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Spirit of Le Mans

In an ideal world, one's passion, hard work and commitment would guarantee success. But, talent also plays a complex and crucial role in winning. Olivier Gendebien's track record is proof positive of that fact. Though he never considered himself a professional, he nevertheless built a career that countless great drivers envy.

<h2>From One Horse to Another</h2>

It&#39;s nothing new:&nbsp;a young man helps his dad in his garage&nbsp;and falls in love with cars. Eventually, he ditches uni to devote himself to learning the science of racing. That is not how things happened&nbsp;for&nbsp;Olivier Gendebien.&nbsp;Born into an affluent Belgian family in 1924, he wasn&#39;t particuarly interested in cars, at least not more so than any&nbsp;other of his hobbies.&nbsp;After WWII, in which he actively participated,&nbsp;Gendebien&nbsp;lived in the Belgian Congo for four years working as an agricultural engineer, far from racing&nbsp;circuits.

In&nbsp;Africa, he met&nbsp;fellow countryman Charles Fraikin. The two hit it off and began&nbsp;planning to participate&nbsp;in the Li&egrave;ge-Rome-Li&egrave;ge rally sometime in the distant future. Having returned to his native soil, Gendebien&#39;s&nbsp;interest in racing increased, but horses remained&nbsp;his real passion at that time, in addition to skiing and&nbsp;tennis. Still, Gendebien&nbsp;took the start in the 1952 Fronti&egrave;res Grand Prix in Chimay, France. He&nbsp;was a&nbsp;revelation.

His reputation continued to&nbsp;soar&nbsp;after every race he entered. At the age of&nbsp;28 and on the heels of his success in rally, he tried his luck at&nbsp;circuits, proving&nbsp;just as fast. Gendebien&nbsp;thoroughly enjoyed endurance racing, taking the start in his rookie&nbsp;24 Hours in 1955 at the wheel of &Eacute;curie Nationale Belge&#39;s&nbsp;Porsche 550 RS 1500 with&nbsp;Wolfgang Seidel. The duo finished second in its category and fifth overall! Sure, his career got a late start, but wow did it&nbsp;kick&nbsp;off with a bang.

After yet another stellar&nbsp;performance in Italy, Gendebien was personally recruited&nbsp;by Enzo Ferrari for&nbsp;both Formula&nbsp;1 and&nbsp;endurance races. His pairing with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/who-was-phil-hill-the-legend-who-shunned-the-spotlight-58307" target="_blank">American driver Phil Hill</a> at the&nbsp;1000 km Buenos Aires was perfect given&nbsp;the&nbsp;two&nbsp;preferred racing at&nbsp;one&#39;s&nbsp;own pace&nbsp;without overdoing it to reach&nbsp;to the chequered flag&nbsp;in a good position.

<h2>Enzo Ferrari&#39;s Right-Hand Man</h2>

Gendebien quickly became indispensable within the&nbsp;Scuderia Ferrari. At the 1956&nbsp;24 Hours, he and&nbsp;Maurice Trintignant finished third, but the following year, a broken piston forced the duo to retire.

Hill rejoined Gendebien for the 1958&nbsp;24 Hours. Torrential rain flooded the circuit for&nbsp;15 hours, but that didn&#39;t stop the pair&nbsp;from going for&nbsp;a first win together. The&nbsp;Jaguar Type D just couldn&#39;t hold its own against the&nbsp;Ferrari 250 TR 58 and its powerful&nbsp;V12 engine.

In 1959, things got complicated. Stirling Moss with&nbsp;Aston Martin took the start like a bat out of hell. His competitors could barely keep up, including Gendebien/Hill in a&nbsp;Ferrari 250 TR 59. The car managed to hold its own,&nbsp;but was then forced to throw in the towel&nbsp;in the 20th hour due to an overheating engine.

The 1960 24 Hours provided&nbsp;a new career milestone:&nbsp;Gendebien mastered the fragile&nbsp;Ferrari TR59/60 along with&nbsp;Paul Fr&egrave;re,&nbsp;dominating&nbsp;the race as&nbsp;the other Ferraris struggled. The Belgian duo scored a stunning win with a four-lap lead.

Gendebien proved his mettle in single-seaters as well, but found himself confined to endurance racing. Frustrated by his&nbsp;situation, he left the&nbsp;Scuderia to take the wheel of a&nbsp;private Cooper-Climax in&nbsp;Formula&nbsp;1, and the move paid off. Gendebien finished third at the 1960 Belgian&nbsp;Grand Prix and second at the French GP in Reims.

