24 Hours of Le Mans – Comfort is key for drivers
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24 Hours of Le Mans – Comfort is key for drivers

Jerking, vibrations, heat...how racing car drivers find comfort at the wheel is a mystery. For mere mortals, it would all be untenable. Yet, comfort is essential for drivers in terms of safety, performance and endurance.

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driver comfort is essential. Doing multiple stints ill at ease in your car can quickly turn into a nightmare. This is why tweaking car settings is crucial. So, exactly what is a comfortable car when it comes to the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

Jonathan Hirschi (driver of Graff-SO24's #39 ORECA 07-Gibson with Tristan Gommendy and Vincent Capillaire): "A comfortable car is capable of performing without the driver needing to take risks. It's also a car that in traffic when you're off your line stays balanced."

Neel Jani (driver of Rebellion Racing's Rebellion R13-Gibson in LMP1): "A well-balanced car that's fast in the straights so you can overtake with more ease."

In the car, the seat is the most important element related to comfort. Most of the time, the seat is custom-made to the dimensions of the driver. However, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it does occur for all three drivers to use the same one as long as they're the same height. Hirschi: "Tristan is the tallest of the three of us. He's the basis for the seat. I add what we call a 'chips' which allows me to be closer to the pedals and be more comfortable since I'm shorter than he is by about a dozen centimeters." Jani: "My teammates André Lotterer and Bruno Senna and I are all very different in height. Endurance racing is about compromise, and that can make or break a team."

To make the car comfortable for the long race, engineers work with the car's settings, namely the firmness of the shock absorbers and the anti-roll bar, a suspension element that connects the two wheels of the same axle. Hirschi: "​In 2013, I did the race with a Lola fielded by HVM Status GP. It was extremely hard to drive and therefore very uncomfortable. During the race, we suspected the anti-roll bar was disconnected. One of my teammates had left the track at the Porsche curves around two in the morning." 

Comfort is key at the 24 Hours of Le Mans because a driver's ability to maintain a high pace for extended periods of time is a must to reach the chequered flag.

 

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS, SUNDAY 2 JUNE 2019, TEST DAY TEST. The cockpit of a 24 Hours of Le Mans prototype is a cramped space that isn't known for its level of comfort. 

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