The Japanese manufacturer Nissan is making its comeback at this year The Japanese manufacturer Nissan is making its comeback at this year

24H Le Mans

24 Heures du Mans

24 HOURS CENTENARY – THE LE MANS EXCEPTION ⎮ Scrutineering and the Drivers' Parade held in the city centre of Le Mans are the two big events between fans and drivers during Race Week every year.

One of the things that makes the 24 Hours of Le Mans so special is its&nbsp;intoxicating atmosphere that&nbsp;reverberates throughout the city and even in&nbsp;surrounding towns.&nbsp;Two&nbsp;Race Week highlights for&nbsp;locals, tourists, spectators and competitors alike are Scrutineering and the Drivers&#39;&nbsp;Parade.&nbsp;

During these exceptional events, the drivers and their cars leave the circuit and head to the Le Mans city centre. You don&#39;t even need a 24 Hours&nbsp;entrance pass to see the cars up close, ask for autographs or&nbsp;takes selfies with your heros!

<h3>The previous Scrutineering locations</h3>

The administrative and technical checks known as Scrutineering have&nbsp;always been a part of the 24 Hours to uphold&nbsp;the ACO&#39;s mandate of ensuring fairness between competitors. This&nbsp;first major event of Race Week, held openly over the course of two days in the Le Mans city centre,&nbsp;serves to kick off the festivities every year.

During Scrutineering,&nbsp;cars are checked from top to bottom to assess&nbsp;general standards as well as&nbsp;safety and aerodynamic aspects...and at almost all&nbsp;times&nbsp;under the eyes of hundreds if not thousands of spectators.

The location of Scrutineering has changed several times over the years. Pre-WWII, it was held&nbsp;in the rue Victor-Bonhommet (formerly the rue du Porc-&Eacute;pic), then in the&nbsp;Halle aux Toiles (now the Place d&rsquo;Alger). Starting in&nbsp;1949, it was moved to the&nbsp;Cavaignac barracks and the old rue Paul-Courboulay tramway station. From&nbsp;1954 to&nbsp;1960, it took place&nbsp;at the Quinconce des Jacobins behind the theatre.

Le&nbsp;Mans locals weren&#39;t exactly happy when Scrutineering switched to&nbsp;the circuit in 1961, rendering it impossible to enjoy the previously free excitement without a race&nbsp;entrance pass! It was then changed again to the&nbsp;Jacobins in&nbsp;1976 in the square opposite the&nbsp;cathedral. The tramway&#39;s arrival in 2012 resulted in Scrutineering moving&nbsp;to its current location at the place de la R&eacute;publique.

<h3>1995 | The birth of the Drivers&#39;&nbsp;Parade</h3>

The Drivers&#39;&nbsp;Parade is attended by thousands of spectators&nbsp;looking to watch the colourful&nbsp;and thrilling&nbsp;procession in the heart of the city centre. For&nbsp;a little less than two kilometres, the drivers are perched atop vintage&nbsp;automobiles, namely convertible torpedo cars from the early 1900s, flanked by dancers, orchestras, supercars and more. The Drivers&#39; Parade borrows from the&nbsp;Tour de France caravan, throwing out&nbsp;goodies and surprise swag to the&nbsp;delight of&nbsp;fans all along the route.

The parade starts on the Friday before the race at the place des Jacobins&nbsp;with the cathedral as a backdrop, then heads to the avenue Pierre Mend&egrave;s-France and&nbsp;the avenue&nbsp;G&eacute;n&eacute;ral de Gaulle&nbsp;to arrive&nbsp;at the&nbsp;place de la R&eacute;publique. The cars then pass by rue Victor-Bonhommet to go down to the&nbsp;place de l&#39;Eperon and the avenue Rostov-sur-le-Don&nbsp;before completing the&nbsp;loop and returning to the place des Jacobins.

