With the 24 Hours of Le Mans set to take place this weekend (11th-12th June 2022), we felt that now was a great time to look back on some of the most successful and interesting cars to grace the Circuit de la Sarthe throughout the races’ history.
In part one of our History of Le Mans video, John takes us through some of the highlights – and devastating lowlights – of the French endurance event’s history, from its beginnings in the 1920s, all the way up to the early ’80s.
John (he’s Scottish by the way) re-lives some of the low-grip cross-ply thrills experienced by the drivers of the era, thanks to sims such as Project Cars 2, Assetto Corsa and Gran Turismo 7.
Our sim journey begins with the 1952 Mercedes W194 and ends with the Renault A442 via the Jaguar D-Type, Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, Aston Martin DBR1, Ford GT40, Ferrari 330 P4 and Porsche 917K.
With Le Mans’ star fading somewhat in the late ’70s, new rules were brought in that would be the catalyst for perhaps the greatest era in sportscar racing: Group C.
But that’s for part two…
All archive footage courtesy of Motorsport.TV
All archive images courtesy of Motorsport Images
