In September 1980, more than 100,000 spectators aattended the first ever dragster weekend held in France, on the Bugatti circuit. Ten years later, something very similar would make its appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans! 

Appearance wise, not much in common between a dragster and the Eagle...

In place of making history at Le Mans, Paul Canary spent his career making an impression with the originality of his entries. His first attempt, in 1981, unfortunately would not make it past the practice day following an accident for his McLaren M12 GT (article here). In 1990, the Californian restauranteur, returned with hopes of finishing in the top 10.

Named the Eagle, the prototype was a direct descendent of the Chevrolet Corvette GTP designed in 1984 by Lola. Although it's the first time this car has run at Le Mans, its originality comes from another source: a mysterious V8 with a variable engine capacity (between 9.6 litres and 11.5 litres) producing 900 horsepower ! Its builder, drag racing specialist Joe Schubek, promised to respect the tight fuel consumption constraints put on the Group C1 cars (precursor to the LM P1) thanks to a unique injection system developped in Texas.

Although the car was enormously popular with fans during scrutineering, it's performance proved to be less convincing. On Wednesday night, thick smoke appeared on the car's second lap of practice. The Eagle would cover two more laps the following day with a best time of 5 minutes 39 seconds (144kph average), more than a minute off the next to last time. An alternator problem would lead to a general failure in the electrical system and ruining any hopes for Paul Canary, who said goodbye to the 24 Hours of Le Mans without ever having taken the start.

Center, a rare photo of the Eagle ready to take to the track...

Julien HERGAULT / ACO - Translated by Rainier Ehrhardt / ACO