The&nbsp;parade exists today thanks to a &quot;crazy&quot; idea offered by a local named&nbsp;Philippe Pasteau. It took quite a bit of courage and determination for the diehard racing fan to convince the ACO, the city of Le Mans and the competitors to get on board. His main goal? To offer a piece of the 24 Hours&nbsp;to locals&nbsp;who could not&nbsp;afford an entrance pass&nbsp;for the race.

Thankfully, they were won over and the first annual Drivers&#39; Parade took place in 1995&nbsp;with nearly&nbsp;180,000 semi-hysterical spectators cheering on&nbsp;186 beaming drivers. It&#39;s the perfect moment to profess one&#39;s adoration and ask for an&nbsp;autograph or&nbsp;selfie...or simply&nbsp;celebrate! Naturally, the&nbsp;festivities carry on in the streets of Le Mans well after the last car passes by...

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PHOTOS (Copyright - ACO/Archives): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), 24 HOURS OF LE&nbsp;MANS, SCRUTINEERING AND THE DRIVERS&#39;&nbsp;PARADE. From top to bottom: the various sites that have staged Scrutineering, includinng the&nbsp;place de la R&eacute;publique in 2022, the&nbsp;rue du Porc-Epic in 1923, the&nbsp;Halle aux Toiles in 1925, the&nbsp;Cavaignac barracks in 1950, the tramway station in 1952, the place des Jacobins in 1960, the 24 Hours circuit in 1974 and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Jacobins&nbsp;near the&nbsp;cathedral in 2011; snapshots of the always popular Drivers&#39;&nbsp;Parade where fans get *this* close to their favourite drivers&nbsp;(above, French driver&nbsp;Lilou Wadoux in 2022).

24 Hours Centenary – When legends come to town for Scrutineering and the Drivers' Parade

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) has revealed the names of the two personalities to be honoured at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary (10-11 June 2023).

Akio Toyoda, 2023 Spirit of Le Mans 

The Spirit of Le Mans Trophy hails the men and women who embody the values of endurance racing: involvement, commitment, teamwork and sporting endeavour. This year, the award goes to Akio Toyoda, Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota is the fourth manufacturer to have chalked up five straight wins after Ferrari, Porsche and Audi. The marque has also achieved eight pole positions (1999, 2014, 2017–2022) and has held the circuit lap record since 2017, when Kamui Kobayashi recorded a time of 3:14.791 (average speed of 251.882 kph).

Tom Kristensen, Centenary Grand Marshal

A 24 Hours of Le Mans win is the highlight of many drivers’ career. Tom Kristensen’s first Le Mans win was the launchpad for an outstanding run that took him to the pinnacle of endurance racing for almost two decades. At the 2022 race, the record nine-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was appointed as Ambassador for the Centenary celebrations. The next logical step was, therefore, to confer the role of Grand Marshal to “Mr Le Mans” himself. Kristensen will have the privilege of guiding the 62 cars through the formation lap for the Centenary race – round 4 of this season’s FIA World Endurance Championship – shortly before 16:00 on 10 June.  

Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest: I am deeply honoured to reward Tom Kristensen and Akio Toyoda in this manner and thank them most sincerely for accepting to be here. These key figures are a perfect illustration of what the 24 Hours of Le Mans stands for: innovation, perseverance, success and forward thinking. Tom is a living legend of the world’s greatest endurance race and has been a precious ambassador over the last year. Akio Toyoda honours us with his presence at our 100th anniversary celebrations. We are delighted to present the Spirit of Le Mans trophy to the chairman of a company that embodies the values that we defend. Now, let the race begin!

Tom Kristensen named Grand Marshal, Akio Toyoda Spirit of Le Mans

The British LMP2 team will take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary race (10-11 June 2023) with a paint scheme that pays tribute to the French endurance classic.

Nielsen Racing&rsquo;s #14 Oreca 07-Gibson will hardly go unnoticed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year! The British outfit has commissioned an artist to decorate the car with highlights from the history of the century-old race,&nbsp;as well as celebrated drivers and landmarks. The car will have the same gold-coloured background that was used in the Asian Le Mans Series and the first round of the European Le Mans Series. Sketches depicting the Le Mans-type start and the Centenary trophy feature along with the faces of six-time winner Jacky Ickx and four-time winners Derek Bell and Henri Pescarolo.

