Tatler flies to France for the centenary edition of the world’s oldest endurance motorcar race to discover how far the race, and the concept of timekeeping, have come
On June 10 and 11 this year, 325,000 spectators flooded Le Mans, the small city in northwest France with a population not even half that number—and that wasn’t even including the car enthusiasts and excited families camping on every last inch of the public space outside Circuit de la Sarthe, the racetrack for the world’s most historic annual endurance motorcar race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
What made the city, which otherwise is best known for rillettes de porc (a pork paté), even more special this year was the race’s centenary. This year’s event was a cornucopia of historic moments: from the return of the Italian car manufacturer Ferrari since 1973 to the hyper class category, which features top-tier cars with the best speed and acceleration; the very first entry of American organisation Nascar (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), which brought an experimental car with no doors, only windows to the race; and NBA superstar LeBron James waving the starting flag.
The race on Sunday culminated with Ferrari taking home the trophy after an intense contest with Toyota, which consistently tailed the Italian team by a short window. The number 51 Ferrari AF Corse team, made up of drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, covered 342 laps in a 499P. Their win marks the Prancing Horse’s tenth overall victory at the race. Grand marshal Tom Kristensen, a record nine-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and “Rolex Testimonee”, presented the winning drivers with an Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, specially engraved for the occasion.
While the winning Italian team basked in glory and popped champagne, the race wasn’t only a test of the drivers’ skills and endurance on extreme track conditions, including unpredictable weather and darkness; it also tested car manufacturers’ innovation in coming up with a durable model that can function at speeds of 340km/h for 24 hours non-stop. As carmakers like Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac compete to win with better, faster, safer and more energy-efficient designs every year, the technology surrounding the race has also come far from its first edition in 1923—and has proven to have a more powerful impact on our daily lives over that century than you might imagine.
Back in the 1920s, sports cars averaged 92km/h. Over the years, thanks to keen competition in fuel efficiency, sports cars began to switch from using turbo engines to diesel and turbo-diesel hybrid, enabling them to run at an average of 194km/h nowadays. As well as speed, there are also many features in regular car production that came from sports car prototypes.
In recent years, brands have also turned their heads towards zero emissions. As of 2022, the 24 Hours of Le Mans field runs on renewable fuel, significantly reducing the impact of the race. Toyota revealed at the race’s press conference in June this year its GR H2 Racing Concept model, which is powered by hydrogen. Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s chairman, aims to run this car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016. “My goal is to achieve carbon neutrality without sacrificing performance or excitement,” he said at the press conference. “By the way, we wouldn’t be investing in this technology if I didn’t think we could win.”