Grand Prix races the fastest car regularly won, at Le Mans the winner was supposed to be the one who built the most robust car.
At the beginning, an event was supposed to go on for a whole three years in order to find a winner. That’s why, for example, there was no official winner in 1923. The car that covered the furthest distance in three consecutive 24-hour races was to be awarded the Coupe Triennale Rudge-Withworth.
However, the format proved to be of little use. However, as the sponsor Rudge-Withworth was keen to stick to a perennial format, there was also the Coupe Biennale Rudge-Whitworth from 1924. However, the importance of the Coupe Biennale receded further and further into the background; the overall winner of the single 24-hour race received full prestige from 1928 onwards. The Coupe Biennale was still held as a sub-ranking until 1960.
Since the oil crisis hit the world in the 1970s, the issue of energy consumption increasingly came into focus. The Group C regulations of the 1980s were a result of these efforts.
Since then, it’s been a back-and-forth: in the 1990s and 2000s, there was a return to displacement-based regulations, in the 2010s, there was again the consumption formula plus hybrid drive, and since the introduction of the hypercars, there have been BoP regulations for the first time.
What is the name of the track and how long is it?
Officially, the circuit is called “Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans”. Since people who do not speak French have great difficulty pronouncing this name, the circuit is commonly referred to as “Circuit de la Sarthe”. This is much easier for foreigners to pronounce.
Since 2018, the track length is 13.626 kilometres.
Since when has the current route been used?
This question is not so easy to answer. Because the layout has been revised incrementally again and again, usually for safety reasons. Officially, the current layout has been in place since 2018, when the track became three metres shorter due to a reconstruction in the last sector.
In the early years of the race, the circuit extended far into the city of Le Mans. There was a narrow hairpin in the Pontlieue district. This part was shortened in 1929. Since 1932, the town of Le Mans has been completely omitted, and the Dunlop bend and the Esses were built instead. It can be said that since then, the circuit has been driven on as it is today. Because there have been no such far-reaching changes since then.
After 1932 there were the following changes:
– 1949: Reconstruction after the Second World War
– 1968: Construction of the Ford chicane
– 1972: Complete reconstruction of the last sector: Porsche curves built, Ford chicane converted to today’s double chicane
– 1979: Modification Tertre Rouge
– 1986: Modification Mulsanne due to installation of a roundabout
– 1987: Establishment of the Dunlop chicane and the pit lane entrance still in use today
– 1990: Installation of the braking chicanes on the Hunaudieres straight
– 1997: Tightening of the Dunlop chicane
– 2002: Construction of a curved arch in front of the Esses to make the approach to the Circuit Bugatti more pleasant for motorbikes.
– 2014: Terte Rouge modified again after fatal accident of Allan Simonsen
– 2018: Modification in the last sector, track shortened by three metres
In which years was the race cancelled?
The race had to be cancelled a total of ten times. In 1936, there was a general strike in France during the Great Depression. From 1940 to 1948 there were no races because of the Second World War and the subsequent reconstruction.
In which race was the greatest distance covered?
The greatest distance ever covered is 5,410.713 km. This record was set in 2010 by Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller in an Audi R15 TDI Plus.
What was the worst accident?
The still well-known tragedy of 1955: Pierre Levegh (Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR) crashed into the rear of Lance Macklin’s Austin-Healey 100S. The latter had previously tried to avoid Mike Hawthorne, who had delayed to come into the pits. Pit entrances did not exist at that time.
Levegh’s car flies through the air. The 49-year-old does not survive the accident. Even worse: Burning car parts kill 83 people in the stands, nearly 180 others are injured. The catastrophe was unimaginable even by the standards of the time and brought motorsport to the brink of extinction.
The investigation did not assign any blame to any of the drivers involved. Rather, the inadequate safety precautions at the track were criticised. The race and motorsport itself could only continue to take place because of the promise of better spectator safety. To this day, it remains the worst disaster ever in motorsport. (More on the 1955 disaster)
How many fatalities have there been so far?
Not counting spectators and marshals, there have been 22 rider fatalities so far. In addition, there is the special case of Andre Guilbert, who collided with a wrong-way driver on the way to the race on a public road in 1925 and was fatally injured. List of fatally injured drivers including test rides:
– Marius Mestivier (1925; Amilcar Works Racing Car).