This year will see Nielsen Racing compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the third time. The team finished 16th in LMP2 last year. Rodrigo Sales, Ben Hanley and Mathias Beche will share driving duties this year.

The photo gallery below contains a few shots of the #14 Oreca&rsquo;s livery that spectators will be able to admire in the flesh during scrutineering or at <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/tickets/race/test-day-admission-10228628216437" target="_blank">Test Day</a>&nbsp;(Sunday 4 June).

A special Centenary livery for Nielsen Racing

24 HOURS CENTENARY – THE LE MANS EXCEPTION ┃ In the wake of director James Mangold's presentation of "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" at the Cannes Film Festival, this year's Centenary running of the race offers a flashback of his preceding movie, "Le Mans '66" ("Ford v Ferrari").

Motorsport movies&nbsp;have recently experienced&nbsp;a growing resurgence of interest, but with a very different approach from the likes of&nbsp;Grand Prix (1966) and&nbsp;Le Mans (1971). While those two releases presented fictional scenarios built around breathtaking racing scenes, the&nbsp;last&nbsp;two great motorsport&nbsp;films were&nbsp;based on true stories.

Directed by&nbsp;Ron Howard and released in 2013, Rush&nbsp;centred on the real duel between&nbsp;Niki Lauda and&nbsp;James Hunt (played by&nbsp;Daniel Br&uuml;hl and&nbsp;Chris Hemsworth, respectively) during the 1976&nbsp;Formula&nbsp;1 season&nbsp;against a backdrop of sporting rivalry, friendship and mutual respect. Its success opened the doors for other projects, culminating in&nbsp;Le Mans &#39;66&nbsp;(Ford v Ferrari) in&nbsp;2019.

<h3>Ford-Ferrari, a very camera-ready&nbsp;duel</h3>

While there is no end to the number of&nbsp;historic events and eras in the legacy of the&nbsp;24 Hours, director James Mangold and&nbsp;screenwriters Jez and John-Henry Butterworth focused on one of the most legendary: the epic&nbsp;duel between Ford and Ferrari in the mid-1960s.

Beyond the sporting rivalry, the fabric of&nbsp;Le Mans &#39;66 (Ford v Ferrari) is also based on&nbsp;the extremely strong personalities of&nbsp;Enzo Ferrari and&nbsp;Henry Ford II, as well as the relationship between&nbsp;Texas native&nbsp;and 1959 24 Hours winner Carroll Shelby and British driver&nbsp;Ken Miles, head of the Ford factory team and the development driver for&nbsp;the mythical GT40, respectively. Mangold&nbsp;enjoys highlighting&nbsp;extraordinary characters such as Johnny Cash played by Joaquin Phoenix (who won an Oscar for his portrayal) in&nbsp;Walk the Line.

The A-listers initially earmarked for the roles were&nbsp;Brad Pitt (Shelby)&nbsp;and Tom Cruise (Miles),&nbsp;a reunion on the big screen 20 years after Interview with a Vampire&nbsp;(1994). But&nbsp;in the end,&nbsp;Damon donned Shelby&#39;s signature Stetson and Bale lent&nbsp;his uncanny physical resemblance to Miles.

<h3>A true story with a necessary measure of&nbsp;dramatic licence</h3>

In 1970, Le Mans&nbsp;producer and star&nbsp;Steve McQueen decided to film&nbsp;sequences on the track in&nbsp;the heart of the&nbsp;action&nbsp;during the race and then at&nbsp;the circuit in the months that followed.

Mangold, however, dedicated the last half hour of his 2h32m&nbsp;movie to the 1966 24 Hours itself, with certain circuit infrastructure of the era meticulously reconstructed&nbsp;in the U.S.&nbsp;To that end, the&nbsp;script was given to the ACO, and mainly to 24 Hours Museum Director&nbsp;Fabrice Bourrigaud, and the city of Le Mans hosted the crew for the filming of several scenes.

