24 hrs of Le Mans

[bumada]

Some Pre-Race cars




Delta Wing. I had a hard time getting side shots because the fence is so high and the lens wanted to focus on the fence.


View from the grand stands looking through the Dunlop curve.










Coming down through the Dunlop Bridge. Pretty cool to go inside of it.


Patrick Dempsey's car. I'm not sure if he was driving at the time, but I told my mom he was so she'd leave me alone about it.


More Dunlop


Came back at 4am. I don't own a fast enough lens to capture sweet night pics so no cars during the night. Also, the amount of people just passed out drunk was incredible. It was probably in the low 40s and people just sprawled out in the grass (which also doubled as everyone's bathroom). People just don't care about where they piss there. Saw way too many dicks.


Sun's coming up.




My favorite picture.


Can you guess where my favorite spot was?


Yes! The Dunlop Bridge


I have more but these are the best and it gets rather repetitive. For those that don't know, you can walk from the Ford chicanes by the ferris wheel, all the way until the tetre rouge which is the final turn before the Mulsanne straight.

[LateFan]

^^^ Sweet! Nice shots! Nice spots!

So lucky to be able to be there.

[ELVA164]

Nice!

[bumada]

^^^ Sweet! Nice shots! Nice spots!

So lucky to be able to be there.

It's definitely something you have to do once. We got an airbnb in a town like 30 minutes away from the track. Legit breakfast in the morning, pool outside, short walk to some restaurants and bars. Parking was actually really easy and everyone brings their super cars as well.

My brother just so happened to be graduating from his school one day before the race. So how could you even pass up that opportunity?

[LateFan]

What's it like in the bridge when cars drive under you?

[ELVA164]

What's it like in the bridge when cars drive under you?

I've never been to Le Mans of course, but I've been on the bridge at Road America when a grid of '70s F1 cars went under. I thought my head was going to explode.

[LateFan]

Alfa Romeo at Le Mans

Grid 1932



1932, Alfa Romeo 8C 2300LM #8, Raymond Sommer / Luigi Chinetti , first overall (check that aero tail and skirts!) Alfas finish 1-2-4.





1933, 8C 2300MM, Sommer / Nuvolari, 1st overall. Alfas finish 1-2-3.




Skip to 1:15 -

[LateFan]

In 1931, "Lord Howe" and Henry Birkin won in an Alfa 8C2300.

[LateFan]

1934, Luigi Chinetti and Philippe Étancelin win in an Alfa 8C 2300, for a 4-year sweep.

[LateFan]

1938. I love this car.

The unrivaled Alfa 2900B "Speciale Tipo Le Mans" set the lap record and was leading by 100 miles at 19 hours. 11 laps, well over an hour lead. Blew a front tire at 130mph on the Mulsanne, causing extensive damage but didn't crash. It's believed he slowed down without touching the brakes, and probably over-revved it. At 20 hours it broke a valve and withdrew.

Vittorio Jano-designed aluminum 2900 straight 8 with twin Roots blowers, a rear transaxle for weight distribution, and very lightweight aero shape by Touring when everyone else was still using cycle fenders.

"In Italy the coupe received the nickname 'Soffio di Satana' or 'devil's breath'."

After being repaired and passing though several hands, the Alfa factory museum traded a 158 Grand Prix car to get this car back. It was restored to its original dark maroon, and has made several outings to things like Goodwood.

Drivers Raymond Sommer / Clemente Biondetti



EDIT - this is a fancy die-cast in case you're wondering..






RF fender

[ELVA164]

That 2900B is awesome! I'd never heard of it.

[LateFan]

Your Le Mans Wednesday night bar trivia contest post!.....

Most constructor wins:
Porsche 18 / Audi 13 / Ferrari 9 / Jaguar 7

Most consecutive wins:
Porsche 7 / Ferrari 6 / Audi 5 / Alfa, Ford, & Bentley 4

Most wins by specific car type:
Audi R8: 5
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 / Ford GT40 / Audi R18: 4
Jaguar D-Type / Ferrari 250 TR / Matra Simca MS670 / Porsche 936 / Audi R10 TDI: 3

Most team wins:
Joest racing 13
Porsche factory 11
Scuderia Ferrari 7
Jaguar 5
Bentley 4

Four specific cars have won the race twice (and all are twice in a row):
Bentley Speed Six #LB2332
Ford GT40 #P-1075
Porsche 956 #117
Porsche WSC-95 #002

Porsche has 8 podium hat tricks.
Toyota has 5 second places with no wins.
33 Porsches were entered in 1971.
Porsche won 6 consecutive pole positions.
Porsche has 14 fastest race lap records.
Audi has 5 consecutive fastest lap records.

Most driver wins:
Tom Kristensen 9
Jacky Ickx 6
Derek Bell / Frank Biela / Emanuele Pirro 5

Most consecutive wins:
Tom Kristensen 6

24 drivers have won in their first attempt, including AJ Foyt in 1967.

Woolf Barnato of England entered three times and won all three.

Henri Pescarolo started 33 races, Bob Wollek 30, Yojiro Terada 29, and Derek Bell 26.

Yannick Dalmas won four times driving four different constructors cars - Peugeot, Porsche, Mclaren, & BMW.

Mario Andretti had 35 years between his first and last start.

Race Records:
Longest distance covered: 5410 km / 3362 mi in 2010 (Audi R15+)
Fastest race lap: 3:17.475 Audi R18 e-tron.
Smallest winning margin: 20 meters, between the Ford GT40s of course, 1966.
Largest winning margin: 350 km / 217 mi, 1927.
Highest average race speed: 225 kph / 140 mph, Audi R15+ TDI in 2010.
Highest average lap speed: 248 kph / 154 mph, Andre Lotterer, Audi R18 e-tron 2015.

Top Speed: 407 kph / 253 mph, Roger Dorchy, WM P88-Peugeot 1988.

Most cars entered: 60
In 1929, 91% of entries finished, in 1970, only 14% finished.

Highest attendance: 400,000 people in 1969.

[LateFan]

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[LateFan]

Chris Amon has died at 73.

[gwb72tii]

Ok. I'm about to photo dump from when I went to Le Mans 2 years ago. I'm no photographer but I tried my best to take good pictures. Also, this laptop that has all my pictures on it runs like shit so let's hope for the best for these upload speeds.

so knowing what the race is all about, the experience etc., would you still go after looking backwards with 20/20 hindsight.
i ask because the race is on my list and it's working its way to the top of the list.