A terrific sports event has just got underway in France – the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, the world’s most famous endurance race for sports cars and their drivers.

I’m not an avid motor racing fan so I’m not up there with instant knowledge on the who’s who among the competitors and marques (more on that in a sec). Yet Le Mans 24 has a magic ring about it, the type of man-and-machine competitive event that’s more about enduring stamina, different skills and automotive engineering compared to what you see in celebrity-ish Formula 1 racing. And maybe I’m influenced by the rugged romanticism of the race and the heroes as portrayed by Steve McQueen in the 1971 film, Le Mans.

Some great marques participating with some extremely sexy-looking cars. Check out Audi, for instance. And Aston Martin. Plus, from across the pond, Corvette (and you can listen to a podcast from Corvette driver Ron Fellows, posted yesterday).

The race is being covered live on TV here by channel RTL7, so I plan to be popping in now and again during the weekend to see what’s happening. You can also follow the race online via RTL7′s live broadband videostream.

It’s free, unlike the webcams on the official race site which wants to charge you €10 for the privilege to connect.

So, a great event!