In 1969, Jackie Ickx donned his leather driving gloves and headed across the track to his race car, while the other drivers made the traditional “run and jump” start. He did this in protest, encouraging other drivers to race with their seatbelts fastened. Jackie Ickx would win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ford GT 40. He has won this event six times. The traditional start in which drivers ran across the track to their cars was last used in 1969.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans are steeped in history and prestige. It is the best known breed in the world. If you are “anyone”, you race at Le Mans…if you win, you are “everyone”.
At Le Mans, the race cars accelerate at 85% for most of the long straights and top speeds of 200 mph are reached until your knuckles turn white under your leather driving gloves as your grip on the steering wheel loosens. resembles the grip of rubber on the road. while testing the braking system, dropping the car to 50mph, from the Mulsanne straight into the fearsome Porsche corners.
The outcome of each turn determined the fate of the next.
“The Flying Scot” Jim Clark, refused to race at Le Mans. He considered it too dangerous.
The Detroit News said on June 17, 1966: “This race track is a cornfield runway in the age of airplanes. It was built 50 years ago for cars going 65 mph. Tomorrow 55 race cars — some of them capable of 225 mph on the straightaway — and all of them above the 130 mph class — they’ll get off at 10 a.m. Detroit time, and it’ll be a miracle if no one dies. No one is fearless. Some of these drivers are scared.”
Back in the days when driving gloves were worn over leather helmets and goggles, an drag race had a whole different meaning. When Duncan Hamilton won Le Mans in 1953 in a Jaguar C-Type, he was so drunk that when the team offered him coffee during pit stops, he refused, saying it made his arms shake, and accepted only brandy!
These days Le Mans is a 24 hour race through thousands of gear changes, millions of crankshaft revolutions and constant forces on every component, you drive every lap like a qualifier. This makes the 24 Hours of Le Mans the purest challenge in motorsport.
Corvette Racing took the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday June 13 and 14, 2015 as Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor wrote the final chapter of a storybook comeback that ended with the team winning the GTE class. Pro in his No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. The trio in their No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R completed 337 laps for 2,864.50 miles in a frenetic battle that ultimately saw the Corvette win its class by five laps. Sunday’s win ties in with Corvette Racing’s victories earlier this year in the 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
