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16 years after their last overall victory Porsche will return to Le Mans 24 hours race this year with their LMP1 type 919 race car
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For those interested you will find everything about this car here :
www.porsche.com/microsite/mission2014/international.aspx -
This return has given me the idea to try to relate for you Porsche involvment with this race from 1951 (the first year they entered 3 off Gmund GT 356) to say 1964 with the 904/906
For each year I have tried to collect the maximum possible pics
but of course any of your additionnal pics will be welcomeComment
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To start with some history
The "circuit des 24 heures" also known as "circuit de la Sarthe" is a semi-permanent race course
The track whose actual lenght is 13.629 kilometers (8.47 miles) uses a part of the permanent race course called "circuit Bugatti" and a majority of local roads open to public traffic most of the year
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On the above map the 24 hours race track is in black and the Bugatti permanent racetrack is in grey
The Bugatti is open every day, by example the French Porsche drivers school is based there.
This race track is also used for sport cars and motorbikes racesComment
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Herewith an aerial view of the circuit Bugatti with on the left the spectators tribunes and the pit lane
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Le Mans is a race where up to 85 % of the time is spent on full throttle which result in an immense stress on engine and drivetrain components
The brakes are also highly impacted as at the end of the Mulsanne straight the cars have to slow down from over 200 mph to around 65 miles on a very short distanceComment
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The 24 hours Le Mans race starte
d in 1923Comment
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In 1923 the race track had a 17.262 km length
In 1929 the race track was reduced to 16.340 km and in 1932 to 13.492 km The actual race track (14th version) who is in force since 2007 has a length of 13.629 km ie very near the 1932 version
Most of the modifications were made to increase pilots security and to reduce the maximum speed in particular several chicanes (one before the pit lane entry and 2 in the Mulsanne straight) were introducedComment
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The famous Le Mans start ie cars parked at an angle on the left side of the track and pilots running to their car from the opposite right side was in force from 1926 to 1969
In 1970 cars started in lines engines stopped and from 1971 up to today cars start at full speed after a launching turn
Below a pic of the 1951 race
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Some more numbers
Porsche won 16 times the 24 hours Le Mans between 1951 and 1998 and had over 100 class victories
The other victorious firms are :
Audi : 12 victories
Jaguar : 5 victories
Ferrari : 5
Bentley : 5
Ford : 4
Peugeot : 2
Mercedes : 1
The fastest ever lap was achieved in 2010 by the Peugeot 908 during the practice : 3mn 18.513 seconds ie an average speed of 247.160 km/h
The highest instant speed was 405 km/h by a Peugeot WM in 1988 (ie before the chicanes were introduced in the Hunaudieres straight and not Mulsanne who is the name of a sharp curve as stated before by mistake)
Not surprising that some cars started to fly
Tomorrow 1951Comment
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As usual Gerard, very interesting and informative historical posts! Enjoyed learning about some of the history concerning this race. Very exciting to hear that Porsche will be making a return!
JustinJustin RioComment
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Before to start relating the Porsche performances from 1951 to 1964 I recommend those interested to have a look at the 2 following links
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzBWlUgxu0
and : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwUicqWWuv4
The first one is a link to the totality of the Lee H Katzin "Le Mans" film staring Steve Mac Queen and filmed during the 1970 edition
At first Steve who is the real leader in this film in which he invested a large share of his fortune was willing to drive the real race as Jackie Stewart co pilot
The Insurances Company refused and his role as pilot during the race was done by Swiss pilot Josef Siffert
The second one give you access at the first 6 minutes of the film
Although in Spanish it is interesting to be looked at for the long sequence on the stone grey 911 Steve personnal car that was sold 2 years ago for over 1 million USD
As you will see from its US lights, this car was ordered by Steve to the Porsche plant to be taken back to the US after the end of the film
This sequence also give you an idea of what was Le Mans in the 70'sComment
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Sorry I made a typing error try
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1U_WHabWwComment
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last try
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU1U_WHabWwComment
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