The world's most famous race

Le Mans is the oldest surviving racing event, the first competition being in 1923 and every year since except 1936 during a labour strike and 9 years from 1940 to 1948 interrupted by WWII.

It is a 24-hour endurance race taking place on 8.5 miles (13.6 km) of racecourse and public roads at the Sarthe road-racing circuit, near Le Mans, France, and the winner is the car that travels the greatest distance in that 24 hours.

The Endurance Racing Triple Crown

The 24-hour race at Le Mans is also one leg of the Endurance Racing *Triple Crown, the other two being the 24 Hours of Daytona at Daytona Beach, Florida and the 12 Hours of Sebring also in Florida with only 9 drivers having earned the title by winning in all three venues, though none have ever won all three in the same year.

Up until 1970  when new regulations were introduced, the tradition was for the drivers to race from one side of the track as the French tricolour flag was dropped to the other where their cars were parked, jump in, and race off: the renowned “Le Mans Start”.

Those few seconds were given as much scrutiny and planning to reduce time as there is for an F1 pitstop, spurring the myth, that has gained traction, of Porsche putting the ignition on the left of the steering wheel so that Le Mans drivers could jump into the car, change gear,and start the engine simultaneously.

The Ferrari brand won on its debut entry at Le Mans in 1949

Regulations now stipulate 3 drivers per team with rotations at pit stops. The time behind the wheel is restricted to a total of 14 hours per driver, with a maximum of 4 hours driving in any six hours.

In 1949 however, in the first race after WWII, Luigi Chinetti driving a privately entered Ferrari Barchetta 166 MM won the race by driving solidly for 22.5 of the 24 hours.

His 1949 victory was just 22 days shy of his 48th birthday making him the oldest winner of Le Mans ever and the only driver to win at Le Mans before, and after, the Second World War in 1932, 1934, and 1949.

Endurance is the name of the game

ln endurance racing, repairs during the race can be undertaken during pit stops, however swapping out the engine, the gearbox, or the body shell are not allowed.

24 Hours - 1 driver

A Bentley won the Le Mans race in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, and 2003.

The only person to complete the Le Mans 24 hr circuit driving the entire 24 hours non-stop was Edward Ramsden Hall in 1950 who took 8th place driving a Bentley Corniche "TT" 1934 in 236 laps. Imagine driving 2,000 miles single handedly in a field of 60 competitors out of which only 29 would finish.

Eddie Hall's Bentley was 20 laps behind the French victors driving a Talbot Lago T26GS, but 6 laps ahead of a Jaguar XK-120s entered privately by a Peter Clark in 12th place and 11 laps ahead of another Jaguar XK-120s entered under the name of Peter Whitehead.

The first female driver to race in the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race was Odette Siko (France) who teamed up with Marguerite Mareuse in 1930. Odette participated and completed the race 4 times between 1930-1933 and came 4th overall and 1st in her class in 1932 and is still the highest ranking Female driver in the race history.

Though all cars race at the same time, there are different classes and these have varied over the years.
In 2024 the GTE class is being replaced with the GT3 class which will allow slower and cheaper, mmmm… let's say “less expensive” cars to race.

The dropout rate of entrants, qualifiers, and starters is a testament to the rigorous challenges presented by the Le Mans 24-hour race and sometimes in just getting there.

From the registered entrants who did not arrive, or arrived, but just too late to get on the grid (DNA) and the casualties in practice which prevented them from starting on race day (DNS) cars that were simply not accepted (NAC) and once the race started you could be black flagged (DISQ) for things like “illegal refuel”, “last lap over 30 minutes”, “outside assistance” , “refuelling too early”, and refuelling brake fluid".

For entrants that did not finish (DNF) the causes ranged from every aspect of mechanical failure, generally, the core reason was logged (brevity) and included everything from Engine (piston), connecting rod, gearbox/transmission, clutch, steering, oil pressure, ran out of water, ignition, suspension, brakes, rear axle and much more sobering reasons such as “falling asleep - accident” and in 1956 "Accident, collision with a dog".Inevitably there were too many occasions marked as “*Fatal accident”. 

Below lists the race year, entrants/teams who actually started the race, those that finished, also shown as a % of starters, and the race edition since 1923. I threw in 1931 at random with 23% of a much smaller field finishing the race. In 1923 some of the roads consisted of wooden planks.

Year   Strt    Fin  

1931    26    6    23%    9th Race
               
1949    49    19    39%    17th Race
1950    60    29    48%    18th Race
1951    60    30    50%    19th Race
1952    57    17    30%    20th Race
1953    60    26    43%    21th Race
1954    57    18    32%    22nd Race
1955    60    21    35%    23rd Race - The Le Mans Disaster
1956    49    14    29%    24th Race
1957    54    21    39%    25th Race
1958    55    20    36%    26th Race
Total    561  215  38%                
 

The fastest lap speed in 1931 was 125.735 km/h (78.128 mph) - Mercedes-Benz SSK

In 1937 155.179 km/h (96.423 mph) in a Bugatti 57 G

In 1950 165.49 km/h (102.830 mph) in a Talbot Lago T26 GS

In 1958 it was 202.015 km/h (125.526 mph) - Ferrari 335 S

In 1967 it was 237.971 km/h (147.86 mph) in a Ford GT Mk IV

In 1971 it was 244.387 km/h (152.134 mph) by a Porsche 917

In 2023 it was 236.7 km/h (147.078 mph) in a Ferrari 499P 

There have been various changes to the circuit throughout the years that have impacted the length of the course from the creation of a slip road onto the public roads that are used during the race and new corners added.

The catastrophic disaster during the race at Le Mans where 83 spectators and a driver were killed and 120 injured was a major factor in shaping attitudes to safety in an inherently dangerous sport for both spectators and participants and course changes for the following year 

Engine size restrictions and chicanes, installed all contribute to restrictions in speed, but somehow records keep getting broken at Le Mans!

One thing is certain, that manufacturers who successfully race cars at Le Mans and not just hypercars, but those that can be be bought by the public without onerous modifications are always going to keep the brand in the public eye.

Luigi Chinetti recognised and proved that establishing a vehicles provenance at the toughest endurance race in the world in his first outing in a Ferrari in 1949 was good business as he then became the exclusive American importer of Ferrari automobiles to the United States.

William Reynolds followed suit in the 50's for Jaguar as would Henry Ford II, who initially tried to buy Ferrari to reverse the flagging fortunes of Ford in the 60's before establishing his own competition team.