24h Le Mans
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the show is quite literally on the road, but also in the sky. There’s the traditional pre-race flyover by the Patrouille de France, and the spectacular helicopter drop of the flag delivered by commandoes. This year, a helium-filled airship will be joining the aerial ranks: the Goodyear Blimp. A familiar sight for endurance fans.
After making its comeback at Le Mans last year, the Goodyear Zeppelin NT will be gracing the skies of La Sarthe again this August, as it did in previous decades. The Goodyear Blimp used to be a regular feature at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the Europa N2A model floating above the racetrack from 1972 to 1986.
An impressive 75 metres long, 19.5 metres wide and 17.4 metres high, the European Blimp is currently the largest semi-rigid airship in the world. It is operated by Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei GmbH and is the only Goodyear Blimp in Europe. There are three others in the USA that are used at major sports events, such as NASCAR, NBA games, university football matches or PGA golf tournaments. The Zeppelin NT has a cabin that can hold 12 passengers as well as a cockpit for the two pilots. It can reach top speeds of 125 kph and can stay in the air for more than 24 hours. This “balloon” requires four hectares of space and seven people to manoeuvre it on the ground.
The Blimp is primarily used to record aerial images of the race for TV coverage. It can reach heights of up to 1,000 m and is ideal for capturing a view of the entire racetrack or following a certain car for a whole lap. Its ideal cruising altitude, however, is somewhat lower: 300 metres above the ground.
The Blimp is a great advertising opportunity as it can be seen for miles around. Even those outside of motorsport circles recognise its characteristic colours. In past times, the airship above the circuit would broadcast the classification, which was handy for spectators. The current model isn’t able to do this, however. Now, the real-time positions come from the Michelin totem at the end of the pit lane.
After appearing at the Monza leg of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in July, the Blimp stopped off at Ljubljana in Slovenia, Wroclaw in Poland, and Copenhagen in Denmark before touching down in Le Mans. After the race, it will head off to Germany for events in Mönchengladbach, Bonn and Bad Homburg. You can track its journey in real time on the Flight Radar 24 app by entering the code DLZFN.
