Vintage Racing
Since 2001, the ACO has allowed the Le Mans Legend event to participate on the full Circuit de la Sarthe during the 24 Hours week. These exhibition races involve classic cars which had previously run at Le Mans or similar to ones that had. Each year, a set era of cars is allowed to participate, with the era changing from year to year. Though mostly amateur drivers, some famous drivers have appeared to race cars they had previously run, such as Stirling Moss.
Starting in 2002, the Le Mans Classic has taken place on the full 13 km circuit in July as a biannual event. The races take places over a full 24 hour day/night cycle, with starts on set times allowing cars from the same era to compete at the same time. A team typically consists of a car in each class, and the team with the most points accumulated over five or six classes declared the overall winner. The classes are based on the era in which the cars would have competed, the exact class requirements are re-evaluated for every event, since for every event, the age for the youngest entries is shifted by 2 years. Although the format of the first event saw 5 classes doing more short races, later events have seen 6 classes do fewer but longer races. With the upcoming 2008 event, probably allowing early Group C contenders, this format could see yet another revision with either more classes or classes spanning longer periods in time. Drivers are also required to have an FIA International Competition license to participate. This event also includes a large concours and auction.
Read more about this topic: 24 Hours Of Le Mans
Famous quotes containing the word racing:
“Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goat’s cheese ... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)