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Written by:
Wouter Melissen
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07/18/2008 - 10:12 AM
Charlotte, North Carolina
According to the organizers about 6000 cars were entered by the clubs, and looking at the oceans of Porsches, Alpines and Loti, they were probably right. (Photo: Sander van Dijk and Pieter Melissen) ยป More Photos
Every even year the famous track in the La Sarthe district opens its full size to accommodate a host of historic racing cars, dating from the periods where the Mulsanne Straight was still straight. This year the event coincided with the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but that did not stop the traditional exodus from the British Isles. To avoid Paris during the rush hour, we took the western access roads to Le Mans via Rouen where we were joined by many classic motorcars, heading south. In spite of the torrential rains on Thursday afternoon many diehards refused to close their spiders and decided to sit it out. We noticed several caps on the motorway, so some heads must have gotten really wet.
Fortunately Friday saw a daybreak that really looked more promising. Apart from some tiny specks of rain during the morning, the whole weekend was blessed with glorious weather. The relatively moderate temperatures may have helped to keep engine temperatures low enough during the struggle to move the cars from the paddocks to the assembly area.
So what was it all about? The system is quite simple. There are six grids, or “Plateaux” as the French call them, each containing 65 cars, all of them of models that once participated in the real thing. The idea is that there is racing for a period of 24 Hours, starting at 16.00 on Saturday afternoon, with a finish at Sunday afternoon at 16.00 hours. Each grid gets three racing sessions, each of 45 minutes, so in the end each car will have done 2 hours and 15 minutes of racing. Results are counted on aggregate. There are two practice sessions on Friday, one for the day and a second one until 02.00 in the morning top get used to the darkness.
In the end the winner of the pre-war class covered 21 racing laps, while the fastest cars from grid 5 and 6 managed 30 laps. Manning is allowed up to four drivers, but we saw cars run by a single driver and others by a complement of three. Many owners of historically important cars took the opportunity to share it with famous drivers from the past and even some contemporary hotshots from the endurance scene take a turn behind the wheel. The list is too long to name them all, but the French could cheer the likes
Plateau 1 (Pre-War)
A further aspect of the races involves car-hopping, whereby many drivers participate in different cars during the weekend, sometimes in cars starting in the same grid. This leads to such curious situations that overall victory in Grid 1 was heavily contested between Gareth Burnett and Julian Bronson in the Talbot 105 of John Ruston who had to fight a heroic battle with another Talbot 105, driven by Julian Bronson and Gareth Burnett. Burnett and Bronson duly won with almost 4 minutes advance.
Another interesting car was the Riley MPH 2Litres, which was appropriately given starting Nr 1, as this car finished second overall in 1934 and first in class. Also present was the MG C type, that finished 6th overall in 1933 and the Delage D6-70 that came in 4th in 1937.
Bugattis and Bentleys further completed the field, with several nimble BMW 328s around as well some of the mighty Lagondas. History repeated itself during the staged Le Mans start for this grid. While all reasonably senior drivers were running for their cars, Vanina Ickx trod in the footsteps of her father and walked calmly down to her BNC and drove off. Contrary to her father though, she did not go on to win the race.
Plateau 2 (1949-1956)
The cars to watch for in Grid 2 were the second finishing Rolt/Hamilton D Type from 1954 and the Talbot T26 GS, driven to second place in 1951 by Guy Mairesse and Pierre Meyrat. A replica of the aluminium bodied Porsche 356-1100 that won its class on its first official outing in 1951 was racing, while the original car was on show in the paddock.
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