Here's what I love about this time of year: within a span of three weeks, the three greatest racing events in the world are all run. If you're an American oval racer, you want to win the 500-Mile Race at Indianapolis. If you're a European, South American, or Asian open-wheeler, you want to win the Grand Prix on the streets of Monaco. If you're a sports car driver, you want to win the 24-Hour Race at Le Mans. These are the biggest festivals of speed in the entire world and, as I said, they're all just three weeks apart.
Le Mans is steeped in a ridiculous amount of history that, while not quite as long as that of the Indianapolis 500, is certainly as colorful. From the get-go, the 24-hour race has been the realm of periodical international dominance -- by which I mean certain nations have, through various auto makers, put their stamp on the race over various periods of time.
When the event started, it was Bentley's Speed-Six that became the defining sports car of the '20s. Alfa Romeo took over in the pre-war years with the 8C. Jaguar, with three of the most beautiful cars ever built: the XK120, C-Type, and D-Type, kicked the field around a bit. Ferrari then took the reins and put down the competition for seven out of eight races. Ford answered Ferrari's refusal of a sale proposal by building the GT40 and winning four consecutive races. In the '70s and '80s, Le Mans became the stomping ground of Porche's screaming-fast prototypes: 917, 936, 956, and 962. The '90s provided a little parity, with Japan getting its first 24-Hour victory behind Mazda's quad-rotor 787, and Peugeot grabbing a couple of wins for the home team. Since then, though, the Germans have taken back over on the wheels and ingenuity of Audi.
One of the great things about all of the cars on that list and all of the other machines that have taken to the Circuit de la Sarthe is that they are, in some form or another, relevant. Up until the 1970s, the cars had to be homoligated, meaning you could go to your local Ford dealer and order up a GT40 if you wanted to impress the neighbors, or a wealthy Italian might have picked up an Alfa 8C to cruise the Alps.
Even after the homoligation rules were taken away, there is always some relevance of the participating cars to the everyday driver. Porsche took the engineering prowess that built the 917 and put out the 911, a car that has become an icon on both the street and the racetrack. Mazda's 787 proved that a rotary engine could be fast and could be made durable through sound engineering. Most recently, Audi perfected its fuel injection system (FSI) and it's diesel technology (TDI) with the R8 and R10 prototypes. Unlike any racing series left in the world at this point, the technology seen on a Le Mans-winning car is very likely to find its way into road cars not long after the dust from the race has settled.
What also makes Le Mans great is that, while engineers have to push the envelope and make their cars extremely fast (Nissan's Group-C cars would beat 250 m.p.h. on the Mulsanne Straight), they also have to make them last an extremely long time while under extremely high stress. Not only is the race long, but it is held on roads that, by today's standards of racetrack construction, are entirely inadequate. The regional government has done what it can to keep the D388 and Route de Mulsanne (the run from Tertre Rouge-to-Mulsanne-to-Arnage) smooth, but these are still public roads. Public roads get eaten up by large trucks and they get various fluids dumped on them by the thousands of road cars that take the route. A Le Mans prototype must be able to survive the dangers of traveling a public road at 220 m.p.h., but run fast enough to stay ahead of the other cars.
Not only must the cars be durable, but so must the drivers. There are three drivers for a typical Le Mans team and, you've gotten sleepy after a three hour drive between cities, imagine being woken up from a 2-hour nap at 3AM to go drive a 200 m.p.h. race car. To make it even more fun, the four-class system means the fast cars have to me mindful of the slower guys in front, while the slower guys have to be paying attention to their mirrors. Did I mention that this is all happening on a pitch-black racetrack? These drivers have to remain sharp for so long and they absolutely have to be mentally prepared for their drive.
The members of the team seem to do a lot of sitting around, but they have to be just as sharp as the drivers. You never know when your car is going to pull into the garage with a busted third gear, and you have to take the entire gear stack apart to replace it. When that happens at 4 in the morning after 12 hours of constantly servicing the cars in the pits, you have to be ready. That's the mechanics' job and it is just about as difficult as that of the driver.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a mix of the endurance and skill of the engineering, the mechanics, and the drivers, and that is what makes this race so excellent.
My winning predictions:
Prototype 1/Overall: Every year that has started with a two and two zeros, except 2003, has been won by a car carrying the four rings of Audi, and there is absolutely no reason to pick against them this time around. Peugeot has a strong car, yes, and Aston Martin, as is their wont, have created a beautiful machine, but something catastrophic needs to happen to both Audis in order for them to lose. This just in: Nothing catastrophic enough EVER happens to Audi; if the car hits a fire-breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex going 478 miles-per-hour, the team will have the solution ready in the garage and the car will come back to win the race. Besides, both the Audi R10 and the Audi R15 are built to do one thing: go really fast in a straight line, which is what makes up about 75% of the Circuit de la Sarthe. My vote goes to the Audi carrying Kristensen, Capello, and McNish, because that's a lineup of pure royalty when it comes to Le Mans' current era.
Prototype 2: P2 is very underrated in the world of Le Mans-style racing because it's the only one that has no relevance to the outside world -- P2 is all about racing. One of the best cars in this class, the Porsche RS Spyder, is teamed up with a team that's won the whole thing when they entered an Audi R8, Team Goh. I'm going to go ahead and give them the nod for P2.
Grand Touring 1: This is a special year in GT1, because it's the last year before the class is merged into GT2 to make one big, happy GT class. That also means one of the most prolific makes in GT history, the Corvette, is getting its last hurrah. Corvette Racing has slowed a bit over the last few years with the improvements on Ferrari's big cars and the inclusion of Aston Martin's DBR9, both of which are tied to the Prodrive company. However, the 'Vettes are the highest-qualified GT1 cars this year and the C6.R promises to be strong in its farewell tour. Oliver Gavin, Oliver Baretta, and Marcel Fässler in the #64 are the guys I'm going to throw my prediction behind here.
Grand Touring 2: This is one of the crazier classes in Le Mans-style racing because the racing is always so even. This is due mostly to the fact that so many of the teams buy Porsche's customer winner, the 911 GT3 RSR. The Porsche has been essentially bulletproof for years on-end and there's no reason to think it's slowing down anytime soon. I'm going to put my weight behind the #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports car. Why? They win races and they have the coolest name of any team in all of racing. Count it!
The 24-Hour Race kicks off at 3:00PM sharp, which translates to 9:00AM in the eastern quarter of the U.S. Speed Channel may show way too much NASCAR and silliness, but one thing they do completely right is Le Mans -- 17 of the 24 hours will be shown live on Speed, with a half-hour before and a half-hour after. Since 9AM is a bit much for someone my age on a Saturday, I'll be catching up with my DVR, but I'll be trying to keep the world updated throughout the day, night, and next day with my mighty blog powers. Should be fun!
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