24 Hours of Le Mans

LAMBORGHINI MURCIELAGO R-GT

Le Mans is the world's most famous sports car endurance race. It means that in every race is not like a NASCAR or Formula 1, a normal Le Mans race lasts 12 to 24 hours. Le Mans is the name of the race and the name of one of the 3 race tracks. The3 tracks are the 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hour of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Le Mans race track measures 13.650 km. It uses most of the country roads that remain public for the rest of the year. The first race was made in May 26 and 27 1923 and has since been run annually in June, with some exceptions.

There are about 50 cars, and are divided in to categories. These cars are to fast that in 1971 during a practice, a Porsche registered a top speed 386 km/h, about 240 mph, that’s very fast. After that, during the 1970's, they make the engines smaller with some rules to follow because it was becoming too dangerous. During the 1980's, the fast speeds came again. A driver called Roger Dorchy, reached 405 km/h but after a while the cars engine got damaged. The next year, a driver in a Sauber Mercedes C9 reached 400 km/h without any special modification. The F.I.S.A, "Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile" said it was to unsafe, and added 2 chicanes to lower the speeds.

Le Mans is also known for it does traject accidents. In 1955, there was very big accident causing 80 spectators dead and more than 100 injured; this is know as the 1955 Le Mans disaster. This caused some races canceled, after this shocking accident.

The most successful marques in the history of Le Mans were made by Porsche. Porsche having more than 16 victories established this record. Then comes Ferrari with 9 victories. Ford makes an important role in these races. Ford made its so famous and special Ford GT40, only to defeat Ferrari. Le Mans has a lot of marques competing. Some marques are Porsche, Ferrari, Bentley, Audi, Ford, Jaguar, Aston Martin, corvettes, Lamborghini, Mercedes, and much more. There is also an American Le Mans called American Le Mans Series. It is the same only that it is in America. The 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans will be the 75th Grand Prix of Endurance, and will take place on June 16 and June 17.

I like this type of races because it is not like the Formula 1 cars. These are the same cars you can buy but with a lot of tuning. I think it should be an honor to win this type of race, 24 hours driving a car at 300 km/h and racing other 50 cars, its amazing. I like this type of cars, specially the Lamborghini, it is my favorite. What’s yours?
Some information is from wikipedia.org