Great endurance racing at Le Mans

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!

Neville Hobson

Social Strategist, Communicator, Writer, and Podcaster with a curiosity for tech and how people use it. Believer in an Internet for everyone. Early adopter (and leaver) and experimenter with social media. Occasional test pilot of shiny new objects. Avid tea drinker.

  2. neville

    A bummer, Guillaume. The BBC did a similar thing re broadcasting World Cup matches via their website – you could only access those video streams if you were in the UK.

  3. Tom Keefe

    Neville,

    As an employee of Volkswagen of America (which includes Audi, Volkswagen and Bentley), I was thrilled to see the race results.

    This win helps to showcase the TDI (diesel) technology. I’m not sure if you can access the U.S. Audi site, but if you can, click the link to the article, “Le Mans conquered by Audi TDI.” It provides more detail on the car, the technology, and the race.

    Tom

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