T
he Le Mans Classic offers motorsport enthusiasts one of the rare
occasions to enjoy legendary racecars competing head to head on a
racetrack. For three days in early July, this biannual classic car race,
with its heady mix of esthetics and performance, hosted a record 135,000
spectators and more than 1,000 drivers, including ten former 24 Hours of
Le Mans champions such as Derek Bell, Henri Pescarolo and Klaus Ludwig.
Visitors watched as hundreds of legendary cars raced. This year, all the
classics were there, including a 1970 Ferrari 512, a 1969 Porsche 917, a 1967
Ford GT 40, a 1956 Lotus XI 1500, a 1928 Bugatti Type 35 B and even a 1961
Jaguar E-Type.
The Le Mans Classic is the world’s largest gathering of its kind, as 8,500
vintage cars from 200 automobile clubs around Europe representing sixty
carmakers were on display at the 2018 edition. Richard Mille returned as main
sponsor and official timekeeper of the event for the ninth consecutive time.
Mille himself is passionate about the automobiles that marked his youth.
At this year’s Le Mans Classic, Mille entered two of his own cars in the race,
a 1969 Lola T70 Mk III B and a 1970 Lola T212 FVC, and of course took the
opportunity to debut a new Richard Mille watch, the RM 11-03 (see sidebar).
“I’ve always been crazy about technical subjects and mechanics. My
passion for automobiles dates back to my childhood and has only grown
over the years. To this fervor was subsequently added an utter fascination
with beautiful classic cars.”
THE RACING
Under the blazing July sun, my senses were on overload. I smelled burn-
ing rubber and motor oil and heard tires screech and engines roar as they
barreled down long straight stretches into hairpin bends. I shared the
excitement with the crowd as day turned into night and day again and
more than 700 automobiles (all made between 1923 and 1981) competed
in turns according to period, arranged into six grids with eighteen races
from Saturday to Sunday.
It’s not the first vehicle past the checkered flag that wins at this race.
Instead, the Le Mans Classic is a best of three 43-minute race (one in com-
plete darkness) multiplied by a handicap factor, with some cars switching
drivers during the mandatory pit stop.
For decades, the race began from a standing start with the racecars,
engines off, parked at an angle and the drivers standing on the starting
line before running to their cars. This start is imitated ceremonially today.
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