24h Le Mans
Le Mans, Ignite your Senses | At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, every detail counts, and the sense of touch plays a crucial role in the relationship between driver and car. Sarah Bovy, a driver with the Iron Dames team competing in the LMGT3 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, believes that the physical connection with the car is crucial to her performance and the sensations experienced on track.
In a racing car, each vibration, bump and kerb sends a message to the driver. Touch therefore plays a pivotal role in performance. “The way you hold the steering wheel is fundamental,” says Sarah Bovy, driver for Iron Dames in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Race steering wheels are anything but one-size-fits-all. They are designed to ensure optimal grip while adapting to the preferences of each driver. “I have very long hands, so if the wheel feels too thin, I’ll add some extra thickness to it. My teammates with smaller hands prefer a different configuration.” It is important to strike the right balance to achieve maximum precision and comfort during the race.
“They say you drive a race car with your backside,” Bovy smiles. Seated low in custom-moulded seats, drivers feel every vibration from the track. These vibrations are transmitted through the tyres, then via the steering column and chassis, prompting drivers to rapidly adjust their technique. Driving over a kerb is an intense physical experience: “Although the sensations are pretty jarring, they help us keep control of the car. We work with our engineers to try and smooth out the sensations, to reduce any disruption to the car’s stability and to optimise the driver’s experience,” Bovy explains.
Endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans put a driver’s senses to the ultimate test. After hours at the wheel, things start to feel very different. “In the final stints, we always feel like we’re in zombie mode before getting into the car. But it’s astonishing how quickly our senses are heightened as soon as we’re back behind the wheel. Until we get in the car, we can’t seem to shake off that brain-fog feeling. But as soon as the car hits the ground after a tyre change, we’re jolted awake, and we return to the track with almost the same energy as at the start of the race.”
To excel, a driver must be fully in synch with their car and the sense of touch plays a fundamental role in this. Drivers will detect changes such as a loss of grip or the car’s response over a kerb, analysing the slightest differences in real time. This physical link is one of the keys to success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It’s proof that the iconic race really is a sensory experience, where driver and machine communicate through the subtle language of touch.
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