100 Years

1923 – 2023

After much deliberations over the past few months and despite the lack of accommodation, tribune ticket etc I have decided to make it to the track in the Le Mans later this week for this special edition.

My 1st visit to the track in June 1969 was the start of almost yearly trips to this mystic race, only a handful were missed over the years for all sorts of valid reasons.

From not sleeping at all and freezing cold nights to scorching hot days, camps sites, hotels, bed & breakfast, gites, I / we have done it all. The older we get, the more comfort we need. We even thought at one point of buying and old house near the track. We could use the house and garden to have exclusive access once a year. It never materialised.

So I shall do a “Light” 24h. Travel up to Paris from the south of France by train on the day before the start, meet up with one my very good friend “C”, stay the night at his place. The next day we shall drive to Le Mans, fairly early due to the expected crowds, park in town near the station and travel back and forth to the the track by tram. We shall drive home later that night.

Le Mans virtual 2022

I was quite disappointed earlier this summer that there was not another edition of the Virtual Le Mans 24h. I thought the experiment in 2020 was excellent and so close to reality.

I was so wrong, I have just discovered just by chance that there is a 24h race scheduled tomorrow January 15th 2022

I have read that it will be televised on some channels. In fact the second Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans will be broadcast widely. The race will be aired on the 24 Hours of Le Mans YouTube channel, the FIA WEC application, the Traxion.GG Twitch channel, and on Eurosport Player, L’Équipe.fr and Motorsport.TV.

This is the link to the YouTube channel.

There are 50 cars / teams entered

I have also discovered that in fact 3 virtual races took place in 2021 and all are available on YouTube as follows:

[1] Monza – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckakbRu-eAA

[2] Spa – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqkHTko-E7g

[3] Nürburgring – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3zqln5FAqI

It looks so real.

On the Nürburgring video, skip to minute 50′ to see one of the amateur actually racing.

I have just received my own equipment and set it up and tried it a few days ago. It is extremely hard and a lot of concentration is needed. I’ll have to practise a lot if ever I wanted to enter the 24h virtual race.

There is in fact a video of this… Am working on how to upload it.

Brit’s Hill

I have posted a bit of nostalgia on one of my sister site.

Le Mans 24h – Nostalgia

I seriously miss Group C cars

H24 prototype hits the track

The Mission H24 project’s new hydrogen-electric powered racing prototype recently completed its first laps at the Lurcy-Levis circuit with Norman Nato at the wheel.

MissionH24 has just kicked off a new phase in its development. H24 Racing hit the track with the new H24 prototype for the first time at the Lurcy-Levis circuit in central France. Development driver Norman Nato was able to get a sense of the improvements made to the aerodynamics, cooling system and propulsion. The team also tested out a lighter and more compact gearbox and an electronic braking system. Thanks to a weight increase of 150 kg, bringing the H24 closer to the mass of a GT3, performance has also gotten better.

Le Mans 24H Poster

The 89th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 21 and 22 August this year celebrates rejuvenation, with the introduction of a Hypercar class.
 
Quite rightly, the high-performance, stylish machines in the new category take centre stage on the 2021 race poster.
 
Devised to depict speed and to evoke the distinctive day/night aspect of the world-famous race, the understated 2021 poster design leaves the limelight to the spectacular cars.

©24h-lemans.com

New Hypercars

Toyota officially presented yesterday the new Hypercar which will take part, with the same crews as last season on the LMP1 cars, in the World Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours. The new Hypercar regulation is something I have been eagerly waiting for.

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Winners

An overview of Le Mans winning cars over the years

 

1936 was cancelled due to strikes in France

10 years hiatus due to WWII

 

2019

2020

Virtual 24h

June has arrived and normally at this time of the month one would finalise packing before heading off to Le Mans for the race next weekend.

None of that this year though, due to the Corona Virus outbreak the race is cancelled and provisionally postponed to September.

The exciting news however is that there will be a virtual 24 hours race taking place next weekend.

More info here

I have seen some of the footage training sessions and it looks like good fun. I shall be watching the start on Saturday 13th at 3pm (French time).

 

Hypercars are official

The new category of cars which will replace the current LMP1 is now officially known as the Le Mans Hypercar.

Still only 2 manufacturers are to enter cars for next year’s season and namely Aston Martin and Toyota. They will be followed by Peugeot the following year as recently announced.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar could look like this.

Toyota’s Hypercar looks great

Toyota prototype looking fierce

Peugeot Rebellion

That is the news I have been waiting for. Peugeot will come back to endurance racing with a hypercar according to the new rule. We can expect anentry fort the 2022 season. I am sure the final design will be somewhat different to this vision although I expect and hope it will be along these lines.