There are not many better tests of a car than driving it in heavy traffic for 24 hours covering 5,000 km at around 225kmh. Throw in 13,056 corners, 30 stops where you have to turn the engine completely off and 34 times where you have to brake from 322 kmh to 105kmh in the time you have taken to read this sentence and it’s no wonder that car manufacturers LOVE winning at Le Mans.
For most of living time, or at least the last two decades, Audi has had a monopoly on the chequered flag on the track that has hosted endurance racing for 80 years. This year Toyota managed to wedge the Germans with a second but it’s hard to beat any car that has nine time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen and three time winner Allan McNish behind the wheel. There was a French bloke driving in number three position in the Audi number 2 car but I can’t remember his name and he didn’t do much and the French get too much publicity anyway.
You’ll be pleased to know three Australians, Gosford boy John Martin, Sydney’s Ryan Briscoe and Moe’s Jason Bright, were also driving by the Sarthe but in different teams. John got ninth overall in a Oreca 03 Nissan, Jason took 38th overall in a cow attracting Ferrari 458 Italia and Ryan’s US team lead him to a DNF in something with a Honda engine.
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