However, it was clear the&nbsp;Belgian driver and&nbsp;Ferrari needed each other if they wanted to win Le Mans. They teamed up again for the&nbsp;1961 season, which turned out to be Gendebien&#39;s last in Formula&nbsp;1.

<h2>The Right Man for the Job</h2>

Hill/Gendebien quickly set a&nbsp;staggering&nbsp;pace at the 1961 24 Hours, forcing their opponents to pull out all the stops. The&nbsp;lead&nbsp;cars eventually gave up the breakneck pace, but two Ferraris emerged: one the official car shared by the American/Belgian pair, the other a private entry by North American Racing Team (NART) driven by Mexican brothers&nbsp;Pedro and&nbsp;Ricardo Rodr&iacute;guez. The drivers delivered a breathtaking duel until NART&#39;s&nbsp;Ferrari broke down, paving the way for another Hill/Gendebien victory (the latter&#39;s third).

If it ain&#39;t broke, don&#39;t fix it. The two shared the wheel of&nbsp;a monster 330 TRI/LM at&nbsp;the&nbsp;1962 24 Hours, its&nbsp;4-litre&nbsp;V12 the only one on the starting grid. The car&#39;s&nbsp;performance was mind-blowing, dusting&nbsp;the&nbsp;Maseratis and&nbsp;Aston Martins by several seconds each&nbsp;lap. The Rodr&iacute;guez brothers remained Hill/Gendebien&#39;s only real competition until dawn on Sunday, but Gendebien went on to clinch his fourth win at Le Mans, a new&nbsp;record at the time.

After narrowly avoiding contact with&nbsp;a slower car at&nbsp;Tertre Rouge the following year, Gendebien&nbsp;retired from racing at the request of his wife without ever truly&nbsp;considering&nbsp;himself a professional driver.

He was perhaps never the fastest, nor the most incisive behind the wheel, but his track record made&nbsp;him one of the best drivers in the history of the world sports car championship.&nbsp;Gendebien&nbsp;also won the&nbsp;12 Hours of&nbsp;Sebring in&nbsp;1959 and&nbsp;1961 with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fiawec.com/en/team/6293" target="_blank">Scuderia Ferrari</a>, and with&nbsp;Porsche in 1960.

Rich in his own right, he lived in the South of France until&nbsp;he passed&nbsp;away&nbsp;in 1998, receiving the Order of the Belgian Crown that same year.&nbsp;With his death ended&nbsp;a bygone era&nbsp;focused on values ​​and conduct&nbsp;beyond driving. Gendebien was a true artist, every bit as talented as those &quot;professionals.&quot;

Olivier Gendebien, the "amateur" four-time Le Mans winner

Starting from Saturday, May 25, 2024, the 24 Hours of Le Mans Museum is set to welcome a new temporary exhibition: Alpine Tricolore Mind.

The exhibition, highlighting the Alpine brand and its history with the Le Mans race, will be available for exploration starting from Saturday, May 25. It&#39;s an opportunity for families and enthusiasts to discover or rediscover the history, as well as the numerous connections with the 24 Hours of Le Mans: from the first participation to the era of the Hypercar.

Several themes will be addressed in this exhibition:

R&eacute;d&eacute;l&eacute;: Driver and Constructor The Renault Charles Deutsch Barquette, based on a 4CV, is a car driven by Jean R&eacute;d&eacute;l&eacute; (who participated twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1952 and 1953). Jean R&eacute;d&eacute;l&eacute; is one of the first drivers to embark on a career as a constructor to obtain a vehicle capable of leading him to victory. Other drivers will follow the same path, such as Jean Rondeau or Yves Courage.

Overall Victory! In 1978, the A442B secured a victory in the overall classification, in the top category with two French drivers, Didier Pironi and Jean Pierre Jaussaud (at that time, only two drivers shared the wheel). Subsequently, no French manufacturer would achieve victory until Peugeot in 1992.

From the Olympics to the 24 Hours of Le Mans The Alpine A210, featured in the exhibition, participated three times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1969, the Alpine A210, driven by Jean-Claude Killy (world ski champion and triple Olympic champion), helped create a link between the Olympic Games and Le Mans!

From the Track to the Screens The Alpine A210 and A220 have frequently appeared in cinema. The Alpine A210 was presented as a prototype of the Vaillant team. The most famous appearance is undoubtedly the A110 Berlinette in the TV series &quot;Les aventures de Michel Vaillant,&quot; broadcast in 1967 on ORTF channel. Henri Grandsire played the role of Michel Vaillant and was a driver in the Alpine-Renault team in the early 1960s, in endurance and single-seaters.

