Le Mans is just around the corner, so here’s a list of videos, pictures, resources and streams for your enjoyment to get prepared for the big race!

The Race

The 24 Heures du Mans brings up its 83rd edition this year, and is the holy grail of endurance motor racing. After its first running in 1923, the course and cars have evolved to become the premier event in the World Endurance Championship, and the event is recognized as the most prestigious test for innovations in motorsport technology. Technologies such as disk and air brakes, streamlined bodywork, and a variety of engine configurations were trialled and tested at the 24 hours of Le Mans. The Mazda 787b (oh god listen to that sound!) was the first, and so far only car to win running a Wankel Rotary engine, winning in 1991. Additionally, it is also the only Japanese made car to win outright at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Audi brought diesel engines it’s first success in 2006 with the R10 TDI, and then brought Hybrid technology to victory for the first time in 2012 with the R18 e-tron Quattro (using a system originally developed by Williams for F1(now part of GKN). The race has seen many periods of domination in its time: Ford in the late 60’s with the GT40, Porsche in the 70’s and 80’s with the 917 and the 956/962, and most recently Audi team Joest. Currently, Porsche holds the most number of Le Mans victories at 16 overall wins, and 100 class wins. Audi is second on the list of overall wins at 13, all since 2000. The driver with the most Le Mans wins is Mr Le Mans, this years Grand Marshall, Tom Kristensen, with 9 Le Mans wins to his name. He inherited the title “Mr Le Mans” from Jacky Ickx, a Porsche factory driver who won 6 times.

The Track

The Circuit de la Sarthe currently covers 13.6 kilometres of the french country side. It combines the permanent race components of the Ford Chicanes, the pit straight, under the Dunlop Bridge and through to Tertre Rouge as well as the normal everyday roads of the Mulsanne straight through to Indianapolis and Arnage. The track as gone through many iterations over the years; originally, the cars raced into the heart of the city, turning just before the river Sarthe, before hurtling down the 8.6 kilometre straight. In 1932, the circuit removed the journey into the city, and more closely resembled the track we see today. Here’s a video of Mike Hawthorn touring the circuit with a camera and microphone attached in 1956, one year after his involvement in the Le Mans disaster. The addition of the Porsche Curves and the Ford Chicanes in 1972 added an extra dimension to the high speed, fast flowing track. In the late 80’s, the Group C prototype cars would reach over 400km/h, achieving average speeds of almost 250km/h in qualifying for the entire lap. This is an onboard of Derek Bell’s Porsche 956 in 1983, showing the ridiculous speeds on this configuration of the circuit. This configuration remained relatively unchanged right up to 1990, until FIA mandations required that for the circuit to be sanctioned, it must not have a straight longer than 2km. The 6km Mulsanne straight was cut down into three relatively equal length portions by two chicanes, giving the iteration of the circuit used today. Allan McNish takes you on an onboard lap of the current circuit in this video. McNish is one of the gods of the modern prototype era, winning Le Mans 3 times with Audi. For a more comprehensive focus on the track, John Hindhaugh’s track walk takes you on a 30 minute exploration of the track, with in depth focus on corners like the Dunlop Esses, Tertre Rouge, Mulsanne Corner, and the Ford Chicanes.

The Dunlop Bridge

The iconic Dunlop Bridge has been a part of the Le Mans track since 1932. This part of the track requires a good launch out of the first chicane before cresting the brow of the hill, and plunging through the esses out onto the Mulsanne straight. As the LMP cars are much more maneuverable, caution must be taken passing the slower GT traffic, as Allan McNish discovered in 2011.

Tertre Rouge

Tertre Rouge is the corner that launches the cars onto the long Mulsanne straight. Maintaining momentum through this corner as it opens on exit is imperative to ensure maximum straight line speed heading down the first part of the Mulsanne. The undulation in the road makes for fantastic viewing at night, with some magic images of the Porsches throwing up sparks on the exit last year. Finally, this was the location of Allan Simonsen’s fatal crash in mixed conditions in the 2013 Le Mans. The Danish flags will fly at the corner in his memory.

