History

Le Mans Classic - Grid 1

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

It is sometimes difficult to relate a modern circuit like the current one at La Sarthe with the machines that wrote the first glorious pages there in the early years. The track was much tougher back then and the drivers did not have the privilege of fireproof suits or closed helmets, however it is still pretty thrilling to see some of the early challengers come back to La Sarthe and show how different “then” was from “now”.

It was thoroughly enjoyable to see the Bentleys, always a trademark of Le Mans and arguably the beginning of the 24 Hours race legend. Some of them faced their old rivals of the 20s this time like the Bugattis which were also in force at this first grid of Le Mans Classic. The bulk of the participants were however cars from the 30s, the green Talbot 105s, some early Aston Martins and some legendary names of motor racing like Delahaye, Delage, Lagonda or Riley, lost now back in history.

There was also a small group of BMW 328s and one of the classical “French miniatures”, a Simca 8 from 1938. The overall classification after the 3 races can be found at the official site

Also, we invite you to enjoy some extra pictures of this grid….