Speedhunters: OK chaps, as three of the sports car fanboys on the Speedhunters team, I thought the three of you should have a discussion about the magic of Le Mans. It's obviously an world renowned race, but let's discuss why it's something everyone should go to in their lifetime. So let’s go back to the beginning of your personal fascination: can you describe when you first became aware of the 24 hours of Le Mans? 

Rod: My dad is a bit of a car guy himself and regularly bought car magazines, so I grew up reading Road & Track, Car & Driver and Motor Trend.  I distinctly remember a race report in one of these magazines circa ’76 or ’77 showing the Martini-liveried Porsche 936s at the Le Mans 24 hours. For some reason, the images of Jacky Ickx racing through the night really stuck with me.

Rod:  There was something so epic about seeing his car covered with brake dust, rubber, dirt and mud; battered and bruised to the bone after 24 hours of battle. I’ve been following it ever since!

Andy Blackmore: I remember having a poster of the Renault Alpine A442 which ran from 1976 winning in 78 on my bedroom wall as a kid. No idea who got it for me, but I do remember my dad getting some Group 5 car posters like the Lancia Beta Monte Carlo and that was that, I was into Sports Cars.
 
My first specific memory and interest in Le Mans was a few years later when I started getting Autosport Magazine. Back in the day, circulation was much larger and they could take the editorial risk of putting a Le Mans car on the cover. Very rare today.

Andy Blackmore: I was then brought up on a diet of 956, 962, XJ-R and the World Sportscar Championship. It was around this time Eurosport started, which increased the amount of motorsport on television. Now, it is expected to see all 24 Hours on the box.

Jonathan: Ah, Jaguar! That's the iconic car for me, along with the earlier Martini-liveried Lancia LC2. My dad took me to the classic 1000km races at Brands Hatch, and those were the events that made me fall in love with endurance racing. Big grids, screaming engines, fearsomely fast cars. There's something about long races that allows you to connect much more with what's happening on track – six hours is good, 24 hours is better! There used to be a lot more national media coverage of Le Mans when I was a kid, so the BBC would be showing updates through the 24 hours: especially when Jaguar were winning!

Speedhunters: Now what were the circumstances of your first trips to Le Mans?

Rod: I’ve been to Le Mans twice, 2000 and 2001 and lucky enough, both times I had photographer’s passes to the race. This was my second time ever that I had a professional photography pass to an event of any sort funnily enough. It was a little intimidating to be attending a race of this scale and magnitude as a member of the media, but a purely priviledged position too.

I was able to shoot video at the Mulsanne straight and see the cars flashing past at maximum speed, Now seeing a full fledged race car running past 200 mph isn’t that hard to find these days, but the thing that makes Le Mans so crazy is that the cars are hitting these speed on a very narrow public road… in the dark no less. 

Andy: My first trip to Le Mans was in 1986. I went with some friends and had great fun, but I didn't really appreciate what Le Mans really is. Plus Jaguar didn't win that year! 

Andy: My second visit in 1995 was the eye opening experience. I was lucky enough to be involved in the McLaren F1 GTR project, from a distance, designing quite a few of the GTR liveries. I'd also worked for Paul Lanzante prior to this, so when Lanzante was chosen to run a F1 GTR, I just had to return. To be honest, that chassis wasn't the strongest GTR, so it was quite a surprise to see it win.  Although one of the most extreme cars, it's still amazing to think a road-based car won Le Mans as late as 1995.

I went as a mere 'peasant', although did have some access to the pits. Seeing a car you had a hand in, even just the graphics and cutting some of the stickers, win is quite cool, let alone, see it win at Le Mans.

Andy: My third visit was last year, reporting for Speedhunters with a photographer's vest.

Andy: It was an awesome experience, this time, I knew quite a few people and that helped scout out locations, get the inside gossip on how a given team were doing. It was just mesmerizing.

Andy: You can get some great shots in the public enclosures or high up in the grandstands.

Andy: If you are lucky enough to be in the grandstand over the pits, or one of the VIP Suites, you can follow the action in the pitlane.

Jonathan: My first year was in 1999, and what a great year to attend. It was the last year of mass manufacturer entries, with Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Panoz, the flying Mercedes and Audi's toe in the Le Mans water with the R8R and R8C. I was rooting for Martin Brundle in the Toyota GT1, who went out in the early hours of the morning. Along with Peter Dumbreck's terrifying backflip into the forest, another moment captured on camera was Katayama catching his GT One as it punctured on the run to Indianapolis. Awesome car control!

Mostly I went down with groups of friends: anything from four to a couple of dozen. The fewer the number, the more chance of actually watching the race rather than building the empty bottle mountain...

