Ten stories from 100 years of Le Mans: the deadliest race in the world celebrates its birthday

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A car that runs 24 hours a day? Impossible! To prove people in their 20s wrong, an insane 24-hour format is devised as a promotion for the auto industry. Only commercial production cars were allowed to participate. First winner: the car from the long-gone car brand Chenard & Walcker. A Swiss also takes part in the premiere with Edouard Probst from Basel. Why all this in rather sleepy Le Mans? Because a racing tradition had already been established there since the first French GP was held in 1906.

Le Mans is considered the deadliest car race in the world. At no other track have 118 people died. In addition to 21 fatally injured drivers (2013 was the last fatal accident to date), the black year 1955 is central to the death lists. It’s motorsport’s biggest catastrophe ever when Pierre Levegh’s car takes off at over 200km/h after a collision on the home stretch, catches fire next to the track and parts of the crash end up in the stands. In addition to Levegh, 83 other people die. The race is not abandoned for fear of mass panic. Because of the death drama, circuit races are then banned in Switzerland.

In addition to his Formula 1 career with two GP victories, Jo Siffert († 35) also often drives long-distance races. In Le Mans, however, the Swiss motorsport hero is eliminated five times in seven participations. But in 1966 and 1967, the man from Fribourg climbed onto the podium as the winner of one of the smaller classes. And inadvertently invents today’s normal champagne shower. Probably because of the heat, the cork pops out of the bottle by itself, Siffert tries in vain to stop the bubbling with his thumb. A year later, winner Dan Gurney deliberately recreates the scene and splashes into the audience – a tradition is born.

Ferrari and Ford are arch rivals in the 1960s. The reason: the egos of bosses Henry Ford and Enzo Ferrari. The American group actually wanted to incorporate Ferrari. The deal was practically done when the Italian realized he would have become a figurehead with no skills. Ferrari cancels. This enrages Ford so much that he has his own sports car built to beat Le Mans winner Ferrari. The revenge actually succeeds with the legendary GT40: from 1966 Ford, formerly a conservative brand without a sports image, races to four victories in a row. Ferrari will never win the overall victory again.

With the Belgian Jacky Ickx, it is one of the big stars that opposes the traditional Le Mans start: running around the track on foot, sitting in the car and roaring. Ickx, on the other hand, saunters over, calmly puts on his seatbelt and starts last (and wins 24 hours later). He is concerned about safety because many pilots don’t buckle up during takeoff. Ickx was fatally confirmed on the start lap: John Woolfe had a fatal accident, the Brit drove off without a seatbelt and was thrown from the car in the crash. Therefore, from 1970, the traditional Le Mans start was abolished.

Jo Siffert also loaned out some of his race cars for the complex shoot. Whose? Actor icon Steve McQueen, who brought the myth of fearless men in their fast cars to the cinema with the movie “Le Mans”. The Ami had gasoline in his blood and drove car races himself. McQueen initially even planned to drive to the filming during the real race in 1970. This did not happen for insurance reasons. The comic flopped in the cinemas, only later did it become a cult. And at the film premiere in Biel, Siffert organized a Le Mans start as a show.

The circuit, which is now 13.6 km long, has always had sections on closed country roads. The four-mile Mulsanne Straight is also a public road. Since 1990, two chicanes have defused Mulsanne’s motorsport landmark, where a full-throttle race was the order of the day for a minute. Because the urge for speed got crazier and crazier. In 1988, a Peugeot team was determined to break the record. Michelin even builds extra tires for it. Roger Dorchy races at 407 km/h, faster than Formula 1 and faster than the Indycars in the ovals. Shortly afterwards, the fastest Le Mans car of all time breaks down. Due to the street model Peugeot 405, the record is then put on the market at 405 km/h.

Team boss Peter Sauber has long been a big name in endurance racing when he convinces Mercedes to return after decades of absence (withdrawal following the catastrophe of Le Mans in 1955). The result: the C9 from Hinwil became the Silver Arrow and even achieved a double victory in Le Mans in 1989. It is the only overall victory for a Swiss team in 100 years. The Swiss cult mechanic and Ferrari restorer Edi Wyss also helped. In his biography, Peter Sauber recalls Wyss walking around in a Ferrari headband during the Le Mans triumph.

A year after the historic victory, Sauber-Mercedes is missing because Le Mans was not part of the World Sportscar Championship this season. Nevertheless, a Swiss team wins again by a hair’s breadth. But in the private Brun-Porsche with team boss Walter Brun (80 today) at the wheel, the engine fails after 23 hours and 45 minutes. One of the greatest dramas about overall victory in 100 years. Brun rode the classic 14 times and says “It’s actually tragic that I was never able to win. Apparently it just didn’t have to be. Whoever up there must have objected.”

No one has come so close to victory in a hundred years. The Toyota around the Swiss Sébastien Buemi (34) leads comfortably. With six minutes left, the car with Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel slows down, a problem with the turbocharger. The car inadvertently stops on the home stretch right in front of the stunned Toyota crew. 3:21 minutes before the end, Porsche overtook Neel Jani (39) from Biel and won in a sensational way. Finally, Nakajima drives off again. But he exceeds a regulatory time limit for the last lap – the Toyota even flies out of the standings with the second most completed laps. But Buemi and Toyota have long since reconciled with Le Mans. The man from Vaud is now the Swiss record winner with four victories. With the win in 2022, he passed Marcel Fässler (three wins with Audi).

Source : Blick