The 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most prestigious endurance racing events on the globe.

The race takes place in Paris and is designed to not only test the car and its fuel efficiency, but also the driver. As the name implies it is a race that takes place over a 24-hour period.

Drivers begin racing at a set time and take shifts with two other drivers before the race concludes a full day later. The event has been witness to some of the greatest showcasing of motor sport talent.

The drivers can face rigorous climates in the Paris sky such as rain, heavy rain, and the worst of all, night rain. The track is just as difficult a test as the weather. The curved road used to be an unpaved Paris back road with no guardrails rails installed. This has led to several fatal crashes in the past ever since the races began in 1923.

Before modern times, the conduct of the race used to be chaotic. Drivers would line up and when the clock struck the right time, drivers would have to sprint to their cars, enter and leave without crashing. This caused many people to fall behind and to push their cars hard.

On June 11th, 1955, Lance Macklin swerved to the left to avoid the slowing Jaguar team, when suddenly Pierre Levegh of Mercedes Benz rear-ended him at high speeds. The collision shot Pierre’s car over Macklin's and caused it to skip the protective barrier between the stands. The crash sent large flying debris straight towards the stands along with the car itself. The debris included items such as the engine block, suspension, and the transmission were all torn from the wreck. The car disintegrated and flung Pierre onto the track where he was deceased upon impact. The collision resulted in 83 fatalities and over 180 injuries.

Fortunately, the amount of collisions has decreased each decade leading up to present day. In the years since 2000, there has been one fatal wreck in total. The track has been paved, guardrails were installed, and more safety precautions for fans were installed.

In 2020 the race was postponed due to COVID-19 as it was initially supposed to begin June 13th and transfer into June 14th. Instead, the race took place from September 19th into the 20th with no fans in attendance.

The race began at 5 A.M sharp and concluded at 5 A.M the next day. Of the 60 drivers, only 43 finished the race. The results are not very surprising in the motor sport world as the Toyota Gazoo Racing team took home its third consecutive Le Mans win. Drivers Sébastien Buemi, and Kazuki Nakajima also had their third consecutive Le Mans win driving for Toyota’s winning team all three times. Driver Brendon Hartley took home his second Le Mans win (2017,2020) as the third team driver.