Presumably, since thou legendous' endurance race is
OLD-ER than Mwah, having first been contested Wayback in 1923, it'll run on
into eternity. Since after all, Rush's Geddy Lee once famously crooned:
"We're only Immortal for a limited time..."
VIDEO: Dreamline - Live 1994
This past weekend at Circuit de la Sarthe, we
witnessed another victory by a truly exotic, space-age, cutting edge
technological engineering marvel, when the race was won by an umpteen Mega-jewels
Quattro-drive Hybrid LMP1 monster!
For which had to be driven to perfection on its
ragged "Knife's Edge" of performance by humans, who had NO "do
Over" button on their respective steering wheels, nor the Pit Crews, who
had to stay awake the entire 24hrs.
And while all of the rage, or Hysteria?
Revolves around the relentless push for electric "Plug-ins" and self
driving cars; SHEISA! For Mwah, the automobile and driving, is about the
freedom it brings the individual to control their own destiny!
Since how enticing
will it be watching Driverless vehicles competing? A la mechanical Greyhounds,
eh? As my Robot's faster than yours; Sigh!
Alas, every year I look forward to the
running of the Grand Madame of Endurance events at Circuit de la Sarthe, always
marveling over my ability to awake whenever, and then go back to sleep in the
middle of the event.
Not to mention going to the Loo and making a
Ham sandwich whenever, along with pondering what race status I'll wake up to
the next morning, who'll be leading their respective categories and what racing
cars will still be running...
As it's the human element that inevitably
pulls my Heartstrings, as the memory of that Steve McQueen Le Mans movie poster
I found as a 'Wee lad with him posing in those iconic Gulf Oil blue overalls,
lower half face balaclava and steely eyes blazing towards us tends to only
become seared into Thy Cranium stronger each year!
As you've gotta wonder what the Pied Piper of
Formula Uno; NO! Not "Chevy Chase" (Carey) who ceremoniously waved the
green flag at Le Mans this year, but Lewis Hamilton would have to say 'bout
Fernando Alonso racing Thar, eh?
Hmm? Strange how
Lewis didn't mention a peep 'bout how hard not only a season in Indy Cars
including the Indy 500 was for Rubino', nee ex-Scuderia Ferrari F1 driver
Rubens Barrichello, who made his debut at Le Mans this year...
But while the drivers are always the stars of
the show, obviously without the latest cutting edge technology, dedicated
factory workers and hoards 'O mechanics, engineers, et al, to build, maintain
and service their racecars, there wouldn't be any legendary drivers!
Case in point, Hurley Haywood, one of
endurance racing's greatest drivers, having won Le Mans three times, plus the
Rolex 24 five times and the 12 Hours of
Sebring twice. Still marvels over his time spent piloting Porsche's 936, which
bridged the performance gap between the legendous' 917's that not only won at
Circuit de la Sarthe, but were also featured prominently in McQueen's epic Le
Mans movie.
And then the 936, with its venerable turbocharged
2,140cc air cooled Flat-6 held station for Porsche in Group 6 racing until the
arrival of first the 956 and the ultimate Ground Effects 962, both designed for
Group C rules, Stuttgart's last winning Le Mans Prototype before the arrival of
today's modern era three-times winning 919 Hybrid, which has just pulled off
the unthinkable Three-Peat over Toyota!
As it's a great
look back forty years ago at Haywood's inaugural outing at Le Mans, with the
legendary Jacky Ickx being drawn in to ensure victory for Porsche that year...