24h Le Mans
24 HOURS CENTENARY – THE LE MANS EXCEPTION ⎮ Across its 100-year history, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has weathered its fair share of storms: political and social unrest, World War II and the pandemic among others. Here is a look back at a few of the extraordinary events the race has been able to overcome.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans was launched in 1923 as the Roaring Twenties were in full swing after World War I (1914-1918) and the Spanish Flu crisis (1918-1919). Then the race was paused for nine years in total, first in 1936 then from 1940 to 1948. This year's Centenary on 10-11 June will actually be the 91st running of the 24 Hours.
For working-class France in 1936, obtaining paid leave vindicated millions of workers as the realisation of one of their most crucial – and justified – demands. But for the ACO, it turned out to be the first year the race would not be held. From the onset of Front Populaire troubles in the spring of that year, the ACO anticipatorily announced a first postponement resulting from problems with the fuel company hired for the race. Subsequently, motorsport authorities across the Channel refused to agree to the potential new date of 20 June deemed ideal by the ACO as another racing car competition was scheduled for that date in Northern Ireland from which the 24 Hours would (perhaps) have drawn some British participants.
The weekend of 18-19 July was then selected, but the ACO had promised its support to the technical organisation of the very first Grand Prix of Deauville. Negotiations were unsuccessful for lack of an acceptable fallback date for Deauville. With a heavy heart but keeping its word, the ACO made the decision not to hold the 24 Hours even though 62 driver line-ups had been confirmed to participate in the 4th running of the race.
Though World War II and the German occupation interrupted the 24 Hours, the ACO remained active during that period with aid to needy mobilised soldiers in 1939/1940, aid to refugees in 1940/1941, the search for isolated families in 1942/1943 with messages sent to North Africa and the start of a close collaboration with the Red Cross. A traveling 24 Hours of Le Mans exhibition was also organised in 1942/1943, giving hope of a resumption of racing once the conflict ended. In 1943, priority was given to assisting families sending parcels to workers requisitioned by the STO (Compulsory Labor Service that sent men as labor to German factories).
In 1944, the circuit turned into an unintended target. Aiming at the Le Mans marshalling yard and anxious to escape the German "Flak" (anti-aircraft defence), Allied bombers dropped their 350-kilo bombs at an altitude of 7,000 meters without worrying about prevailing westerly winds. Their "packages" drifted by more than two kilometers. Craters dotted an axis starting from the bend of Maison Blanche to the Tertre Rouge. All that remained of the facilities was the framework of a few metal grandstands not requisitioned for the war effort, and smoking ruins in the middle of which still stood circuit signs provided by Michelin in 1936, the only year without a running of the race: start/finish, permanent circuit of la Sarthe, 13.492 km, etc.
After the conflict finally ended, the ACO's achievements during the war proved remarkable: 11,294 parcels expedited to prisoners in German camps, assistance to foreign prisoners held locally and to the 40,000 men in the Mulsanne and Auvours camps, 769,000 parcels sent to prisoners in the West and 38,000 to deportees in Germany, not to mention the search for 53,000 missing prisoners in collaboration with the Red Cross.
During this period, two successive postponements were announced for the possible 1947 and 1948 runnings of Le Mans, both for financial and logistical reasons, fuel being rationed at a rate of 40 litres for non-priority vehicles, while 20,000 to 25,000 litres were necessary for the 24 Hours.
1947 was also marked by the death of Gustave Singher, President of the ACO since 1910. He was succeeded by one of his closent collaborators, Paul Jamin, on 20 June of that year.
Thanks to loans from the city of Le Mans and a loan guaranteed by the region's General Council, work to repair the circuit finally began on 15 December 1948 with a very challenging deadline. Barely six months after this long-awaited recovery, on 26 June 1949, a two-year-old Italian marque clinched its first win: Ferrari.
In 1956, after a colossal effort, the ACO recovered from the tragedy of the previous year's 24 Hours where nearly 80 spectators were killed following Pierre Levegh's fatal accident.
The circuit's renovation was enormous, delaying the 1956 race by a month to 28-29 July and ending in a Jaguar victory. The monumental construction project created the permanent sections of the new circuit, the safest and most modern in the world. Among the new features were the transfer to Mulsanne of signaling to competitors and the centralised fuel supply. The president of the region's General Council, Max Boyer, gave his full support to the circuit's reconstruction and for his effort received the insignia of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. A Le Mans investigating judge, M. Ralincourt, signed a dismissal order following the 1955 disaster.
The 1968 24 Hours found itself in the same uncomfortable position as in 1936 when personnel necessary to hold the race were otherwise deployed, this time to help reinstate social order. The unrest of May 1968 moved the race from 15-16 June to 28-29 September for an unusually rainy running.
That year, Ferrari chose not to participate in protest of the new CSI regulations limiting prototypes to 3 litres. Ford won the race, Alfa Romeo turned in a stunning ensemble performance (4th, 5th and 6th), Matra proved promising and Alpine demonstrated exemplary reliability with five cars under the chequered flag. The Young Driver's Criterium kept the pace for six hours between 19:00 to 01:00 for a round of mini-Ferraris and mini-Ford GT40s: the battle that did not take place on the track played out at 3/5th scale.
Even the COVID-19 pandemic that overwhelmed the world in 2020 failed to slow down the 24 Hours, adapting without exception to governmental health directives.
Initially planned for 19-20 June, the 88th 24 Hours finally took place behind closed doors on 19-20 September 2020. In 2021, only 50,000 spectators were allowed to attend the race on 21-22 August. Toyota won both runnings thanks to Sébastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Kazuki Nakajima in 2020 and Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/José María López in 2021.
As the world slowly but surely returned to normal after the health crisis, 2021 kicked off a new era for the 24 Hours with the creation of a new head class, Hypercar, (replacing LMP1) pioneered by Toyota, Alpine and Glickenhaus. The five Hypercars fielded finished in the top five spots, led by a Toyota one-two. A new qualifying system was also put in place, the Hyperpole, for the fastest six cars in each class after the traditional qualifying sessions.
On a good note, the pandemic increased the audience of the 24 Hours in the simracing world. Held for the first time in 2020 on the actual race's original dates (19-20 June), the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual proved such a huge success that it has been made an annual event with this year's running on 14- 15 January.
Last year, the circuit's grandstands, spectator areas, Village and paddock resumed their normal activities, an ideal prelude to the great Centenary celebration to come in 2023.
PHOTOS (Copyright - ACO Archives): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS. From top to bottom: the finish at the 2021 24 Hours, first running of the Hypercar era, with in order the #7 and #8 Toyotas in first and second places; the last running before WWII, the 1939 24 Hours saw victory for the #1 Bugatti shared by Jean-Pierre Wimiile and Pierre Veyron; in 1949, Ferrari's first win kicked off a long history between the race and the marque; the start in 1956 showed off the extent of work done to the pit straight; on 28 September 1968, the rainy start at the 36th running with the Ford GT40 of future winners Lucien Bianchi/Pedro Rodríguez (#9); the winners of the four classes in 2020 with Toyota (LMP1 and overall), United Autosports (LMP2) and Aston Martin (LMGTE Pro and Am).
