Sunday Drive #11
Sunday Drive #11
The Sunday that Happened on Wednesday
Bonjour!
One of the more interesting books about Poland in the 1990s is “The Sunday that Happened on Wednesday” by Mariusz Szczygieł. The stories discuss the early days of capitalism and the race for success. This edition of Sunday Drive results from my capitalist calendar getting clogged up – not for the first time and probably not the last. I intentionally did not write this text before the weekend, as I wanted to reference this year's edition of the most important race of the year – the 24 Heures du Mans.
Good (and Bad) News from France
The eyes of the entire motorsport world were on Circuit de la Sarthe this weekend, where the 92nd edition of the world's most famous race took place.
The starting list included 62 cars: 23 each from the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories and 16 from the LMP2 category. In the latter, the Inter Europol Competition team with Jakub Śmiechowski on board was competing. The green and yellow Oreca with side number #34 defended last year's title, but this time the United Autosports crew from Great Britain proved faster. Along the way, there were adventures and moments of terror: a broken wheel, difficult weather conditions, and neutralizations. Nevertheless, second place in such a race is a fantastic achievement! Congratulations!
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The race started brilliantly for Robert Kubica, who is racing in the top class – Hypercar – this season. The Ferrari car with number #83, starting from 12th position, advanced to 5th within a single lap! Kubica joined his teammates from cars #50 and #51, and the top five were dominated by AF Corse.
Then it got even better! On Saturday, the yellow Ferrari led the field several times. Unfortunately, at night, there was a collision between #83 with Kubica at the wheel and the BMW with number #15. Little is known about the circumstances leading to the crash, but the Polish driver suggests that Dries Vanthoor's driving was not fair.
The AF Corse crew was penalized with a 30-second pit stop, after which they managed to return to the lead. Unfortunately, after 248 laps (4 hours before the end), an electrical failure occurred, and the yellow Ferrari had to withdraw from the competition.
Triumphant Horse
Ferrari defended last year's title. However, this time the winning car was number #50, with Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen behind the wheel, after a very challenging and eventful race.
Nine cars finished the race with 311 laps, which shows that the competition was even. In 2023, only two cars finished with the same number of laps. Perhaps it was due to the rain and several neutralizations, maybe the Balance of Performance, but it doesn't matter because the weather, collisions, and regulations are all part of this spectacle. Autosport channel published a race review featuring experienced journalist Gary Watkins.
The Winding Road to France
Just before the racing weekend, Cadillac published a film on YouTube about over two years of preparations to return to endurance racing. The hour-and-a-half long documentary shows the process of preparation, designing, and testing of the car in the top Hypercar class. The entire effort had one goal – to win at Le Mans. Although the story is told from the perspective of one team, it is universal and fascinating. The script was written by Mike Spinelli, one of the founders of Jalopnik and currently head of content at Motorsport Network. The director is JF Musial, who created the /DRIVE channel on YouTube with Spinelli (unfortunately, it was abandoned by the giant).
This year, the best Cadillac was number #2, which finished in seventh place.
Cadillac made its first appearance at Le Mans in 1950. Thanks to the perseverance of Briggs Cunningham, two cars lined up on the starting grid: one with a standard Coupe de Ville body nicknamed “Petite Patoud” (French for clumsy puppy), the other named “Le Monstre” (French for monster) due to its appearance.
The cars finished in 10th (Petite Patoud) and 11th (Le Monstre), with the latter finishing with a damaged gearbox – only the highest gear was working, but thanks to a large fuel tank, the car didn't have to stop and start often.
The base for the cars was the same Cadillac Series 61 models, with a V8 engine of 5.4 litres capacity. The Monster's body was completely redesigned, in line with the regulations of the time. Engineers from Grumman Aircraft were involved in the aerodynamic wedge design, and the car could be seen in action at last year's Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Performance Tests
The idea behind the creation of endurance races was to test the durability and usefulness of cars. The first 24-hour race was organized in 1905 in Columbus, the capital of Ohio. A horse racing dirt track was used for this purpose, and four cars were entered in the race. Ultimately, three started: Pope-Toledo, Frayer-Miller, and Peerless.
The race was won by Charles and George Soules in a Pope-Toledo car, who had to rebuild the car after a crash (according to contemporary reports, it took them less than 60 minutes), but returned to the first position and crossed the finish line, covering a distance of 828.5 miles/1334 km (for comparison, this year's Le Mans winner covered 2540 miles/4237.7 km).
I have long wondered if there has ever been a 24-hour race completed by a single driver. Indeed, the first one was! In the Frayer-Miller car, Lee Miller (the constructor) fought alone, likely against unimaginable fatigue.
Interestingly, before and after the main race, other accompanying events were held. One of them involved starting in a fully loaded car, stopping at each quarter of a lap, and removing one person from the car. Then in the other direction – to a full load of passengers and a complete stop. Another, held after the longest race, was a three-mile race won by the aforementioned Lee Miller.
Japanese Dream
The latest edition of The Road Rat magazine is entirely dedicated to Japan. Inside, as usual, there are plenty of great stories and photos about the culture and constructions from the Land of the Rising Sun. Among them is the story of Mazda's success at Le Mans in 1991.
Richard Meaden's text recalls his first visit to Circuit de la Sarthe in 1991, which was a year of regulatory changes for car construction (FISA, the predecessor of FIA, envied the uniform rules of Formula 1 and starting from the 1992 season, the use of 3.5 litre naturally aspirated units was mandated). Mazda had participated in numerous races and, from the beginning, its entire construction philosophy was based on Wankel engines. The 1991 model had four cylinders and went down in history as one of the best-sounding cars.
Thank you for your continued interest, and I invite you to subscribe to the newsletter. I also encourage you to support the site on Buy Me a Coffee or Patreon. The funds collected will be used to develop the Heel and Toe magazine and ultimately allow full focus on the project. In the aforementioned service, sales of photos of the tested cars, including from this article, have started. These are collector's prints in numbered series on archival papers.
Have a good one!