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Feb 15

24 Heures du Mans

 

15-24 Juin 2016

Why you should go to France this June:
The 24 Hours of Le Mans

Hosted by the California Automobile Museum
 A Legendary Trip

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The world's greatest race is not the Daytona 500, the Monaco Grand Prix, or even the Indy 500.

It's the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
As the name implies, it's a 24-hour endurance race, which takes place in Le Mans, France, but it is so much more than that. It is  the world's oldest endurance sports car race and has taken place annually since 1923. Teams of three drivers race the same car from 3 p.m. on Saturday to 3 p.m. on Sunday, and whichever team which covers the most distance wins. This means the cars have to be incredibly fast, but also reliable and efficient. Drivers and crews are pushed up to and beyond their limits.
 
Finishing Le Mans is a massive accomplishment. Winning might as well be a moonshot.
 

Since the race lasts for 24 hours, the drivers will experience varying visibility and temperature and will be constantly fighting fatigue. In addition, because the course itself is so big, the weather can be wildly different from one end to the other. A driver could come in for a pit stop and have dry-weather tires installed, only to find that it's down-pouring on the other side of the track. 

We can't think of any sporting event which poses this much challenge to man and machine.

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What is the significance?
Over the years, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has attracted some of the best cars and drivers. It's also been home to some of the fiercest battles and rivalries. In the 1920s and 1930s automakers like Bentley, Alfa Romeo, and Bugatti made names for themselves, with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and especially Jaguar dominating the first 15 post-war years.

 The 1955 edition race saw the worst tragedy in motorsports history when a Mercedes-Benz crashed into the back of an Austin-Healey and launched into the crowd, killing 130. The race continued and was won by a Jaguar.

 
Porsche won overall for the first time in 1969, establishing a domination that ended in 1998 with their 16th win.

From the 1970s to the 1980s, cars got increasingly faster and manufacturers pioneered technologies like turbocharging and dual-clutch gearboxes that soon made their way into the road cars we drive every day.
 
Audi won for the first time in 2000 and has won every year since, save for 2003 and 2009 with Bentley and Peugeot taking the top spot, respectively. The years of Audi's domination have seen the cars turn into technological masterpieces, with the fastest cars all now employing hybrid tech in some capacity.
 
Porsche  unseated Audi atop the endurance racing throne. Well, for a year at least. The #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid won the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year, ending Audi's streak of five consecutive wins. Audi has completely dominated the race for years, with an Audi vehicle winning thirteen of the last fifteen races. But Porsche, now with a record 17 wins at Le Mans, returned to the sport just last year, and it came home with the checkered flag this time, the 83rd running of the race. Porsche last won in 1998.

The 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans in France marks both the 50th Anniversay of Ford's historic overall victory with GT40, and Mazda's 25th Anniversary of their historic conquering of this epic race with their 787B Rotary powered car. Ford makes a return with the new Ford GT campaigned by America's Ganassi Racing (could we be so lucky that a local Sacramento hot shoe will be driving?)

So... who will bring home the checkered flag this year?!

 
Let's check this off your Bucket List!
Only a few spots left at this price. Deadline is Feb. 15th


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