The Le Mans experience (Part 1)
The 24 hour of Le Mans, is one of motor sports, toughest and oldest racing event. Winning the Le Mans is the highest honour for a racer to achieve. Also known as the “Grand Prix of Endurance”, this race is organized by the “Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO).
It takes place on a circuit which contains public roads (which are closed). While most races test the cars speed and horse power, the Le Mans race focuses more on the manufacturer being able to make a car that is sporty, but reliable at the same time. This
forces imaginations to work on not just the looks and the speed of the car, but things such as fuel economy, durability and aerodynamics as well. The endurance race requires the teams to figure out how to keep the car running on the track for as long as possible,
with the least amount of pit stops. Also, the track is basically a public road that has been closed off, so it is not maintained as well as other closed circuits. This puts out major strains on the car’s parts. Therefore, this race also requires reliability
as well. In the 70’s, due to the demand for fuel, the race developed a separate group called “Group C” which was given a specific amount of fuel, around which the designers of the respected manufacturers had to make an engine that would be economical enough
to finish the race with the given amount of fuel. Even though the “Group C” was finished, fuel economy was still an important part to be considered by teams taking part in this race. The technological advances made for these races found their way into production
cars. Once can say that most of the cars that we drive today, have a little bit of racing blood in them.
The race has many rules and regulations. There are only 50 competitors allowed to take part in the race. Each car has to have no less than two seats, and no more than two doors. Even though, all the cars compete against each other at the same time, they
are separated into different classes. The racer who comes in first place is rewarded as well as those who come first in their respective classes. The classes have been constantly changed as the years went by. Currently there are only four classes that a racer
can take part in when racing in the Le Mans event. These classes are divided with respect to the car’s speed, weight and power. The top two classes are the Le Mans Prototype (LMP 1 and LMP 2). The next two classes are the Grand Tourer classes (GT 1 and GT
2). These classes are based on the regular production cars modified for the race (an example would be the Austin Martin DBR9 Le Mans edition).
In the beginning, when the Le Mans races had just started to occur, there was no set rule as to how many drivers can be in the car, or the length of time they could drive, however most of the teams used two drivers. By the end of the year 1980, there was
a rule placed that each team should have at least three drivers. By the 1990’s, there was another rule placed which stated that each driver could not drive for more than four hours continuously, and that a driver could not drive for a total of 14 hours. These
rules were placed for the safety of the drivers and to protect the millions of dollars worth of machinery and effort that went into preparing a car for the Le Mans race.
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