1922 - Road surfacing
At a time when the future 24 Hours circuit was just a set of dirt tracks, a pavement was laid on the Mulsanne Straight. It combined chalk chippings with a tar/bitumen emulsion which was itself covered with tar-coated grit. By 1926, the entire circuit was surfaced. A technology that paved the way to today’s hard-wearing roads.

1925 - Aerodynamic bodies
Engineers rapidly understood the benefits of a streamlined body. In 1925, the Chenard & Walcker Tank laid the foundations for aerodynamic research. The quest for improved drag coefficient (Cx) produced iconoclastic vehicles such as the rebodied Cadillac Coupé DeVille, dubbed “Le Monstre”, that was entered in the 1950 race. In the 1970s, Porsche developed a car shaped like an aircraft wing: the 917K (for Kurzheck, or “short tail”) that went on to beat the distance record in 1971 by covering 5,335.31 km. The record stood until 2010 when it was eclipsed by Audi.

1926 - Fog lamps
It is not unusual for a part of the circuit to be shrouded in mist as dawn breaks.
To overcome this problem, Lorraine-Dietrich engineers added a third lamp in the centre of the grille, earning the car the moniker of “Cyclops”. Nonetheless, it probably contributed to their landslide victory: the three B3-6s took the top three places as the Robert Bloch/André Rossignol pairing exceeded a distance of 2,500 km.

1927 - Front-wheel drive
In the early years of the race, the architecture of the cars doing battle was quite standardised: front engine and rear-wheel drive. In 1927 however, Maurice Fenaille, a French industrialist, financed an innovative project pioneered by Jean-Albert Grégoire, a multi-talented driver and engineer. He designed a front-wheel-drive car known as the Tracta. It finished seventh in its first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Tracta was also built for road use until 1934, the year that Citroën adopted the principle for the Traction Avant.

1949 - Rear engine
According to Enzo Ferrari, “horses pull the plough, not push it”. It is rather ironic then that the first rear-engined car to win at Le Mans was a Ferrari 250 P in 1963. But it was not the first of its type to start the race. That particular honour goes to a Renault 4 CV, prepared and entered by a gentleman driver, Camille Hardy, against the advice of the company who considered the car unsuitable. Unfortunately, it retired with engine trouble.

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