• First run in 1923, the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans in France is the world's greatest sports-automobile race.
  • On the famous Mulsanne straight, the fastest cars pinnacle 200 mph.
  • In 2021, the race takes identify August 21–22. Sixty-two cars started the race on Saturday, Baronial 21, at 3 p.m. local fourth dimension (9 a.thousand. Eastern time, for U.Due south. viewers), with fans in attendance limited to 50,000 instead of the usual quarter-million.

UPDATE 8/23/21: For the 4th directly year, Toyota Gazoo Racing took overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Mike Conway, José Maria López, and Kamui Kobayashi crossing the finish line in their Toyota GR010 two laps ahead of the second Toyota to kick off the new Hypercar era with a win. American outfit Glickenhaus managed to bring both of its 007 LMHs home for 4th and 5th place overall, while the Team WRT Oreca 07 of Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg, and Charles Milesi took LMP2 honors, coming sixth overall. The Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Côme Ledogar triumphed in the LMGTE Pro course. Perennial LMGTE Pro class winner Corvette Racing finished second with in C8.R Vette's first trip to Le Mans with Nicky Catsburg, Antonio Garcia, and Jordan Taylor driving.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is car racing's Boston Marathon, a brutal test of endurance where competitors race stunningly fast cars for 24 straight hours at speeds that can exceed 200 mph on the fastest department of the incredibly long viii.five-mile Circuit de la Sarthe route course. The race is a punishing test that pushes commuter and machine to their limits—and sometimes beyond. Here's everything you lot demand to know to make sense of the race, which takes the green flag on Saturday, Baronial 21.

What is it? The 89th running of the world'due south well-nigh prestigious sports-car race, which lasts (as its name makes clear) for 24 hours.

When is the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans? August 21–22, starting at 9 a.thousand. Eastern time.

How to spotter? Alive online at the Motor Trend on-demand website (paywall) or the Motor Trend cable-Television channel; excerpts on the Automobile Guild de 50'Ouest (ACO) YouTube channel. Or watch a alive feed from within ane of the participating cars, including the Glickenhaus entry in the new Hypercar form, on YouTube.

Or follow the alive blog roofing all the action from our friends at Road & Track.

Where is the 24 Hours of Le Mans held? Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France.

What time does it get-go? Coverage begins at 8:00 a.chiliad. U.Southward. Eastern fourth dimension, with the race starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern fourth dimension (3:00 p.1000. local time).

History, hellish events, and high speeds are the key ingredients that brand the 24 Hours of Le Mans the world's greatest sports-car race. It is both famous and infamous for the triumphs and tragedies that take occurred there. Started in 1923 every bit a showcase for automobile manufacturers to show the durability of their vehicles in competition, it has evolved into a high-speed chess match amongst tiptop professional person racing teams where strategy, teamwork, and great driving skill are as of import as a car's reliability and technological edge.

The race is staged annually, normally in mid-June (but these are not normal times), by the French sanctioning organization Machine Club de l'Ouest. Iv classes of cars compete side by side, which can brand the racing confusing, just a team of knowledgeable Television set commentators keeps the activity sorted out for you. Le Mans is part of the FIA World Endurance Title, which includes long-distance races in nine countries. Through the years, auto manufacturers including Porsche, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Toyota, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Chevrolet have invested tens of millions in their race teams with the hope of taking the winner's laurels and basking in the marketing glory a win confers.

Until recently, the top two classes take been LMP1 and LMP2. These were made up of purpose-built race cars that can cost millions and are supported by large crews of engineers and technicians. The cars look like four-wheeled fighter jets and employ advanced aerodynamics to suck them to the runway, which enables phenomenal speed in the corners. The current rules encourage teams to race gasoline-electric hybrids, and concluding year's winning motorcar, Toyota'southward TS050 LMP1, utilized that technology to make a claimed 986 horsepower. LMP2 cars are similar merely less circuitous, are powered by conventional gasoline engines, and are not quite as fast equally the LMP1s.