Mulsanne Corner

After the incredibly long Mulsanne straight, the Mulsanne corner nowadays features a subtle right hand kink before the tight 90 degree turn. Here, the cars decelerate from 340 km/h down to below 100 km/h, resulting in a brilliant opportunity to overtake. Again, care must be taken overtaking slower traffic; unaware drivers have caught out faster cars attempting to pass through the kink, such as Anthony Davidson’s spectacular crash in 2012 which resulted in a broken vertebrae for Davidson after contact with the slower GTE-Am Ferrari of Pergiuseppe Perrazini.

Indianapolis and Arnage

The Indanapolis and Arnage complex is one of the most committed areas of the track. Hurtling down the hill from the Mulsanne Corner, the road suddenly bends to the right, a corner which only the bravest prototype drivers take flat out, followed by a beautifully cambered open left hander taken in third gear. A short sprint leads the cars into Arnage, the slowest point on the track. The tight right hander was the scene of heartbreak for Toyota last year when the leading #7 broke down and had to be retired after an FIA sensor melted and shut off the electronics. Kazuki Nakajiima was unable to make it to the pits, leaving him stranded on the circuit.

The Porsche Curves

High speed and with barely any run off, the Porsche Curves is the most committed part of the lap. Getting caught behind GT traffic in this section can mean losing phenomenal amounts of time. This was the site of Loic Duval’s horrific crash in practise last year. Keeping momentum through the flowing right-left-right handers that lead into Maison Blanche requires 100% commitment and ultimate precision, with severe punishment for getting it wrong.

The Ford Chicanes

The final chapter in the 13.6km rollercoaster that is Le Mans is the Ford Chicanes. Two tight left-right handers with massive kerbs are all that separates the driver from the finish line. Watching the cars bounce over the kerbs in beautiful slow motion is certainly something to behold, but 24 hours of mistreatment can lead to suspension and steering issues. This year, it’s expected that the LMP1 teams will have to flawlessly navigate the circuit over 400 times during the 24 hours of racing.

The Cars

Here is a gratuitous chart progression of entries per manufacturer per year. /u/Sindroome24 got very bored one day. Here’s a summary of some of the major classes in Le Mans history.

