The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

The 24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans, Sarthe, France, 2009

Story and Images by Patrick Wheeler ©

As Wikipedia says: "The 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans) is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance, it is organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and runs on a circuit containing closed public roads that are meant not only to test a car and driver's ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24 hour period.

Running since 1923 this track is imbued with history and legends, is arguably the most important and has had the greatest impact on the cars we drive on the roads today: "Le Mans was envisioned as a different test from motorsports at the time ... 24 Hours of Le Mans would instead concentrate on the ability of manufacturers to build sporty yet reliable cars. This would drive innovation in not only reliable but also fuel-efficient vehicles, since the nature of endurance racing requires as little time to be spent in the pits as possible..."

One of the most amazing thing about this race is the combination of ultra-fast cars in the top class (the prototypes) but the inclusion of more familiar cars based on real road-going cars (the Grand Tourer class). It is in this 'slower' class that we find a bevy of Porsches, Ferraris, Aston Martins which other than radical livery and the engineering underneath their skin appear almost as it they came off the street ...

But I would be remiss not to start this story with a visit to the lovely town of Le Mans itself.

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24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

At this running of the Le Mans race in France, the featured Marque is the Morgan boys ... here they are lined in front of the cathedral on Friday midafternoon awaiting the start of the official Parade des Pilotes ...

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24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

there is also a parade of super-exotic cars to gladden any petrol-head's heart. This Citroen exercise in design excess is my favorite super-exotic ... looking like something dragged from way way below the ocean from a deep undersea trench, it just oozes a sense of motion and fluidity combined with an ungainliness and sense of purpose not entirely understood ....

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

And here a California entry, the Tesla Roadster is not outlandishly styled in this crowd but generate a fair amount of interest ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

it is a friendly crowd and flags from all nations are flown and we all wait for the officialness, pomp and speechifying to end and the parade to start ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

Leaving the main square for Parade des Pilotes the town and visitors have flocked to the edges and lined the route to see the drivers and the parade ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

the pilotes from the Corvette cars are a favorite of the crowd and hop on and off their car to sign autographs and give away trinkets to the children (young and old) ... what fun! No prima-donna lear-jet flying drop in and fly out attitudes from these gents ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

The boys from the British Aston Martin team are loving the adulation of the crowd with the biggest of smiles ... there is great history in the blue Gulf livery that can be seen repeated on t-shirts throughout the crowd all weekend ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

as with any car race, a bevy of pretty young things draped on a car is de rigueur ... however take a close look at the driver's smile and yes, the lady standing behind the rail is holding two baguettes of bread and was most likely on her way home from market when she stopped off the see the parade ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

We have assigned our loyalty in this race to the Peugeot team. My traveling companion used to be Peugeot's man in Australia, his wife drives one and one of this team's drivers, Mr. Brabham, is Australian. We may have driven down here in an Audi, but is more than my life is worth to consider rooting for anyone but team France. Mind you Peugeot (pronounced "Purr-Joe", thank you very kindly!) are supposed to have some very fast cars this year and may upset the German Audi hegemony (if they can just stop needing to refuel more frequently than the germans) ... at over 40yrs old Mr. Brabham is no wunderkind, but an endurance race calls for planning, skill, attention to detail and teamwork. All skills he has honed over many years behind the wheel of race cars ... I loved that the driver nearest us in the photo was carrying his own digital camera to take pictures of us as we were taking pictures of him, how fun is _that_! Just three guys in a parade on a lovely day in France ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

watching the people watch the parade is almost as much fun ... here a lovely girl stands with her boy on their scooter with the backdrop of the lovely medieval city ... and it does not matter that the girl has more than a touch of grey in her hair, or that her boy has a bit of thinning on top. She and her boy may have been around to see more than a few of the races but there is a lot of affection and enjoyment evident in the body language ... France + Girl + Boy + Scooter + Parade = Awww ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

And it is a pretty day for a race as we get started mid-afternoon on Saturday, high puffy clouds, warm in the sun but cool in the shade ... the crowd is happy and the turnout this year is almost 250 thousand and the much feared drunken Danish and British louts, while evident, pretty much keep to themselves ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

This is not a race of the fastest car and driver. It truly is a team effort and while the race may be won on the engineer's bench and on the track, it can easily be lost in the pit lane by inefficient fueling and mechanical missteps. Only by flawless execution of a team of drivers, mechanics and strategists do you stay competitive in an endurance race like Le Mans ... this event saw the initially leading Purr-joe car knocked out of the running by an unfortunate and frankly stupid accident in the pits ... but 20 minutes later it miraculously rejoined the race after have the entire front and rear of the car basically rebuilt in an amazing feet of workmanship ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

Mind you, this is not just a sport for youngsters, the drivers of this car average over the age of 50, include a high member of the British government ... but no 'would-be gentleman racers these' they are competitive in their class and thunder around the track in serious competition ... there are plenty of amusements for the spectators, and my favorite is the ferris wheel which offers the besk views of the race, the crowds and the countryside ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

as a 24 hour race wears on and the evening comes out a sense of peace and quiet pervades the track, but the cars never let up an inch, with cooler weather the cars run even better and faster as their sophisticated aerodynamics come into play and the down force created increases the speed with which they can circle the track ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

The Peugeot cars make a very interesting sound on the track, as a turbo diesel with incredible technology in their 12 cylinders they do not pop and burble and rip and snort like the cars of old, it is more of a shearing sound ... perhaps like your favorite kitchen knife slicing through the finest of ahi tuna, or if a more aggressive analogy is necessary, like the samurai sword of your favorite chop-socky movie star swishing through the air on the big screen ... these are seriously fast cars

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

The Audi Diesels who have dominated this race the last several years make almost no sound audible above the other cars. They are more of a presence felt by their Teutonic displacement of air as they pass, like a valkyrie passing by overhead on its way to some important business elsewhere, a shiver runs down the spine as they slice into the distance and you almost wonder 'what the heck was that ?'

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

The powered Lola bodied Aston Martins are the most attractive of the big-boy cars in the race. As they pass, there is a shriek from their 12 cylinder gasoline powered engine that is pure Outlaw Banshee Wales as they circle the track almost in flying formation with cars 007, 008 and 009. The petrol is not competitive against the modern diesels, but these Aston's are giving it their all and are a crowd favorite ... they actually place fourth in this race which is an _amazing_ accomplishment, they are the true underdog and in this race ...

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

You may heard race cars described as "thundering." In the case of the Corvettes racing the Grand Touring class this is just wrong. Thunder is something that happens in the sky above you or in the distance. As the 'vettes pass by the sound is pure ground-pounding earth-shattering felt-more-than-heard body blows. Think of an ancient Norse god of blacksmithing just underground beating his hammer against the granite bedrock as he fashions steel armor god of war, something out of a Wagnerian opera, and you get the sense of these beasts ... and they've been doing it for 24 hours straight as the road grime and filth show!

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

... as the race comes to a close the three surviving Peugeot's cluster up for a photo perfect finish (they have each completed a different number of laps but can spare a few seconds of their race time to form up) and cross the line in true team spirit at the 77th running of Le Mans. They won the race with cars in first and second with Audi placing a car third.

A good day indeed for France !

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