Starting with the 2021 flavour, there'due south a new Hypercar class in place of LMP1. V teams are entered in this inaugural season. The cars can exist a racing version of an existing hypercar or a purpose-congenital prototype. The Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus 007 LMH and the Toyota GR010 Hybrid are among the entrants this twelvemonth.

Well-nigh two-thirds of the field is composed of the other two classes competing in the race, the GT, or 1000 touring, cars: GTE-Pro and GTE-Am. These classes are based on highly modified versions of production-line sports cars with recognizable names and shapes from makers such as Ferrari, Porsche, Chevrolet, Ford, and Audi. They have about 500 horsepower, and the infighting is fierce as these cars battle for position and class wins while trying to stay out of the way of the flying prototypes. As their names imply, GTE-Pro is for full-time professional person drivers and manufacturer teams, while GTE-Am is for amateur drivers and individual teams. Here's a total listing of entrants to the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours.

All teams must rotate three drivers through the car during the race, with no ane commuter behind the wheel for more a full of 14 hours. Driver changes happen in conjunction with pit stops for fuel and fresh tires.

History runs deep at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the name of the viii.5-mile temporary grade that roars to life in the sleepy French countryside every June. The original race was run entirely on local roads, but for reasons of safety it at present combines sections of public road knitted together with stretches of purpose-built racetrack. The famous Mulsanne straight, part of the original rail, is still in use. One of the world'southward longest racing straightaways at three.7 miles, information technology's really a public road, French road départementale D338, except for those few days each twelvemonth when it is closed down for the 24-hr consequence. Another tradition: the race cars undergo one of their several technical inspections in the Le Mans boondocks square, where they tin exist viewed up close by the general public. And the spraying of champagne after a race win? That was started at Le Mans likewise, by American Dan Gurney after winning the 1967 race.

Racing dynasties take flourished and faded across the 86 years the event has run—it was canceled for 10 years during Globe War Ii and in 1936 because of strikes across France. Bentley and Alfa Romeo both made their early reputations with four consecutive wins each in the 1930s. Jaguar and Ferrari dominated the 1950s and 1960s. Henry Ford II'south personal rivalry with Enzo Ferrari resulted in his company deciding to build the Ford GT40, which defeated Ferrari in 4 direct Le Mans races from 1966 through 1969. Porsche was the dominant force in the 1980s, and Audi prototypes notched an amazing 13 wins betwixt 2000 and 2014.

Along with racing triumphs, the race has been the scene of tragedies. The worst of them occurred during the 1955 consequence, when a Mercedes 300SLR race car crashed at high speed on the front straight, launching flaming parts into the crowd and killing 83 spectators. Information technology remains the worst auto-racing blow in history. As a result, motorcar racing was temporarily banned in several European countries. Major rubber improvements were made to the Circuit de la Sarthe in the wake of the 1955 consequence; numerous prophylactic upgrades for both spectators and the racers accept been implemented in the decades since. Race cars were already reaching speeds in backlog of 225 mph on the Mulsanne by the early 1970s, and so a pair of tight zigzag chicanes were added partway down the direct to bring speeds downward. Despite the changes, the fastest of today'south race cars will still top 200 mph on the Mulsanne. And that can however mean problem, as when driver Peter Dumbreck'south Mercedes race machine flipped into the trees in 1999; he somehow escaped without major injury.

The danger and excitement of 1970s-era Le Mans competition was captured for the silver screen by racer/role player Steve McQueen in his movie Le Mans. And a recent tribute video of the Le Mans event brings McQueen's spare delineation up to engagement by evoking the romance that is the Le Mans 24 Hours. Here'south a preview of what you'll see in the 2021 race.

This story was originally published August 21, 2021.

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24 Heures du Mans 2021 - HYPERPOLE HIGHLIGHTS

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