It is hard to grasp the magnitude of the 24 Hour endurance race at Le Mans; the budgets manufacturers set aside for this event, the number of journalists that attend from all over the world, the scope of the organisation that is required, the gallons of beer consumed, the ratio of tents per hectare and the multitude of sportscars around you. Not to mention the racing teams!
I made notes of cars I saw in the streets upon our arrival in the French town of Le Mans, but after I saw a Lotus Exige S1, Lotus Evora, Porsche 997 GT3, Ferrari F430, Renault Megane RS (previous generation), several TVRs, Mazda RX-8, Audi R8 V8, AC Cobra and a Porsche 930 Turbo, I stopped writing.
This is one of the most exciting gatherings of motoring enthusiasts I have been privileged to witness. The only other event that I’ve attended that drew a similarly-sized crowd was the Classic Racing weekend at the Nürburgring that a friend and I accidentally stumbled upon several years ago.
Nissan DeltaWing
This morning we had a chat with Nissan’s representatives regarding the Nissan DeltaWing success story. During this morning’s practice session all went well for Team Nissan, fortutantely. The drivers of the DeltaWing also informed us that even in wet conditions the car felt stable and offered impressive levels of grip. According to the weather forecast, the first few hours of the race will be wet, followed by a dry spell until the end.
There is much more to come, so stay tuned on carmagblog.co.za or follow me on Twitter.
The start of the race is 15H00 this afternoon and ends 15H00 tomorrow afternoon.
