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The Sarthe River passes many towns as it makes its way through western France. Probably the most famous of these is Le Mans, which hears some of the most amazing cars in the world rev their engines every year.
24 Hours of Le Mans has cemented its place as one of the most prestigious and gruelling competitions in the history of motorsport. Since 1923, automobile manufacturers have gathered in Le Mans almost every year to see who can master the combination of endurance and speed required to win a race that goes on for a full day. Pop the hood and just like F1, an entire world of technology and innovation can be found driving the Circuit de la Sarthe today.
Le Mans: The Origins
In the early 20th century Grand Prix racing, a predecessor to modern day Formula One, dominated the motorsport scene in Europe. Le Mans was designed to be a unique alternative. While the Grand Prix tested the ability of car manufacturers to make the fastest cars, Le Mans tested reliability and endurance. The objective of the Le Mans has always been to go the longest distance around the track in 24 hours. Parts of the circuit also include public roads which are not maintained in the same condition as professional race tracks. Participants must therefore adapt their vehicles to both surfaces.
The Le Mans circuit
Today, there are four classes of participants in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The first two are Le Mans Prototype (LMP) 1 and 2. These categories comprise cars custom built for the race, and the overall winner of Le Mans usually comes from these two groups. Next are two classes of Grant Touring (GT) cars that typically include modified versions of sports cars found in the public. Apart from the race winner, prizes are also given to class-wise winners.
Audi has dominated Le Mans in recent years with its LMP1 category R10 (left). Audi driver Tom Kristensen is the must successful Le Mans driver in history, wrapping up his 9th victoy in 2013. GT cars are modified versions of street cars like this Porsche 911(right).
Technology behind 24 Hours of Le Mans
In its early years Le Mans was designed to be raced by sports cars that were sold in the market to the general public. Over time, car manufacturers vigorously modified their cars to reach new levels of fuel efficiency and aerodynamics and also to provide greater safety to the drivers. Some of these modifications have reverberated back to the ordinary cars we drive today.
Fluid design: Don’t let the breeze slow you down
The Le Mans circuit has some of the longest stretches of straight road, perhaps more than any other race track. This calls for cars to be streamlined and stabilized at high speeds, a feature shared with Grand Prix racing. This requirement in Le Mans saw the beginning of aerodynamic design in race cars. While the first participants would take ordinary street cars and remove some of the bodywork to reduce weight, later cars began to change their design entirely. Bugatti started racing Le Mans with cars whose bodywork was smoothly curved to cover mechanical parts like the engine and transmission.
Bugatti’s early design was nicknamed ‘the tank’ due to its resemblance to the WW1 machines.
Brakes: Sometimes the one who can stop the fastest wins
Jaguar C-Type in action at Le Mans
The long stretches of track in the Le Mans circuit are followed by sharp turns that force the car to decelerate quickly from high speeds. This lead to innovation in the field of braking. The 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans popularized the use of disc brakes in racing. Conventional drum brakes, similar to those found on bicycles, would clasp the moving wheel, thus slowing down the motion. Disc brakes utilize frictional energy generated by pressing brake pads against a brake disc. This offers better stopping performance, especially on wet surfaces, as was displayed by the three Jaguar C-type cars that were fitted with the discs for the 1953 Le Mans. Though disc brakes had been experimented with since 1902, Jaguar was one of the first major car manufacturers to update their brakes (they installed discs on all four wheels of the car) and went on to a one-two finish at the Le Mans that year.
Underneath the Hood
One of the key elements in endurance racing is fuel efficiency. Limited fuel supply for each racer saw the emergence of supercharged and turbocharged engines in Le Mans. Super chargers basically allow more oxygen into the car engine, thus allowing fuel to be burnt more efficiently, generating more energy from the same amount of gas. Turbochargers are a derivative, generating the extra air flow with a turbine.
Le Mans 2014: What’s in store
With an eye on sustainable development, the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans will see several remarkable changes. Under new regulations, the cars participating in the premier LMP1 category will use 30% less fuel during the race than they did last year. Nissan is pushing fuel conservation to the limits, introducing the all new ZEOD RC, that can cover at least one entire lap (13.63 km) on nothing but electric power. The car has its own electric power plant on board.
The ZEOD could redefine Le Mans racing with its energy efficient design
As per tradition, the waving of the French tricolour will mark the start of 2014 Le Mans on June 14th. It remains to be seen what the innovations will add to the Le Mans legacy this year.
