Utility vehicles are a rarity among the collections displayed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans museum, but this one has a rightful place among the exhibits. Marchal was one of five major brands of automotive lighting and electrical accessories alongside Lucas (UK), Bosch (Germany), Carello (Italy) and fellow French company Cibié with which Marchal merged some thirty years ago to form Valeo. Marchal’s appearance in the history of the motor car – and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in particular – is tied to the specific hydrological characteristics of the Circuit de la Sarthe which is crossed from east to west by a stream known as Le Roule Crottes. The near-stagnant waters cross the meadows in the centre of the circuit, from the Mulsanne Straight to Maison Blanche. The sandy soil to the south of the circuit is home to pine forests and heather-covered moorlands offering cooler, damper atmospheric conditions. Banks of mist can often form at dawn which, in the early years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, created an additional hazard for drivers. The fourth edition of the race in 1926 saw the Lorraine Dietrich factory entries line up with an additional lamp in the centre of the radiator grille. Dubbed the “monocle” or “Cyclops”, the long-range lamp was designed to penetrate the mist. Shortly afterwards, it gave way to pairs of lower-mounted fog lamps with a broader beam. Marchal’s engineers had instigated one of the first great breakthroughs in automotive technology that became the hallmark of the 24 Hours.

In the 1950s, Marchal commissioned a work of art from George Ham, renowned for his illustrations of the legendary race. The lithograph celebrated Ferrari’s outright victory of 1954 coupled with DB Panhard’s Performance Index win. The race had been run in horrendous conditions and the Marchal headlamps that equipped both cars played a decisive role in their respective triumphs. Subsequent editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans saw the invention of quartz-iodine headlamps (halogen in 1957), LED headlamps (towards the end of the century) and, more recently, laser headlamps (2015).

Instant adjustments

The Marchal truck exhibited at the museum was offered to the ACO by Paul Marchal 40 years ago. The coachwork was designed by Le Bastard, a Rouen-based firm who specialised in publicity vehicles, especially for the Tour de France cycle race. The vehicle’s front grille had to accommodate a dozen pairs of conventional headlamps, fog lamps and long-range driving lamps. The sides were converted into shop windows to display Marchal’s automotive product line including batteries, dynamos, alternators, spark plugs, wiper blades and motors, reversing lights, sidelights, revolving lights, etc. A triangular advertising hoarding was affixed to the roof to improve the truck’s aerodynamics.

After 1965, the truck took up position on the newly created golf course at Mulsanne during night-time practice. Here, the Marchal technicians instantly tweaked the racecars’ headlamps without the drivers having to leave their seat. Headlamp correction systems called “Réglolux” were later created and offered by Marchal to allow the ACO to carry out headlamp adjustments on thousands of its members’ cars thanks to mobile vehicle safety centres which were Citroën HY trucks identical to the one exhibited at the 24 Hours of Le Mans museum.

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans Museum, the ACO tells the epic tale of motoring in La Sarthe and the success of its legendary international race through 140 select vehicles. Bentley, Ferrari, Jaguar, Ford, Porsche, Matra, Audi, Peugeot, Toyota... iconic models illustrating the greatest names of motorsport take visitors through almost a century of history at the world’s greatest endurance race. Temporary exhibitions add a topical note to the permanent displays which can be extended with a visit of the world-famous Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans.

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