Alpine Spirit Tricolore: A New Exhibition at the 24 Hours Museum

The 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans, the fourth round of the FIA WEC, will get underway at 4 pm on Saturday 15 June. The programme for this magnificent race was unveiled at Rétromobile in January and today the ACO is thrilled to share more details.

FAN ZONES, A MANUFACTURERS&rsquo; VILLAGE AND A HYDROGEN VILLAGE 
 
There will be five fan zones open at the circuit from Tuesday 11 June:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Competition Fan Zone</li>
	<li>Family Fan Zone</li>
	<li>Concert Fan Zone</li>
	<li>Porte Est/East Gate Fan Zone</li>
	<li>Panorama Fan Zone</li>
</ul>

&nbsp;

These areas are open to all racegoers, and combine an array of eateries, rest areas, big screens and activities around a range of different themes. Options include outdoor games, zip-lines, the Kids&rsquo; Zone by Journal de Mickey and the ever-popular simulators, so there&rsquo;s something to suit all tastes and ages! 
 
Fans can also check out the Manufacturers&rsquo; Village featuring Toyota Gazoo Racing, Porsche, BMW M, Alpine, Ford and Lotus, and explore the 24 Hours of Le Mans Village, where exhibitors including Peugeot, Ferrari, Rolex and TotalEnergies will keep spectators entertained with countless activities. Last but not least, a Hydrogen Village will showcase the latest cars that run on this technology.&nbsp; 
 
AFTER THE CENTENARY, BRING ON THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS SHOW!

In 2023, the circuit&rsquo;s spectacular &ldquo;Centenary Show&rdquo; was an emotional experience for everyone present. The iconic race&rsquo;s history was re-enacted in a performance featuring 400 drones and a dazzling pyrotechnics display. This year, the ACO will be rerunning the show at 11:15&nbsp;pm on Saturday 15 June, right after the Simple Minds concert. While the 62 competitors battle it out on the track, the crowd will be forgiven for turning their gaze skyward for a moment. Electro duo Synapson will provide the musical backdrop to the stunning show, set to become a standout feature of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.&nbsp; 
 
AN ACTION-PACKED WEEK ON THE TRACK

After the traditional Scrutineering sessions and Test Day, the action returns to the circuit on Tuesday 11 June, for an autograph session, a pit walk and the Pit Stop Challenge.&nbsp; 
 
On Wednesday, time for the real track action! In the morning, there will be the free practice sessions for the support races, including the d&eacute;but of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo in La Sarthe. Then come the first Free Practice and Qualifying sessions for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The week&rsquo;s first concert will take place at the circuit that evening. 
 
Thursday will feature the highly anticipated Hyperpole session at 8&nbsp;pm. This spectacular session sees 24 competitors (8 in Hypercar, 8 in LMP2 and 8 in LMGT3)&nbsp;go head-to-head on the 13.626-km circuit in a test of sheer speed, unimpeded by traffic. 
 
Like Tuesday,&nbsp;Friday 14 June&nbsp;will be all about the fans. After the Fun Cup in the morning, all the volunteers involved in the race will be honoured in a special ceremony at the circuit. Then, from 3&nbsp;pm, spectators will have a rare opportunity to step onto the track of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Anyone can come along and explore the track on foot or using an eco-friendly form of transport, such as a bicycle, a kick scooter or rollerskates. Meanwhile, the celebrated Drivers&rsquo; Parade organised by Classic Automotive will begin at 4&nbsp;pm in the centre of Le Mans. To finish the day in style, there&rsquo;ll then be another concert at the circuit.&nbsp; 
 
And after all that, the moment that everyone will be waiting for: the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at 4&nbsp;pm on Saturday 15 June. In a few days&rsquo; time, we&rsquo;ll be announcing the name of the race&rsquo;s Official Starter, another household name and global icon. As usual, there&rsquo;ll be plenty of entertainment in the lead-up to the main event, including a series of support races such as Road to Le Mans and the arrival of the French flag, flown in by helicopter. With the race underway, Saturday will culminate with the 24 Hours of Le Mans Show late in the evening. 
 
Then, set your clocks for 4&nbsp;pm on Sunday 16 June to see the winner cross the finish line. Ferrari, Toyota, Cadillac, Peugeot, Porsche, Alpine, BMW, Isotta Fraschini, Lamborghini... Who will lift the trophy at the end of what promises to be another historic race?

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Final tickets available to see Free Practice and Qualifying, the Hyperpole session and concerts by Louise Attaque and BigFlo &amp; Oli!

