24 Hours of Le Mans
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Back in 1960 Briggs Cunningham, a manufacturer and avid racer of cars and yachts, as well as a co-founder of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a trio of racing Corvettes built by him and his team. No one knew then what his efforts would mean to the Corvette community, the collector car hobby and to the race itself, but more than 50 years later Briggs Cunningham and his legendary Corvettes are still making headlines. The Corvette community has been abuzz recently with news that the last of the original three Corvettes raced by Cunningham and his...
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Audi FSI Technology: From Le Mans Victory To The Latest RS 5Audi FSI technology helped lead Audi to victory in Le Mans in 2001 and now it's also helping the latest RS 5 dominate in the sports car segment.
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Le Mans Winning Aston Martin DBR1 Imagined As Life-Sized ModelLegendary race car drivers Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori died within weeks earlier this year and to mark their passing, as well as celebrate their life achievements, Aston Martin took one of its original 1959 DBR1 race cars around the famous Circuit de la Sarthe in France in June. Shelby and...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Nissan DeltaWing Driver’s Two-Hour Struggle To Get Back In Le Mans: VideoWhen it comes to endurance racing, the emotional strength and will to succeed is often the edge teams need to come out on top. Satoshi Motoyama, one of three drivers that piloted the Nissan DeltaWing in last weekend’s 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has shown us just how powerful...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Davidson’s Toyota Flips In The Air During Le Mans Crash: VideoThe number 8 Toyota TS030 LMP1 being driven by Britain’s Anthony Davidson suffered a major a crash just before the five-hour mark of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race taking place this weekend. As the video shows, the Toyota hybrid came into contact with a Ferrari 458 Italia competing in...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Corvette Racing 'Flat Out' For Le Mans: Episodes 1-3The Corvette Racing team heads to Le Mans for the world-famous 24-hour race. This video series documents the effort required just to get there--before the racing even starts.
Nelson Ireson -
With the daunting task of preparing the Nissan DeltaWing for its racing debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend almost complete--but the whole race ahead--the team has taken a moment to explain its complex steering wheel, through the eyes of Marino Franchitti. If the Franchitti name is familiar, but Marino isn't, you're probably an IndyCar fan. Marino is Dario's brother (and cousin to F1's Paul di Resta), and a very fast racecar pilot in his own right. He'll be taking the wheel of the DeltaWing as it leaves the experimental 56th garage at this year's race at the Circuit de la Sarthe...
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1959 Aston Martin DBR1 To Honor Shelby, Salvadori At Le MansThe 24 Hours of Le Mans runs this weekend, and as part of the festival that accompanies the event, the 1959 Aston Martin DBR1 will return to the scene of its victory in the hands of Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori. Shelby and Salvadori both passed away in the past several weeks, along with the...
Nelson Ireson -
A Few Minutes With Audi Driver Allan McNish: VideoUnless you follow endurance racing, the name Allan McNish may not be all that familiar to you. If you’re a fan of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, you probably know that McNish won the race in 1998 and in 2008; if you follow the American Le Mans Series, you probably know that he was the series...
Kurt Ernst -
Audi Shows Off R18 e-tron quattro's Ultra-Lightweight TechLightweight cars aren't just good for better gas mileage: they're also faster. Audi's race technology has been well-known to flow toward its production cars, but the level of devotion to lightweight construction shown with the latest R18 e-tron quattro Le Mans racer isn't likely to make the...
Nelson Ireson -
Audi R18 e-tron quattro To Make Race Debut This WeekendSpa Francorchamps, the notorious circuit both loved and hated (or perhaps feared) by racers the world around, will play host to the first racing laps of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro this weekend. The hybrid, all-wheel drive, diesel prototype racer is the first of its kind. The debut at Spa is also a...
Nelson Ireson -
Truth In 24 Documents Audi's 2011 Le Mans EffortYou win the Indianapolis 500 or the Monaco Grand Prix; if you’re lucky, you survive the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That thought was the premise behind Audi’s 2009 documentary, entitled Truth in 24, which is still available as a free download on iTunes. The film captured the story of...
