First 24 Hours of Le Mans: How a Rain-Soaked Endurance Race Changed Motorsport

[00:00:00] On May 26th, 1923, on a stormy afternoon in Rue, France, 33 teams lined up for a race like the world had never seen. And the challenge was simple, to survive, endure, and triumph for the next 24 hours as drivers and machines battled exhaustion, darkness, and elements on a track that featured straightaways, turns, and terrain of all kinds.

[00:00:30] It wasn't just a test of speed, it was a test of innovation, teamwork, and human will as they were racing in the very first 24 hours of Le Mans, a race that would change motorsport's history forever. Join us as we dive into this historical race and what it meant to the motorsports community today on Daily Sports History. Let's go!

[00:01:00] Welcome to Daily Sports History, I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge, as we dive into the very first 24 Hour of Le Mans. So, why Le Mans? Well, it all came around when the Automobile Club de West, or the ACO, which was founded in 1906, started putting races together.

[00:01:26] And they put together the very first Grand Prix in 1906. And after World War I, they sought to revive motorsports and showcase the reliability of the modern automobile. And the idea came from members who thought about putting together an endurance race, and thought about what if they could race for 24 hours straight. Something that had not been done before. And so they started to look for places to do this race.

[00:01:56] And they came to the Circuit de la Sarte. And this was chosen as it was a circuit that combined public roads and a purpose-built track just south of Le Mans, France. And it was a very large area. This was over 10 mile circuit. And it would give the cars long straightaways, sharp corners, and variety of surfaces.

[00:02:19] And the first official name would be called the Grand Prix de Endurance de 24 Heroes. Or in English, Grand Prix of Endurance. Made sense. And this event wasn't just conceived as a race, as it was just a trial for production cars.

[00:02:39] See, regulations were that they would have to be a standard four-seater model carrying passenger ballast, luggage space, and touring equipment, mirroring the ordinary motorist would use. So the race was actually more for seeing if a car could actually run this long. Yeah, remember in 1923, cars were still very young. And we were still learning a lot as we went along.

[00:03:05] And this was more of an innovation in manufacturer participation. So the true winner of this wouldn't be a driver like we see in today's races where the driver gets all the glory. No, it's actually the manufacturers. So the first Le Mans was more about proving the future of the automobile than winning a single race.

[00:03:27] But they were able to get 20 manufacturers to sign up for this, producing 33 different cars and 33 different teams. When I say teams, I mean two people. As they would have two different drivers that could run the race, and they were also each other's pit crew. So one guy would drive, the other guy would sit in the pits or nap, and they would switch off. And some of the key entries into this was Bentley, who's a company that's still around to this day.

[00:03:56] And they only brought one entry. Gennard Walker, who brought three working cars and were actually the favorite to win the race. Excelsior, which had two Belgium cars. And Roland Plain, who had four cars into the race from out of France. So race day comes on May 26th, 1923. At 4pm, they're set to take off. A hail storm hits and rain and wind. There was no qualifying for this.

[00:04:25] So whoever submitted their entry first started first. So early bird got the worm in this instance. Now this was endurance. So speed was not necessarily what was going to win it. It was being able to be consistent. It was a marathon, not a sprint. And early pit stops started to begin around 7pm that day. Now most teams were servicing their cars before driver changes. Now regulations only allowed one driver to work on the car at a time.

[00:04:53] So you had a driver driving the car and the other driver was working on the car. And that was all you had. It wasn't like these teams that we see today. You have eight different people working on the car trying to make it a fast pit stop. Now this was more methodical and had to fix things on the fly. As these cars definitely needed more and more fixing. Now from the start, Chouinard Welker's team and the lone Bentley team were setting the pace. Leading the field through a rain soaked track. As the conditions were actually getting treacherous.

[00:05:23] You can understand that these cars weren't as safe as they are today. And the heavy Bentley car was actually having a lot of challenges with the slick track. And the French cars were actually superior braking and were gaining an early advantage. Now the track actually had different kind of layers. There was some harder, some muddy, some dirt, some gravel. And some of those stones were being kicked up by the other drivers and hitting out their headlights.

[00:05:49] And if you knocked out a headlight, you weren't going to be able to go very far through the night. Because it was 24 hours, you had to drive through the night with the lights on. Which is something we don't see very much in racing because it's not as safe. And Bentley actually went through the entire night with just one functioning light. And just before midnight, the Bentley car actually had a stone punctured fuel tank.

[00:06:12] And one of their drivers, Frank the Mint, actually borrowed a policeman's bicycle and strapped two cans of fuel to go get the car so it could reach the pits so they could fix it. And after plugging the Link, Frank the Mint actually drove off from the Bentley with the bicycle attached to the car just in case they needed a repair or rescue later on in the race. As the darkness fell, the race's endurance aspect really became more apparent. Many cars suffered from the headlight failures.

[00:06:42] But by midnight, Shard Welker's cars were establishing a lead with Bentley chasing close behind despite its setbacks. And after its dramatic repair, Bentley actually set the fastest life of the race with a speed of 66 miles an hour. Demonstrating how resilient they were even though they had a lot of challenges so far in the race. And the rain did not stop. It continued all through the night. And the dirt and gravel made it mud and ruts started to come in through.

[00:07:12] More and more ruts and hazards started to show up. And most drivers chose to use their goggles and no cover. Basically, they were driving a convertible as it was cold, wet and damp the entire night. And the first retirement from Le Mans in history came that night when the S.A.R.A. of the Piazza di Antti lost its light and crashed off the road. But despite all this chaos, there were no major accidents that happened.

[00:07:39] Excelsior would go off into the sand trap losing hours trying to dig it out. Meanwhile, Bentley narrowly avoided disaster when the Big Yon car burst a tire forcing both cars off to the road. Then at the halfway point around 4 a.m. in the morning, the Cunard Welker team were leading by two laps over the Bentley team and the other racers. And by this time, 30 of the 33 cars were still running by sunshine, which is a huge accomplishment for these manufacturers.

[00:08:09] So now they were to the straightaway. They saw the finish. It was sunlight. They could really focus on finishing the race. And the Cunard Welker team continued to maintain their dominance, taking a commanding lead with their cars, superior brakes and consistent performance throughout the night. And would actually go on to ease their pace, confident in their lead and finish one and two, completing 128 laps throughout the whole 24 hours.

[00:08:36] And their second car would actually finish just four laps behind them in second place. Now the Big Yon car would secure a third place overall finish. And the Bentley and Excelsior finished tied. The Bentley and Excelsior finished fourth, tying for 112 laps. And the Cunard team actually won with an average speed of 57 miles an hour. And there were only 30 cars that would end up finishing the entire race.

[00:09:02] And they roughly run 1373 miles. So if you were driving from say South Carolina in America, all the way to Kansas, that would be roughly how much they drove in 24 hours, which is pretty impressive for back then. And honestly, that is a lot of miles to drive in 24 hours. It really would be impressive to this day.

[00:09:25] And just to give you a idea of today's winners, Ferrari won the last Le Mans last year running 311 laps. And to complete 311 laps. And today's Le Mans is very different. They have lots of different categories going all at once. And honestly, if you could watch 24 hours Le Mans, I give you props because I couldn't watch any sport for 24 hours without falling asleep. I love sports. 24 hours is a long time.

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