&nbsp; 
The ACO has already announced that Race Week and Race Weekend admission tickets are sold out and is now advising that there are only a few tickets remaining for the Free Practice &amp; Qualifying and Hyperpole sessions plus the concerts on Wednesday and Thursday. These tickets are compatible with the Green Ticket offer, which urges spectators to use sustainable forms of transport.&nbsp; 
 
Head to&nbsp;<a href="https://ticket.24h-lemans.com/content">https://ticket.24h-lemans.com/content</a>&nbsp;to book your tickets!

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans : A whole week’s entertainment and a fabulous race village!

The distance record at the 24 Hours is the most coveted of all records at Le Mans. To achieve a flawless race with zero missteps is the ultimate dream of every competing team. Entrants have continued to push themselves throughout the years in their attempts to complete the symbolic number of 400 laps.

<h2>Lots of&nbsp;Luck Required</h2>

In the&nbsp;1920s, shortly after the inception of the race, competitors weren&#39;t known to&nbsp;boast&nbsp;about&nbsp;lap speed or lack of mechanical troubles. Marketing campaigns focused on distance travelled or laps completed. Le&nbsp;Mans offered the perfect opportunity to set the distance&nbsp;record over&nbsp;24 hours.

The number of laps&nbsp;depends on&nbsp;the configuration of&nbsp;the circuit, of course. The longer that is, the lower the total number of laps at the same hourly average, which is&nbsp;why it is customary to use the latter measurement rather than a fixed number. The symbolic number of 400 laps has never been reached in 92 runnings of the 24 Hours.

<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/going-all-out-the-insane-pursuit-of-the-track-record-at-le-mans-58456" target="_blank">To do so would nearly take a miracle</a>. Everything would have&nbsp;to fall into place perfectly. In addition to factors like&nbsp;the regulations&nbsp;(which at times have&nbsp;limited fuel consumption, car speed, aerodynamics, etc.), the track itself would need to be ideal&nbsp;for 24 hours with minimal safety car deployments and the absence of any&nbsp;mechanical problems. Mother Nature also plays a major role as it would be impossible to achieve the record in disruptive&nbsp;weather.

<h2>Staggering Progress</h2>

<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/todays-photo-story-michelin-wins-the-1923-24-hours-of-le-mans-with-chenard-walcker-45115" target="_blank">During the first running in 1923</a>, for&nbsp;example, nothing went right. There were consistent downpours, the regulations in no way encouraged participants to go full throttle, the track was littered with pebbles and the cars weren&#39;t up to the task. The #9&nbsp;Chenard &amp; Walcker Sport distance record-holder, and therefore the favourite in the eyes of the&nbsp;public, completed&nbsp;128 laps in 24 hours. Nine years later, the winning Alfa Romeo 8C covered&nbsp;200. The circuit was quite&nbsp;different indeed, but the distance remained&nbsp;correlated to the number of laps.

Remarkable progress was made at the 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans in the early years&nbsp;relative to tyres, car reliability, the <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/why-is-the-24-hours-of-le-mans-run-on-public-roads-58347" target="_blank">state of the track</a>&nbsp;and everything that follows. In 1939, the winning&nbsp;Bugatti Type 57G completed&nbsp;248 laps (1,145 km more than the Chenard &amp; Walcker).

The&nbsp;300-lap benchmark was next on the agenda. In 1953, Jaguar shocked opponents by equipping its&nbsp;Type C with disc brakes, the first in the history of motorsport. The change made all the difference. Since then, only one winning car has travelled&nbsp;less than 300 laps in 24 hours:. incessant rain and several surprise twists in 1995 led&nbsp;to the<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/masanori-sekiya-the-first-japanese-winner-of-the-24-hours-of-le-mans-58259" target="_blank"> surprise victory&nbsp;of a McLaren F1 GTR after&nbsp;298 laps</a>.

<h2>So Close, Yet So Far</h2>

When&nbsp;Ford set out to win Le&nbsp;Mans against&nbsp;Ferrari in the 1960s, it pulled out all the stops. In pursuit of that goal, the American carmaker&nbsp;produced&nbsp;the iconic&nbsp;high-performance GT40. In 1967, Dan Gurney and&nbsp;A.J. Foyt won the 24 Hours in 388 laps, i.e.&nbsp;5,000 km, a first at the race.

Over the years and various incarnations of the circuit, a few competitors have come close to reaching the 400-lap mark. The installation of chicanes in the Mulsanne Straight in 1990 slowed the cars, but not the progress: of the 13 runnings with more than&nbsp;380 laps, nine date back less than 18 years.

