24h Le Mans
One of the secrets to success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the comfort of the car. While the cockpit of an endurance car could never be classed as cosy, everything is done to ensure that drivers have nothing to focus on but driving. The settings are tweaked right up until the warm-ups, the last practice session before the big day.
A car that is comfortable to drive at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is, above all, a car that can perform well without the driver needing to take risks. It’s also a car that is agile on the track and stays balanced in all types of conditions.
To make the car comfortable for the long race, engineers work with the car's settings, namely the firmness of the shock absorbers and the anti-roll bar, a suspension element that connects the two wheels of the same axle.
Check out the 360° video below filmed onboard GT Team’s Porsche 911 RSR to see what goes on in the cockpit.
The most important factor of the car in terms of comfort is the bucket seat. It is custom-made for the drivers, who fit it to the standard seat when they take the wheel. Some use a shared standard seat made using the dimensions of the tallest driver and simply add an insert to help them reach the pedals more easily. “My teammates and I are all very different sizes. Endurance is all about compromise; that’s what makes a good team or not,” explains Neel Jani, driver of the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 for Porsche GT Team.
These days, when a marque builds a car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, they have to consider the ergonomics of the cockpit and everything inside it. The cockpit gets a lot of TLC. The number of commands available to drivers requires a high level of deftness and dexterity. If they’re experiencing jolts and vibrations or are not comfortably seated, they won’t be as efficient and will tire more easily – just like ordinary drivers on a long journey.
Nicolas Lapierre, driver of the #36 Alpine A470-Gibson fielded by Alpine Elf Matmut gives us the lowdown on the bucket seat:
