Le Mans History

Technology
2010
Official allowance for Hybrid cars (KERS and TERS).
2006
Victory of a Diesel engine (Audi R10 TDI)
1996
Reinforced carbon-carbon brakes are introduced for better stopping power and reliability.
1991
Victory of a rotary engine (Wankel Motor) with Mazda
1982
ABS gets introduced and is widely adopted by all car manufacturers.
1980
Ethanol fuel Porsche 911 wins in its class (GT).
1974
Experiments with turbo-charged engine on Porsche
1963
Halogen headlamps on Porsche and Ford cars
1955
Air Brakes were introduced by the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR using a large opening hood on the rear of the car.
1953
Appearance of disc brakes and first victory for the C-type Jaguar
1951
First radial tyre on Lancia Aurelia by Michelin
1937
Bugatti developed cars which saw the beginnings of aerodynamics: Overall victory of the Bugatti Type 57G Tank
1933
Reflecting axial line on the Hunaudières straight line
1927
Experiments with the first front-wheel drive in a competition
1906
Application of the first tarred surface
Car Makes
General
Until 2009: The most successful car make at Le Mans is Porsche with 16 overall victories. Ferrari is on second place with 9 overall victories.
2000 – 2009
This is the decade of Audi except for 2009 (Peugeot 1-2) and 2001 (Bentley with Audi Engine)
1999
First and only overall win by BMW at Le Mans with the BMW V12 LMR
1994 – 1998
Domination of exotic super sports cars bypassing A.C.O.’s rules regarding production cars.
1988 – 1993
Jaguar with its Silk Cut XJR-9LM finally broke the domination of Porsche.
1991: The one and only japanese overall victory: Mazda
1989: The return of Mercedes with Peter Sauber led to an overall victory.
1982 – 1987
Porsche domination with its 956 and 962C.
1970 – 1981
Porsche domination with its famous 917, 935, and 936 with some interruptions by french manufacturers Matra and Renault.
1966 – 1969
Domination of Ford with the Ford GT40 (Mk I, II and IV) starting with a triple overall victory in 1966!
1949 – 1965
The Le Mans 24 hours race cars of this time were mostly based on production road cars. Jaguar (D-Type), Ferrari , Aston Martin (DBR1) and Mercedes-Benz were the big players of this time.
1923 – 1939
Domination of Bentley, Alfa Romeo and Bugatti.
Major News
2009
The Asian Le Mans Series (AsLMS) is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the ACO. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. The ACO aims to attract teams from the ALMS, the LMS and the Japanese Super GT.
2006
The Japan Le Mans Challenge (JLMC) was an endurance sportscar series based in Japan ran under the rules laid out by the ACO. The series was cancelled in 2007 following two poor seasons.
2003
The ACO, seeing the success of the ALMS but not completely satisfied with the fact that IMSA did not fully comply with the ACO’s regulations, as well as the failure of the FIA Sportscar Championship to succeed in Europe, decided that a series run by themselves would be a better alternative for Europe: The “Le Mans Series” (LMS) was born and started with a 1000km race at Le Mans itself. Regular season races started as of 2004 until today.
1999
The strong american manufacturer influence at Le Mans during the 90s led the ACO to lending the “Le Mans” name to a sports car series in the United States, known as the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), which competes to this day and serves to qualify teams to enter Le Mans.
1990
The track undergoes one of its most notable changes when the 5 km long “Mulsanne Straight” (Les Hunaudières) was modified to include two chicanes in order to stop speeds of more than 400 km/h.
1970
Replacement of the typical standing Le Mans start with a rolling Indianapolis start.
1955
The horrifying tragedy with an accident during the 1955 race in which the car of Pierre Levegh crashed into the crowd of spectators, killing more than 80 people, led to widespread safety measures being brought into place not only at the circuit, but elsewhere in the motorsports world.
1953
Formation of the World Sportscar Championship of which Le Mans was part of.
1940-1948
No races due to World-War II and french reconstruction
1923
Originally planned to be a three year event awarded the Rudge Whitworth Triennial Cup, with a winner being declared by the car which could go the farthest distance over three consecutive 24 Hour races. This abandoned in 1928.