Which is faster: an F1 car or an LMH car? While both F1 cars and WEC cars are both capable of hitting speeds in excess of 200mph, Formula 1 cars have the edge on LMH cars when it comes to pace across an entire lap.
A Formula One race usually lasts about an hour and a half, and regulations limit the races to two hours. Le Mans, of course, lasts 24. A Formula One car, built to last the length of a Grand Prix, would never survive the full day at Le Mans.
Manufacturers were keen to ensure their stars were representing them in all of the biggest races. Dan Gurney, Chris Amon, Phil Hill, Bruce McLaren and Pedro Rodriguez all won Le Mans while racing in F1. Over time, drivers tended to focus more on one category.
In 2023, LMH cars found some performance out of the regulations, and reduced the gap to LMP1 cars down to 7.725 seconds (almost a second faster than the 2021 hypercars). This performance difference is primarily attributed to the fixed weight (1,030 kg) and power output (671 hp) regulations.
The class was dropped in European Le Mans Series in 2014. As the cost of running an LMPC team was found to be comparable to that for an LMP2 team, the class was dropped after the 2017 season in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The marque's raison d'être reflects that of its founder, Enzo Ferrari, who once stated, “I have, in fact, no interest outside of racing cars.” The reason given for its departure as a factory team from Circuit de la Sarth was a shift in priority to Formula 1, which, in hindsight, was the right call considering that it ...
However, Le Mans has always had a stronger reputation than the World Championship and is a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The race is also known as a leg of the informal Triple Crown of Motorsport which links Formula One, IndyCar, and sports car racing to represent a career achievement for drivers.
He also competed at Le Mans during that season, finishing fifth in a car shared with Wendlinger and Fritz Kreutzpointner. In 1991, he competed in one race in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship, finishing second.
The victory was not only Bugatti's first win at Le Mans, but Wimille and Benoist also set a new distance record, covering an impressive 3,287 kilometers in a single race.
Based on the difference between the F1 and LMS times at Catalunya this year, the projected fastest lap time by an F1 car would be 2'54.118. However I think the gap between F1 and LMS cars would be wider at Catalunya than at Spa, Monza and the Circuit de la Sarthe.
How much horsepower does an F1 power unit produce? The total power output from the combined petrol and electric elements is around 1,000bhp – significantly higher than a normal road car. The petrol engine runs at 15,000rpm – again, significantly more than a road car.
The F1 cars are faster than FE cars, with a top speed of around 230 mph (370 km/h) while the third generation 'Gen3' FE cars have a top speed of around 200 mph (320 km/h).
The car eventually fired, and the margin for error built up by the Toyota's mistake made the stall a non-issue. Ferrari would go on to win Le Mans for the first time since 1965. Drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovanazzi have the honor of bringing the brand back to glory.
No long-distance race puts such immense stresses on everyone involved as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. What makes this prestigious, 1923-inaugurated long distance classic in the Sarthe so unique is the 13.629-kilometre Circuit des 24 Heures, one of the oldest and fastest racetracks in the world.
There were plenty of ways to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary, the fourth round of the increasingly popular FIA World Endurance Championship. No fewer than 196 countries offered TV coverage of the event and an impressive 113 million viewers tuned in: two-and-a-half times more than last year!
Several months later, sharing the drive with Denny Hulme, Miles was leading the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans in the #1 car, but Ford Motor Company executive Leo Beebe, desiring a publicity photo of three of Ford's cars crossing the finish line together, instructed Miles to slow down, which he did.
During the race, sleep is a luxury. Everyone is different when it comes to fatigue and recovery times can differ greatly. "In theory, you can get five hours sleep over the course of the race," says Paul-Loup Chatin. "Last year, I managed pretty well.
Never before has the one-make championship supported the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and it is expected that a bumper entry of Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2s will grace the French circuit on the weekend Lamborghini makes its long-awaited first appearance in the 24 Hours with a pair of its SC63 LMDh prototypes.
Reasoning behind the withdrawal was painfully Germanic: a calculated business move, and nothing more. And even if it was inevitable, the loss of Audi from the WEC is on par with McLaren leaving F1, Ford leaving NASCAR, or Ganassi leaving Indycar. Make no mistake, this is a big deal.
Stability at high speeds suffered as a result, with the CLR's chassis prone to rocking under hard braking or acceleration. That rocking, in turn, upset the airflow over the car, and turned the CLR into the pinwheeling Mercedes that's forever stuck in our nightmares of Le Mans, 1999.
The new Hypercar rules specify significant power and weight changes compared to LMP1; Toyota predicts the GR010 will be about ten seconds a lap slower at Le Mans than the TS050 it replaces.
