24 hrs of Le Mans

[LateFan]

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Doreen Evans - All woman team from the UK in 1935...who knew?
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A Porsche 356 in 1951. Look at that little sedan behind it!
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Corvettes!
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[ELVA164]

Since you brought up Corvettes, I think we should look at some Cunninghams!

The first outing for purpose-built Cunninghams; the previous year, Briggs Cunningham brought a Corvette and a special-bodied car named "Le Monstre." These are C2-Rs.

The C4-R was the second track-oriented Cunningham; its chassis was...not that great, but one managed a fifth overall finish at Le Mans:


The C5-R was mostly an update of the C4-R; its revised nose earned it the nickname "the Shark" and you can see its bodywork wasn't properly designed to vent engine bay pressure...



The last Cunningham was the C6-R, powered by an Offenhauser engine. The car lost second and third gear early in the 1955 race, and the engine hadn't been properly modified to run on the mandatory French pump gas (it usually ran on methanol), so an exhaust valve burned and the car retired.

[LateFan]

the previous year, Briggs Cunningham brought a Corvette and a special-bodied car named "Le Monstre."

Was that the crazy slab-sided thing with a Cadillac V8?

[ELVA164]

Yep! Its design is, uh, inspired:

[LateFan]

^^^ oh dear gawd....

Quick! Some eye rinse! Stat!



1960 winner F 250TR driven by Gendebien and Frere (who wrote for Road & Track later, no?)

[flyboyx]

i think that just might be the ugliest car i have ever seen.

on a positive side, it looks like the panels come off easily with either screws or dzus fasteners.

[ELVA164]

Nothing is fast enough.

[bumada]

Coming into this thread late, but I have some pretty cool pictures from when I went to the race 2 years ago. I'll have to dig them up and post.

[LateFan]

^^^ Good man, let's see them!

That Cadillac "Monster" is...is...

Someone thought that was aerodynamic??

[LateFan]

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[325isdan]

this thread is awesome! great facts and pics.

[LateFan]

Random F-cars

Closest one might be an Aston? Then Ferraris, then Jags..





1954 winner, Ferrari 375 with José Froilán González and Maurice Trintignant.
Wiki calls it... "A battle between brute force and science. That was how the most people viewed the line-up ahead of the race. In the high technology corner, clothed in its beautiful, wind-tunnel tested, aerodynamic bodywork was the Jaguar D-Type with its 3.4-litre, six-cylinder engine. In the brute force corner, Ferrari’s formidable 4.9-litre V12-engined 375 Plus. Ranged somewhere in between was everyone else. It was billed as one of the most tantalizing line-ups ever seen at the French circuit."



Pre-Porsche Curves, pre-chicanes..


Help me out with this car - don't know that I've seen it...or is that because of the paint job?

[ELVA164]

Last car looks like an F333SP to me, maybe Le Mans bodywork of some sort. It's usually seen in MOMO livery:


Motion to change thread title to "Le Mans History Thread"

[2mAn]

Motion to change thread title to "Le Mans History Thread"

2nd

[LateFan]

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