– Marcel Michelot (1927; GM GC2)
– Pat Fairfield (1937; Frazer Nash BMW 328); at the same time as
– Rene “Rekip” Kippeurth (Bugatti Type 44)
– Pierre Marechal (1949; Aston Martin DB2)
– Jean Lariviere (1951; Ferrari 212 Export C)
– Tom Cole jun. (1953; Ferrari 340 MM)
– Pierre Levegh (Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR)
– Louis Hery (1956; Panhard Monopole X86)
– Jean-Marie “Mary” Brussin (1958; Jaguar D-Type)
– Christian “Bino” Heins (1963; Alpine M63)
– Lloyd “Lucky” Casner (1965; Maserati Tipo 151/3)
– Walt Hansgen (1966; Ford GT40 Mk. II)
– Roby Weber (1967; Matra MS630)
– Lucien Bianchi (1969; Alfa Romeo 33/3)
– John Woolfe (1969; Porsche 917)
– Joakim “Jo” Bonnier (1972; Lola T280)
– Andre Haller (1976; Datsun 260Z)
– Jean-Louis Lafosse (1981; Rondeau M379C)
– Jo Gartner (1986; Porsche 962C)
– Sebastien Enjolras (1997; WR LM97)
– Allan Simonsen (2013; Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE)
What is it about the famous “Le Mans start”?
For more than 40 years, cars were lined up on the pit wall facing the audience and drivers had to run across the track from the other side, start the engine and go.
When and why was it abolished?
1969 was the last classic Le Mans start. The advent of seatbelts in the late 1960s ensured that drivers were faced with a cynical choice: Buckle up in the cockpit and lose time, or drive the first stint unbuckled and hope nothing happens.
In 1968, this led to a serious accident involving Willy Mairesse. Because he didn’t close the door of his Ford GT40 properly in the rush of the start, it opened at 240 km/h on the Hunaudieres straight. While trying to close it, he crashed and hit a tree.
He jumped from the brink of death, but the accident sent him into a coma for a fortnight. His career as a racing driver was over. He committed suicide in a hotel in Belgium in September 1969.
Jacky Ickx, a self-confessed advocate of the seatbelt, protested against the starting procedure the following year by strolling leisurely to his car (almost being run over by other starting cars in the process because the action had not been agreed with other drivers), calmly fastening his seatbelt and starting last behind the field. He still won the race together with Jackie Oliver.
For 1970, a compromise was introduced: The drivers now sat strapped into their cars and only had to start their engines. But already in 1971, there was a switch to the flying start with an introductory lap. At the 24-hour motorbike race on the Circuit Bugatti, the classic start is still practised to this day.
What are the most successful brands?
Before the 2022 edition of the race, the following brands have claimed the most overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans:
1st Porsche (19 victories)
2nd Audi (13)
3. Ferrari (9)
Who are the most successful drivers?
Prior to the 2022 edition of the race, the following drivers have claimed the most overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans:
1st Tom Kristensen (9 wins).
2nd Jacky Ickx (6)
3. Derek Bell/Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro (5 each)
What was the biggest and smallest lead of a winner?
The biggest gap of a winner to the runner-up was in 1927 with a 20 lap lead on the then 17.261 kilometre track. That meant a lead of 345.22 kilometres (25.33 laps on today’s course). At the speeds of the time, the winning Bentley 3 Litre Speed of Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis had a lead of two and a half hours.
The closest finish occurred in 1966 when the Ford GT40s crossed the finish line side by side. The scene and its consequences became famous through the feature film “Le Mans 66 – Against All Odds” (also “Ford v Ferrari”). As it was a dead heat, this finish is not recognised by some sources.
The closest finish without artificial intervention was in 2011, when the winning Audi R18 of Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer finished just 13.854 seconds ahead of the second-placed Peugeot 908 of Sebastien Bourdais, Simon Pagenaud and Pedro Lamy.
What speeds are achieved?
Since the introduction of the chicanes at the Circuit de la Sarthe, top speeds have been in the range of 320 to 350 km/h. The GTE class gets to 300 km/h. The best top speed in the first edition of the new hypercar era (2021) was achieved by Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi at 339.1 km/h.
Speed records were realised before the construction of the chicanes. The official record holder is Roger Dorchy in the World Championship Peugeot P88 in Welter Racing’s namesake year, with 405 km/h. The team later calculated on the basis of gear ratios and engine speed that he must have even reached 420 km/h, but such values could not be measured by the instruments of the time. The car was specially trimmed for top speed.
What lap times were achieved?
The fastest ever lap came from Kamui Kobayashi in 2017 in 3:14.791 minutes on a Toyota TS050 Hybrid. In doing so, he also broke all records of qualifying laps on the layout without chicanes with an average speed of 251.9 km/h.
With the introduction of the Le Mans hypercars in 2021, the ACO and FIA want to push the times in the race back down to 3:30 minutes. This value was already significantly undercut in the first edition with LMH prototypes. Kobayashi set a lap time of 3:23.900 minutes (240.6 km/h average) in the Hyperpole session.
Which cars are eligible to start?
Traditionally, a distinction is made at Le Mans between production-based sports cars and racing prototypes. Depending on the regulations, sometimes one philosophy was faster, sometimes the other. In some years, the different concepts fought a hot race.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the pecking order has slowly come down (due to the regulations) to the fact that only prototypes are capable of winning. But with the introduction of LMH regulations in 2021, hypercars derived from production cars are also capable of winning, at least on paper. All that’s missing is someone to build a road-based LMH racer.