As in any feature film inspired by a true story, it was impossible to remain 100% faithful to reality, both for budgetary and dramatic&nbsp;reasons. Miles arguably never gave Ford II a&nbsp;GT40 baptism by fire on the track&nbsp;any more than he punched Shelby in the middle of the street.

In the same vein, Enzo Ferrari never attended races.&nbsp;During&nbsp;the 24 Hours&nbsp;at the time of the Ford-Ferrari duel, he was however in almost constant telephone contact with his sporting director, Eugenio Dragoni. But, his presence made for a better story&nbsp;from a scriptwriting point of view, especially since Ford II was present at&nbsp;the circuit&nbsp;to give the start in&nbsp;1966.

Also, three descendants of Ford drivers of the&nbsp;period took part in the filming: Derek Hill, Alex Gurney and&nbsp;Jeff Bucknum &ndash; respectively the sons of&nbsp;Phil Hill (three-time winner with&nbsp;Ferrari and Ford driver in 1964 and&nbsp;1965), Dan Gurney (1967 winner, pole-sitter and in-race lap record holder in 1966) and&nbsp;Ronnie Bucknum (third in 1966). Born on 12 July&nbsp;1966, barely one&nbsp;month after his father reached the podium, Bucknum is the only one of the three progeny to have taken the start himself in the 24 Hours (retirement in 2003 at the wheel of a Pilbeam prototype).

These contributions amounted to one of the very best motorsport films ever made, awarded in 2020 both at the Golden Globes (Best Actor in a Dramatic Role for&nbsp;Bale) and the Oscars (Best Editing and Best Sound).

<h3>Brad Pitt goes from the&nbsp;24 Hours to&nbsp;Formula&nbsp;1</h3>

Though Pitt&nbsp;did not end up playing&nbsp;Shelby in&nbsp;Le Mans &#39;66 (Ford v Ferrari), he did serve as the official starter at the 2016&nbsp;24 Hours, and&nbsp;is currently attached to a film co-produced by seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton about Formula&nbsp;1 for which he will take&nbsp;the wheel for several scenes in July at the&nbsp;Silverstone circuit.

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PHOTOS (Copyright - 20th Century Studios). From top to bottom: the Ford GT40 and&nbsp;Ferrari 330 P4 also star in Le&nbsp;Mans &#39;66&nbsp;(Ford v Ferrari); James Mangold on set; Christian Bale (at left) and&nbsp;Matt Damon playing Ken Miles and&nbsp;Carroll Shelby, respectively; the 1966&nbsp;24 Hours&nbsp;reimagined&nbsp;with&nbsp;Matt Damon, Christian Bale, James Mangold and&nbsp;Josh Lucas (in brown jacket) in the role of&nbsp;Ford&#39;s Special Vehicles Chief Leo Beebe; the movie&#39;s version of the&nbsp;1966&nbsp;24 Hours start.

24 Hours Centenary – The legendary duel in "Le Mans '66" ("Ford v Ferrari")

This year, Nissan is back with three Nissan GT-R LM NISMOs driven by Tsugio Matsuda, Mark Shulzhitskiy and Lucas Ordo&ntilde;ez (No.21), Harry Tincknell, Michael Krumm and Alex Buncombe (No.22) and Olivier Pla, Jann Mardenborough and Max Chilton (No.23).

The three models have been nurtured by Darren Cox (Nissan&rsquo;s Global Motorsport Chief) and Ben Bowlby (Nissan Team Principal and Racecar Designer) throughout the year. In the video below, we discover how the Nissan project came into being and hear from three of Nissan&rsquo;s drivers.

24H LE MANS

Nissan back at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (video)

Related News

24 Hours Centenary – When legends come to town for Scrutineering and the Drivers' Parade

Tom Kristensen named Grand Marshal, Akio Toyoda Spirit of Le Mans

A special Centenary livery for Nielsen Racing

24 Hours Centenary – The legendary duel in "Le Mans '66" ("Ford v Ferrari")

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