• From the first race in 1923 all the way through to 1939, cars were only separated in classes by engine displacement. The overall winner of the race would not always be the car the covered the most distance; instead, the winner could be declared the the Index of Thermal Efficiency. If two cars finished with the same number of completed laps, the car with the smaller engine displacement would be declared the overall winner by Index. World War 2 interrupted the annual running of the great race.
• From 1949-1951 the classes were renamed as Sports Cars, still separated by displacement and all naturally aspirated. In 1952 two supercharged cars were entered, marking the first time a non-N/A car was entered. This era was dominated by Jaguar, notching up 5 wins between 1951 and 1957
• In 1959 the GT classes were introduced, and shockingly separated by displacement, and running on a very similar pace to the Sports classes. Ferrari was king in the early sixties, winning from 1960 to 1965, until the Ford GT40 came along, winning four straight from 1966 to 1969
• 1963 saw the introduction of the Prototype classes, separated by… displacement. These classes would continue to get faster and faster until they were all scrapped in 1974. The displacement classes were eliminated for 1974, leaving us with GT, S2.0, S3.0, and for the first time 3 turbocharged cars in the T class. The following year the IMSA classes would begin to join La Sarthe.
• The next few years would be dominated by the S2.0 and GTP/IMSA classes. Through the 80’s the American’s and the Japanese would make some truly “batshit crazy” cars in the IMSA GTX and Group C categories. This era however was dominated by Porsche, winning 10 times in 12 attempts.
• GROUP C - Widely regarded as the best sports cars of all time, Group C would burn brightly and quickly, with a record 40 entries in C1 in 1989. Welter Racing broke 400 kph in their WM P88, becuase why not! Group C racing was beginning to rival F1 in terms of popularity, so the FIA killed it’s Formula by allowing F1 engines, dramatically boosting costs and killing competition. Watch the Mark Blundell video for an idea of the raw power of Group C era machinery. Nissan, Mazda, Tiga, Spice, Rondeau, Porsche, Sauber, Peugeot, and many many more would all try for glory in Group C.
• The last of the Group C cars would vanish in 1994, with GT cars returning for the first time since 1986. The age of LMP/GT was upon us, with marques such as BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Riley & Scott, and Panoz joining the field by the early 2000’s. In the GT ranks, Mercedes, Toyota, McLaren, and Porsche would enjoy great competitiveness, often running as fast or faster than the LMP cars, with McLaren even winning overall in the GT1 car!
• GT cars would make up the majority of the Le Mans field until 1999, when the LMP cars took majority. For 2000, the LMP field was split into LMP900 and LMP675, with GT becoming GT and GTS, which would remain until 2004. Speaking of 2004, the LMP classes would be retooled into the modern LMP1 and LMP2. For 2005, GT became GT1 and GT2 once more, with GT1 being eliminated ahead of the 2011 race, and GT2 splitting into GTE-Pro and GTE-Am in 2011.
• Audi would begin a dominant streak in 2000, winning 13 times since, interrupted only by Bentley in 2003 (run by Audi and using Audi drivers) and Peugeot in 2009.
• So now for 2015: LMP1 sees Audi, Porsche, Toyota, and Nissan fight for glory, with Rebellion and ByKolles fighting for a decent finish. LMP2 sees a fleet on Oreca and Onroak built machines fighting against a few Zytek’s and the BR Engineering SMP cars. GTE will be a knock-down drag-out slugfest between Ferrari, Corvette, Aston Martin, Porsche, and the lone Viper.

Photo spots

For those going to the track, /u/baszero has created something on Google Maps with photography spots and the like included. If you're looking to take some awesome photos during the race, definitely check it out! His favourite spot is on the infield after Dunlop with some pretty cool shots to prove it.

Videos and Documentaries

Truth in 24 and Truth in 24 II - The story of Audi’s victories against testing conditions and the might of Peugeot in 2008 and 2011.

Le Mans - made in 1971, this movie follows a fictional Le Mans race in 1970, featuring fantastic footage and sounds of the Porsche 917 and the Ferrari 512 starring Steve McQueen

The Deadliest Crash - The BBC documentary on the 1955 Le Mans disaster. For more information, see /u/CookieMonsteFL’s amazing post on the incident

Highlights from last year - Rain, crashes, heroics and heartache as Audi climbs to it’s 13th victory (no commentary)

Mark Blundell’s explosive lap - Blundell was going so fast, he was overheating the blowers in the car. After being told to turn down the engine and abandon the lap, in true racing driver fashion he simply turned off the radio.

Spotters Guide

Courtesy of /u/AndyBlackmoreDesign

Streaming and Television

Stolen blatantly from /u/baszero ‘s post last week

All days

• Nissan TV LIVE streaming all 3 onboards plus the garage cam on youtube
• Porsche LIVE Streams - onboards of all 3 LMP1 cars plus the two factory 911 GT RSR’s
• Official streaming on live.fiawec.com (paywall)
• Eurosport Player (Paywall)
• Audio: http://radiolemans.0157.org/audioplayer.html

Australian TV Schedule thanks to /u/Reddits_Worst_Night

European Coverage thanks again to /u/baszero

Terrible Fox Coverage

Eurosport Coverage thanks to /u/Sindroome24

Live timing

Free official live timing for every practice and qualifying session, as well as the race!

IRC Chat

By far the most fun you can have watching an endurance race is watching it with the #wec IRC chatroom. Come join us! We get pretty ridiculous in there!

Big thank you to /u/Sindroome24 for helping to put this all together, fact checking, and adding a bunch of videos and the Cars section. Thanks also to /u/baszero for his streams post from last week. Finally, thank you to the mods of /r/WEC and you guys out there in the community.