Currently eligible to compete are cars in the Hypercar (LMH and “Grandfathered” LMP1), LMP2 and GTE classes. The GTE class is further divided into purely professional driver crews (GTE Pro) and Pro-Am pairings made up of professional drivers and amateurs (GTE Am).
What technical innovations have there been?
Le Mans has always been a driver of innovation in automotive engineering. Some innovations prevailed, others disappeared into the drawer again, at least in terms of motorsport. Major innovations that were developed at Le Mans are:
– Front-wheel drive (1927 for the Tracta)
– Mid-engine (in cars after the Second World War; however, the concept had already been introduced by Auto Union in the pre-war period for Grand Prix racing cars)
– Disc brakes (1953 on the Jaguar C-Type)
– Semi-automatic gearbox (1966 on Chaparral 2D)
– Wings, even movable (1967 on Chaparral 2F)
– Turbocharging in a car (1974 on the Porsche 911 RSR Turbo)
– Double clutch transmission (1984 on the Porsche 962C)
– Hybrid drive (1998 on the Panoz Esperante GTR-1 Q9 Hybrid)*
– Electronic direct petrol injection (2001 on the Audi R8; the technology already existed in the 1950s on the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, but was mechanically controlled at the time)
– Diesel drive in racing cars (2006 on the Audi R10 TDI; the technology had already won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in the 1990s)
– Race car for people with physical disabilities (2016 on the Morgan LMP2).
*The Panoz only raced on the test day and did not take part in the race as batteries were simply too heavy at the time. The first hybrid car to take part in the race was an Oreca 01 from Hope Racing (later Morand Racing) in 2011.
In addition, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been at the forefront of drag optimisation throughout the ages due to the high-speed characteristics of the circuit. This led to a lot of streamlining and ultimately to the DeltaWing in 2012.
Since that year, there has also been a class for innovative projects. The starting place is awarded by invitation.
When did an electric/hybrid/hydrogen vehicle drive for the first time?
As described above, the first run of a hybrid car at the Circuit de la Sarthe took place as early as 1998, but it took until 2011 when a hybrid-powered Oreca 01 took part in the race. Just one year later, Audi won with the R18 e-tron quattro.
In 2014, the first start of a purely electric vehicle took place with the Nissan ZEOD RC. The bolide achieved its goal of driving 300 km/h purely electrically, but not much more. Since the vehicle retired after only five laps of the race, the project is not considered a success.
The situation with hydrogen technology is even more difficult. Back in 2013, the GreenGT H2 was supposed to be the first vehicle with a fuel cell to take part in the race. The project failed. It wasn’t until 2016 that the racing car did a demonstration lap.
More promising is the Mission H24 project, a fuel cell racing car that is being driven by heavyweights in motorsport (including Red Bull and Oreca). But here, too, the schedule could not be kept. Originally, the car was supposed to compete in the Le Mans Cup as early as 2021, but so far (as of February 2022) it has only taken part in practice sessions.
Why is Mercedes-Benz avoiding the race?
Mercedes’ relationship with the Le Mans 24 Hours is a difficult one. After the tragedy of 1955, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from Le Mans for 32 years. It was not until the end of the 1980s that a comeback took place.
In 1999, Mercedes entered the CLR according to GTP regulations. The car had a design flaw and took off several times. Thanks to enormous advances in safety, Mark Webber (who even flew through the air twice) and Peter Dumbreck survived their accidents. The trauma still lingers at Mercedes, so a new factory entry is not in sight.
Why are there no GT3 cars in the race?
This has to do with the organisational structures. The GT3 category was founded by Stephane Ratel and therefore belongs to the universe of SRO with its flagship event, the 24 Hours of Spa. The 24 Hours of Le Mans, on the other hand, is an ACO event.
The ACO introduced the GTE category in 2011. This is a further development of a class that had previously been called FIA GT2. After the costs in this class continued to rise, several manufacturers withdrew. The ACO has therefore reacted: From 2024, GT3 cars replaced the GTE cars at Le Mans.
However, GT3 cars are already racing on the Circuit de la Sarthe. The supporting programme includes the “Road to Le Mans” race, which is part of the Le Mans Cup. This race series is reserved for LMP3 and GT3 cars and is an opportunity for Le Mans newcomers to get to know the Circuit des 24 Heures outside of the big race.
Who or what is the Sarthe that is always talked about?
It is the river La Sarthe, which flows through Le Mans and two and a half kilometres west past the circuit. It rises at Moulins-la-Marche in Normandy and flows for 320 kilometres to Angers. There, together with the Mayenne and other tributaries, it forms the Maine, which in turn flows into the Loire after only eleven kilometres.
