I have a hobby in my life. It would seem that what’s wrong with it, but friends, when they find out about this hobby, ask two questions. The first is the classic “WHAT?", and the second one already has different options. But they basically boil down to: “Why, what did you find in this??». And motorsport evokes such unambiguous emotions.
In general, motorsport seems to be a sport, but it seems not really. And the reason is that in no other form, in my opinion, is there such a great connection between a person and his sports equipment. You can be a great racer, but without a good car it will be difficult to do something truly outstanding. And there are a lot of options for what you can do with the car. Because of this, the technical regulations of racing competitions can cause confusion, to put it mildly, for an unprepared person. In addition, for many years an aura of elitism was deliberately created around motorsport. And together this led to the fact that the entry threshold rose very high. For a person who doesn’t understand, the sight of cars driving in circles usually causes bewilderment. And when the pit stops begin, and the commentator begins to expressly discuss who swapped which tires for which other tires, people either fall asleep or change the channel. I don’t like it. Today I will try to share with readers as fully as possible my love for racing using the example of one of them. I’ll start with a pearl. An event that is expected, counted on, and whose name has become a household name. Its influence on motorsport, and the world in general, is so great that even StopGame has held this race for the umpteenth time. The story will be about Le Mans.
Le Mans is a small city in western France, the administrative center of the Sarthe department. It’s true that it’s relatively small, after all, it has almost 150 thousand inhabitants. It stands on the site of a Roman settlement. The walls dating back to the 3rd century remained from him, which are a remarkable historical object. Also in the city there are medieval temples, an abbey, local cuisine and much more, a wonderful place for a relaxing holiday. But much more important is that in the south of the city there is a highway called Sarta. (The city itself stands on the Sart River, by the way). Home to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the most famous races in the world and an important part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport.
There are plenty of attractions there. But we’re not talking about them here.
As soon as the cars entered the assembly line, racing immediately appeared. It was expensive and very prestigious. And it’s also very hard. Cars at the beginning of their life were neither fast, nor comfortable, nor reliable. Even the simplest things that now seem natural either did not exist then or were only at the idea stage. At the same time, in order to prove to others the reliability of their cars, manufacturers began to organize large-scale events – car rallies. The very first motor rally is considered to be the race of Bertha Benz on August 5, 1888. The wife of the later famous inventor Karl Benz, seeing how her husband’s motivation was falling with every unsuccessful test, decided to prove that he was not a handyman and go with the children to their mother in his experimental car. The road took 104 kilometers and 12 hours of travel. In the evening, Bertha telegraphed that they had arrived safely, and Karl Benz, who was on the verge of giving up his car, perked up.
Subsequently, many manufacturers used car rallies with long routes, newspapermen and spectators to prove the reliability of their cars. Well, to identify faults that arise during operation. However, the concept of the race was still aimed at identifying not the most reliable car, but the fastest. Everything changed in 1923.
In order to identify https://mr-spin.co.uk/withdrawal/ the fastest, but at the same time reliable and economical car, the Rudge-Whitworth company, under the auspices of the French motorsport federation, organized a race in which the main task was not to arrive first, but to cover the greatest distance in 24 hours. The race was to be held annually for three years. The first venue was the Sarthe circuit near the city of Le Mans.
Poster for the first endurance competition.
The rules regarding cars were aimed at ensuring that cars corresponded to production models. It was precisely an exhibition of reliability for production cars. The cars had to be four-seater, except for cars with engines of 1.1 liter, they could have two places. In addition to the pilot, there should have been 60 kilograms of ballast in the passenger seat, simulating a second passenger. The car could be driven by two riders, stops for refueling were allowed.
The race was attended mainly by French manufacturers, but also Bentley and several Belgian firms. The victory was won by the Chernard-Walker team, but the competition was conceived as three races over several years, in the end the Salmson car turned out to be the best.
The competition was a huge success. Manufacturers and riders immediately put this race on the podium and made the competition an annual event. Over the years, the rules regarding cars and racing have changed, including the introduction of restrictions on the time that one driver can drive a car. Later, different categories of cars were introduced, after the oil crises, fuel consumption restrictions were introduced, and so on. As a result, over almost a hundred years of history, Le Mans has become.
Pit lane is a part of the track that duplicates the main track, where teams’ pits are located and cars are serviced
Pit stop – stopping a car for service and entering the pit lane
The pits are a place in the pit lane reserved for the team to work on the car
Apex – highest point of rotation, internal angle. To go along the apex means to go along the shortest path
Chicane – a series of turns one after another in one direction and immediately in the other, reminiscent of the letter S.
The track itself is an oval, approximately 13.5 kilometers. It was laid partly along specially built sections, partly along city streets. There is a motorsport museum next to the track. It is also noteworthy that the circuit includes another track – the Bugatti Circuit. This track is permanent and hosts the MotoGP championship stage as well as endurance races for motorcycles. In 1967, it even hosted a stage of the World Championship – the French Grand Prix, but subsequently was not used for F1 racing. On the Le Mans circuit itself (I will use this name because it has long been associated with the circuit itself) mainly the 24 Hours of Le Mans races take place, as well as support races and demonstration races.
Modern track configuration.
According to modern statistics, the track is covered at 85% at full throttle with a maximum speed of approximately 320 km/h, but in some sections cars must slow down to 100 to pass the turn near the village of Mulsan. In fact, everything is present in the configuration, long straights on which you need maximum speed, sharp turns, almost a hairpin, for which you need to slow down sharply and therefore subject the brakes to extreme load. Initially, the route generally looked like a triangle. However, as speeds increased, almost all straight sections were divided by chicanes to slow down cars.
As is usually the case with race tracks, most of the corners or parts of the track have their own names. Probably the most famous example here is the Mulsan straight, which rests on the turn of the same name, and is named after the village in which this turn is located. Previously, it was a huge six-kilometer straight, which was later divided by chicanes to reduce speed.
As I noted earlier, it all started as a competition of production cars. However, over time, manufacturers wanted to move further, faster, and some could invest money in this and others not so much. All this has led to the fact that now as many as 4 types of cars are participating in the race. They drive around the track at the same time and are listed in finishing order on the final results sheet, however, due to the differences, each category has its own separate finishing protocol. The categories are divided into two broad types: prototypes and GT.
Unfortunately, in modern motorsport the participation of production cars is a utopia. There is an understanding that different indicators have value for racing and for the consumer, at least suspension stiffness and engine life. Over the years, other production car racing series have been created, such as rallycross or touring car championships, all of which have either closed down or converted to prototype racing. Therefore, if you see a supposedly production car driving on a track, don’t be fooled. Most likely there is one body from the production car. And it’s made of carbon fiber.
Prototypes are cars that are built specifically for endurance racing. The categories are called LMP1 and LMP2. There are separate regulations for their design and operation. LMP1 is more ultimate, without budget restrictions, the most expensive and fastest. However, representatives of a lower category can get ahead of them due to higher reliability. This almost happened last year when Jackie Chan DC Racing, representing the less powerful LMP2, almost won. Basically, the largest automakers are present in the ultimate category, because it simply requires a lot of money, which does not always pay off. Until recently, the class was dominated by Porsche, which has 19 race victories in its history. When Porsche announced that they were tired and were leaving the championship, there was an embarrassment.
