24 Hours Of Le Mans

The devouring and the dangerous contest was the 24 hours Le Mans, the world’s oldest car race in endurance racing, named as “the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency “, held every year since 1923, attracts about 250,000 spectators. The challenge was to drive the most kilometers in 24 hours. The circuit on which the 24 hours of Le man will held was the Circuit de la Sarthe which comprises the both permanent track and the public roads that are temporarily closed for the race. Since 1923, the track has been extensively modified, mostly for safety reasons and now it was about 13.626 kms in length. Although, it initially entered the town of Le Mans, the track was cut short in order to better protect spectators. This led to the creation of the Dunlop Curve and Tertre Rouge corners before rejoining the old circuit on the Mulsanne. Another major change was on the Mulsanne itself in 1990, when the FIA decreed that it would no longer sanction any circuit that had a straight of more than 2 km length .

To comply with this, two chicanes were added to the 6 km long straight. The addition of the chicanes was further influenced by the fact that the speed of WM P88-Peugeot French driver Roger Dorchy had been timed at 405 km/h during the 1988 race. The race was cancelled in 1936 due to general strikes in France and the outbreak of World War II in 1939 resulted in a ten-year delay. The Le Mans disaster during the 1955 race in which Pierre Levegh’s car crashed into a crowd of spectators, killing more than 80 people. The incident led to the widespread introduction of safety measures, not only at the circuit, but elsewhere in the motorsport world. Porsche won the race in 2015, 2016 and 2017 with its hybrid 919, and remains the most successful manufacturer at Le Mans, with 19 overall victories, including seven straight from 1981 to 1987.

In 2017, all prototype cars must be closed-cockpit. In 2018, Toyota took their first Le Mans win with Fernando Alonso, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima driving. Toyota won the race again in 2019. Le Mans has seen many innovations in automotive design to counteract the circuit’s difficulties. These have either been dictated by rules or have been attempts by manufacturers to outwit the competition. Some innovations were incorporated into the common automobile.