Speedhunters: Do any moments in particular stand out for you?

Rod: In terms of magic, Le Mans itself is full of the stuff. But if I were to try and narrow down what is the more special thing for me about the race experience it has to be the night racing. There is something so surreal about being awake at three in the morning, deprived of sleep and sustenance being surrounding by the aural symphony of racing action. 

Andy: I love the pits. Whenever I go to an event, the pits and paddock is a highlight for me, seeing the cars close up, starting up in a confined space. Mechanics, drivers and engineers zoned in on the task at hand.

Andy: I often spend more time here than out on a circuit. It's pretty special, although I appreciate most people don’t get the chance to get into the pits, make sure you go to any autograph sessions in the pitlane. You get to see the cars close up.

Andy: During the race you also get to see some of the wear and damage on the cars.

Andy: Scrutineering is also pretty cool if you are in the town of Le Mans the weekend before.

Andy: Each car gets unloaded in a public area and then queued up to enter the scrutineering area.

Once this is complete, the cars return to the public area and are loaded back onto the race transporters. It's also a great opportunity to see drivers as many are interviewed on the main stage.

Last year, my highlight would have to be away from the actual race! Seeing the Martini Porsche 917 run up and down the main straight early in the week was awesome.

Even though this was early Tuesday morning, the press turned out in force.

Andy: The historic Group C racing was fantastic. Brought back memories. Just before qualifying, I did an interview about the Group C cars On Radio Le Mans on top of the main grandstands, so I stayed there and watched from above.

Andy: To add to the magic, the Group C qualifying was in the rain. It was amazing experience.

Jonathan: It's incredible that the owners of these irreplaceable, sometimes priceless cars are willing to risk their cars in open combat at Le Mans – but it's so right. They might be automotive works of art, but cars are made to be driven. One year around 50 classic Ferraris raced as the support: at the first corner a million pounds of Ferrari were in the gravel!

Andy: The Group C paddock is open to the public and it was great to walk down yesteryear. I had forgotten how big the diffuser was on the Porsche 962! You could probably park a GT car in that.

Andy: The drivers' parade is a tradition on the Friday in the historic town of Le Mans. A number of people mentioned I had to go. I almost didn't as the following day was the big race and needed to rest, but, boy, am I glad I went to experience that.

Andy: The crowds here are electric. There was so much passion and you could see how this fuelled the drivers as they walked through the parade. 

Andy: Most of the drivers had posters, caps, pens, goodies to give out and it was a nice touch for the children, who will be tomorrow's Speedhunters!

Andy: Its a great place to meet your idols. I highly recommend you go to this on the Friday, Best place would be up the hill on ‘Rue Wilbur Wright’ at the end of the parade.

Jonathan: For some reason I've never made it to the drivers' parade! I'm going to remedy that this year. 

Andy: Night racing is simply awesome. I was surprised how empty the place was at night. No way was I going to go back to the Hotel! 

I also spent quite a bit of time in the pits and seeing the pit stops in the middle of the night was very special.

Andy: I remember taking this image. I just stopped and thought wow, is this a dream. For a petrol head it was.

Corvette always run under yellow lights in the pit lane.

Andy: You leave the normal world and you are in this motorsport world.

Andy: The pit lane is a busy place. Just look at the number of press and ACO stewards around this Audi during qualifying.

Speedhunters: Why is Le Mans considered to be such an important race?

Rod: Ever heard of the Triple Crown of Motorsports? It’s said that the three important wins  for a racing driver are the Indy 500, the F1 World Championship and the Le Mans 24 hours. There is only one driver who has ever managed this incredible feat: Graham Hill. A few others have tried including Mario Andretti, but none have repeated it. 

Andy: It’s the pinnacle of motorsport. Each continent seems to claim to have the best race in the world. In North America, Daytona 24hours or Indy 500 claim that, but for me Le Mans is ‘THE’ race. Its takes the very top drivers in the top machinery with great engineering support and tactics just to finish, let alone win the race. It's like a full season of Formula One races.

Even qualifying lasts longer than a F1 race!

Speedhunters: What is your favourite Le Mans era?

Rod: Hmm this is a very difficult question as there is so much good stuff to choose from! The early 70s will always be immortalized by Steve McQueen’s Le Mans film and the titanic battles between the Porsche 917 and the Ferrari 512LM.

Rod: I’m also completely in love with the late 70s and the Group 5 GT racers from that period. I’d also say that the last glory year for Le Mans was 1999 when you had no less then six manufacturers trying for outright victory. I’d have to tip my hat to the Group C era in the end though. If you looked at the Le Mans entry lists from the late eighties you’d be astounded to see a full field of prototypes on grid to start the race. 