&nbsp;

In 1968 when new regulations were&nbsp;established, the record seemed safe for awhile. But the <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/why-is-the-porsche-917-such-a-motorsport-icon-58241" target="_blank">arrival of the iconic&nbsp;Porsche 917 in 1969</a> changed everything. That&nbsp;exceptional prototype, as intimidating&nbsp;as it was fast, soon set a new track record and, in 1971, a new distance record.&nbsp;Helmut Marko and&nbsp;Gijs van Lennep completed&nbsp;397 laps&nbsp;of the&nbsp;circuit&nbsp;(5,335 km) at the wheel of their&nbsp;917 K, short&nbsp;just&nbsp;40 km from reaching&nbsp;400 laps, but at that insane pace, their achievement was still mind-blowing.

<h2>Nonstop&nbsp;Innovation</h2>

It&#39;s always the same story: the circuit undergoes major modifications, as it did&nbsp;in 1972, but the cars come back even stronger than before. The&nbsp;Group&nbsp;Cs in the early 1980s challenged every bar previously set. In 1988, the&nbsp;Jaguar XJR-9 LM driven by&nbsp;Johnny Dumfries/Jan Lammers/Andy Wallace covered&nbsp;394 laps in&nbsp;24 hours. One year later, the&nbsp;Sauber-Mercedes C9 did&nbsp;389. Then the&nbsp;chicanes were added, throwing another wrench in the hunt for the distance record.

But once again, the level of innovation rose to the occasion. The extremely well-designed Audi R8 threw its hat in the ring, and its successor, the&nbsp;R10 TDI, became the first diesel to claim the top step on the podium, in&nbsp;2006. The car reached 380 laps for the first time since&nbsp;1989. The increase&nbsp;in power of LMP1s with roaring engines came full circle&nbsp;in 2010 with the victory of the Audi R15&nbsp;TDI shared by&nbsp;Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller.

The trio achieved&nbsp;397 laps and a&nbsp;distance record of&nbsp;5,410.7 km. It was a stunning feat, enough to reach&nbsp;400 laps at the 1971 configuration of the&nbsp;circuit. After first appearing in 2012, hybrid&nbsp;prototypes routinely surpassed&nbsp;380 laps, but the&nbsp;record remained in place&nbsp;14 years later. Others came close: from&nbsp;2018 to&nbsp;2020, the winning&nbsp;Toyota never fell below&nbsp;385 laps in 24 hours, a real coup&nbsp;given the number of major incidents the&nbsp;team endured.

Meanwhile, in 2015, Porsche was a top contender for the record. The German marque&#39;s three&nbsp;919 Hybrids stood an excellent&nbsp;chance despite intense competition. Nico H&uuml;lkenberg/Earl Bamber/Nick Tandy crossed the finish line after&nbsp;395 laps without making a single mistake.

The&nbsp;Hypercar era that got underway&nbsp;in&nbsp;2021 is in its infancy, so it&#39;s no surprise&nbsp;the distance covered at Le Mans has shortened&nbsp;since the creation of&nbsp;the&nbsp;category, as is almost always the case following the introduction of new regulations.&nbsp;Last year, the&nbsp;Ferrari 499P of&nbsp;James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi/Alessandro Pier Guidi covered&nbsp;342 laps during a particularly challenging running of the race due to highly unpredictable&nbsp;weather conditions.

So, is&nbsp;the&nbsp;record even achievable? It wasn&#39;t that long ago the two-hour mark was considered unreachable&nbsp;by marathon runners, but is now a common&nbsp;goal for&nbsp;high-level runners.&nbsp;In the same vein, it was most likely thought in 1923 that&nbsp;covering 4,000 km during the 24 Hours was unthinkable. The technical evolution, the ACO&#39;s relentless pursuit of&nbsp;innovation and driver talent level are breathtaking. The legendary 100-year&nbsp;history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has proven one thing to the world: engineers do not know&nbsp;the meaning of the&nbsp;word impossible.

Will anyone ever reach 400 laps at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

This issue reflects on the tense closing stages of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and features interviews with the Toyota team.

With Mexico hosting a round of the WEC this year, Spirit of Le Mans gives readers an insight into a country with a long history of motor racing.

Don&rsquo;t miss the spotlight on enduring brand BMW, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year and whose name is inextricably linked to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Get your copy now!

Spirit of Le Mans N&deg;2 - &euro;12 - On sale now

24H LE MANS

Issue 2 of Spirit of Le Mans out now!

Related News

Olivier Gendebien, the "amateur" four-time Le Mans winner

Alpine Spirit Tricolore: A New Exhibition at the 24 Hours Museum

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans : A whole week’s entertainment and a fabulous race village!

Will anyone ever reach 400 laps at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

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