Throughout most of the year, the city of Le Mans is home to approximately 150,000 people with most of them going about their own business without too much fuss. But once a year, the town is host to one of the most spectacular motorsport events in the world. Now I’ll be truthful here, I always knew the Le Mans 24Hr was arguably one of the best motorsport events on the planet. But why?
In June of every year since 1923, this pleasant French City is transformed into a petrolhead’s heaven with people and cars from all over the world making their way to the French countryside creating an atmosphere like no other.
It’s not just a weekend of racing, but includes months of preparation as the city comes together to celebrate an annual tradition of motor racing.
One day before race day, the traditional Driver’s Parade is held through the city of Le Mans. It was certainly a new experience to see so many come together from all parts of the world to witness highly polished metal exotica weave their way through the city. [Matyi: And without a defect book in sight!]
Drivers were more than happy to leap off their chariots and walk along the streets and sign autographs before running after their rides! The joy and celebrations were more like World Cup celebrations compared to anything motorsport related I had ever seen.
Fast forward to race day and the Le Mans 24Hr is a place that makes you feel how much bigger it is than you are. Not many words can describe the feeling of being at Circuit De La Sarthe for the first time. It is an incredibly exciting place with sights, sounds and smells you can only really understand once you’ve been there. But at the same time it is equally eerie as it is hard to ignore the importance of the event that is soaked with tradition and history.
The experience is intoxicating and addictive all at the same time and it would be difficult not to be humbled by it.
Depending on the time of day and how long you’ve been up, the Circuit De La Sarthe is a place that will play you both physically and mentally. And if these are feelings felt by a photographer, I can only wonder what feelings are felt by the drivers and teams who are privileged to be a part of such a historic race.
The quality of racing never ceased to amaze me, with drivers pushing the cars to the limit on every lap. The competition between the top teams is fierce! This year the battle raged between the top LMP1 team Audi, and Porsche’s return to LMP1.
Another important thing to know about Le mans is that it is a race where utmost speed may not win you the weekend. It is very much a race where absolutely anything can happen. Happy, sad, relief, motivation are only some of the emotions that would cross the minds and hearts of the teams with disaster or luck potentially happening over a spread of 24hrs or within a matter of minutes.
The sight, sound and smell of the racing is simply something you have to experience to understand.
And night time racing? Well that’s just on another level altogether. Breathtaking is simply not strong enough a word to express the beauty of it.
It’s not just the quality of racing, not just watching it, but the feelings that you’ll get from the entire experience that make the 24Hr of Le Mans one of the very best motorsport events on the planet.
Many spectators have gone once and never missed a Le Mans since. If it is an addiction then I can certainly say that I have caught the Le Mans bug as well.
Jayson Fong (Form&Function)
Facebook: Form&Function
A very special thanks to Motor Sport Retro for making this trip possible.