Forget this mixed class racing nonsense, back then Le Mans was all about prototypes and prototypes only. The site of a full grid of these machines rushing down the un-chicaned Mulsanne at 240 mph is now the stuff of legends.

Andy: Its hard to compare different eras due to regulations, like Rod, my favourite era is Group C. In those days, you had some of the F1 drivers racing endurance on spare weekends and you had a great World Sportscar championship. As with Endurance racing, costs and development got out of control and they had to scale back and change rules, then repeat. It seems to be a 7-10 year cycle in Endurance Racing. 

Jonathan: All three of us have a soft spot for Group C, obviously! But it's very hard to pick a favourite: every decade has a set of iconic cars: from GT40s and Ferraris of the '60s, Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 of the '70s, Porsche 956/962s, Saubers and Jaguars of the '80s, McLarens and Porsche GT1s of the '90s – and now Audis, Bentleys, Peugeots and Aston Martins. I love them all!

Speedhunters: What about today's racing. Are you a fan? GT seems to have more excitement than the Prototypes.

Rod: I have to admit that I've been slowly losing interest in the prototypes year in and year out. I'm not sure exactly why this is but my taste has slowly but surely returned to GTs in recent times. Likely because these machines are still fundamentally real racing cars.

Andy: It is strange, I used to be more interested in the Prototypes rather than the GT cars, but today, the GT class is very competitive and strong. You have BMW, Corvette, Ferrari and maybe Porsche all with a chance of winning the GT class.

With new LMP rules, we will hopefully get some new and competitive cars to compete against Audi and Peugeot in the coming years. Won’t be this year, with Highcroft withdrawing their entry, I don’t see a petrol car which could get within the six Diesels. The ACO have recently released some small performance tweaks for the Petrol Prototypes, but the question is, ‘Is it enough?’

Hopefully the powers that be wont mess with the GT class.

Jonathan: Yep, I took a while to get used to prototypes, as I loved the extreme GT1s of the late '90s. I was also obsessed with Vipers, which were actually in the lower GT class. But LMPs are amazing to watch, especially now with the mix of diesels and petrol. Personally, I don't really mind the lack of noise with the diesel Audis and Peugeots: I'm impressed that something that quiet can go that fast! That said, it's better when it's being tailed by a wailing V12... The noise is an important part of racing, so I'd never want that part to completely go away.

Andy: I take a step back and think, I love and breath this racing and I get confused with four, or in the ALMS case, six classes of racing and trying to balance, not only these classes, but a mix of Diesel, Petrol and now Hybrid. How will this sport appeal to a new audience in the future?  I think that is priority #1

Jonathan: There are definitely too many classes. At most there should be one LMP and one GT class: nice and simple. The position lights on the side of cars introduced in the ALMS and adopted at Le Mans were a great move to help the fans: race radio being the other key thing that Le Mans couldn't live without.

Andy: I think you need a copy of my Le Mans Spotter Guide (out June 3rd)!

Speedhunters: Who are your picks for this year's race, a few weeks away?

Andy: I’m going with Audi for LMP1. They were very quick in testing, but reliability with any new car has to be an issue.

Look at how the Oreca Peugeot won at Sebring, or how the new Aston Martin AMR-One is chewing up engines.

Jonathan: Well, the big battle will be Audi v Peugeot. I think it's going to be a titanic struggle – it could go either way. Both have phenomenal driver line-ups. It's a shame that the Astons won't be up at the front this year, short of a miracle in the next couple of weeks. There has been some last-minute performance balancing though, so hopefully the fastest petrol LMPs won't be quite so far behind.

Andy: In P2, I'd like to see Mike Newton, Tommy Erdos and 'Old Stig', Ben Collins in the RML Honda Performance Developments win. Same with Strakka racing in a similar machine. They have a great line up with Johnny Kane, Danny Watts and Nick Leventis.

Andy: As for GT, well who knows! It could be anyone’s race! 12 months ago, teams I spoke to feared the new Ferrari F458 GT2 and it was still on a CAD screen at that point.

Andy: If, and it's a big 'if', the 458 is reliable it should be up there, but the battle will hopefully be between Corvette (go Tommy!) and BMW who have been very quick in ILMC and ALMS this year. The GT class should be a classic.

Speedhunters: Ok thanks for your time guys. Have a fun at the event this year Jonathan! We can't wait to see your upcoming coverage.

Additional Photos: ACO, Audi, Highcroft