Kurt Ernst -
Nissan is the latest to join Ben Bowlby’s DeltaWing project, announcing today that it will be competing at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans together with the project’s other partners, one of which is racing legend Dan Gurney. Originally designed for IndyCar, the DeltaWing has been awarded the opportunity to race in Le Mans by filling ‘Garage 56’ as an experimental vehicle. The uniquely shaped race car will wear the number “0” and run outside the usual race classification at Le Mans. The DeltaWing’s shape has been implemented to reduce aerodynamic...
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Morgan Returns To Le Mans With LMP2 Entry: VideoAs we reported back in January, Morgan Motor Company has teamed up with France's OAK Racing to enter Le Mans in the LMP2 class, albeit with re-branded Pescarolo World Endurance Championship cars. This video shows the first shakedown test of the new joint effort as the team readies to bring the...
Nelson Ireson -
Toyota TS030 HYBRID Le Mans Prototype Race Car UnveiledBecause saying something in capital letters on the web is like shouting it, and shouting means you're serious, Toyota has named its 2012 Le Mans prototype entry the TS030 HYBRID. Yep, it's a HYBRID. So what does hybrid mean in Toyota Motorsports parlance? It means serious business: a 3.4-liter V-8...
Nelson Ireson -
JJ Lehto Gets Prison In Fatal Boating CrashFinnish driver and former Formula 1 pilot JJ Lehto has received a twenty-eight month prison sentence in connection with a fatal boating accident that occurred in June of 2010.
Kurt Ernst -
Porsche At Le Mans, The 1970s and 1980s: VideoPorsche enjoyed success at Le Mans in the 1970s, but utterly dominated there in the 1980s, collecting seven wins in seven consecutive years.
Kurt Ernst -
New Porsche Video Series Marks 60 Years Of Le Mans CompetitionPorsche has competed at Le Mans for 60 years, amassing a record setting 16 overall victories. It's commemorating this with a series of short films leading to the release of its new Le Mans racer.
Kurt Ernst -
If you've been living under a rock, you might not know that Aston Martin is the only manufacturer to offer a race car for every category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And if you're really enjoying your time under that rock, you might not know that one of the cars that will see track time in 2012 is the V12 Vantage GT3. It's time to come out from under that rock. The newest Aston racer has entered testing. Based on the V12 Vantage production car, the GT3 version gets a host of race-worthy upgrades, including a vicious appearance, more hood vents than Darth Vader's helmet, and, of course, serious...
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Aerodynamic Changes Coming To Make Le Mans Prototype Cars SaferFender holes will be required on all LMP cars as of April 1, 2012; the move is meant to reduce the likelihood of a high-speed flip caused by aerodynamics.
Kurt Ernst -
Toyota Teams With Oreca For 2012 Le Mans ComebackAfter recently announcing its 2012 comeback to endurance racing, including a stint at next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota has this week confirmed that it will be partnering with French motorsports group Oreca for support in the new endeavor. Oreca is known for its experience in...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Spyker Sold, Nissan Reads Minds, Bentley To Le Mans: Car News HeadlinesToday's mix of news is a bit of a mish-mash, with Nissan the unlikely purveyor of nascent mind-reading technology for future cars, Bentley eyeballing a return to Le Mans LMP1 competition next year, and Spyker selling to a firm that isn't CPP. Oh, and the president of Equitorial Guinea had his...
Nelson Ireson -
First Porsche, Now Jaguar Planning Le Mans Return?It was less than a month ago that we reported Porsche was planning a return to Le Mans prototype racing in time for the 2014 season, and now we have news of yet another automaker considering doing the same. This time ‘round its Jaguar, which is reportedly considering a return to the sport...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Corvette Racing Offers Behind-The-Scenes Look At Race Logistics: VideoThe Corvette Racing Team shows us what it takes to win a race like Le Mans. Hint: it's all about teamwork.
Nelson Ireson