Launched when Grand Prix motor racing was the dominant form of motorsport throughout Europe, Le Mans was designed to present a different test.

This encouraged innovation in producing reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles, because endurance racing requires cars that last and spend as little time in the pits as possible.

Additionally, hybrid systems (flywheel, super-capacitor, battery coupled with both petrol and diesel) have been championed in the LMP category as rules have been changed to their benefit and to further push efficiency.

The race is held in mid June, meaning the shortest night and very hot conditions for drivers, particularly in closed vehicles with poor ventilation.

[8] Drivers and racing teams strive for speed and avoiding mechanical damage, as well as managing the cars' consumables, primarily fuel, tires, and braking materials.

In 2014, the Weathertech Sports Car Championship (a merger of the races at Sebring; Petit Le Mans in Braselton, Georgia; the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen in Watkins Glen, New York; and the Rolex Sports Car Series' 24 Hours of Daytona) held all four major American endurance classics in preparation for teams to race at Le Mans.

The 2019 slot was also eyed by UK-based constructor Perrinn with the Project 424, an LMP1-based electric-powered car with an autonomous driving mode;[20] however, this did not come to pass, and Garage 56 was left empty in both 2018 and 2019 due to the ACO deeming none of the applications sufficiently mature.

[27][28][29] Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief during each of his Cup Series championships, was project manager, while the car bore #24 in honor of Hendrick vice chairman and former driver Jeff Gordon.

With a dominant 1–2 lead, the two cars slowed to allow for a photo opportunity at the finish line, with Ken Miles slightly ahead of Bruce McLaren.

The addition of the chicanes was further influenced by the fact that the speed of WM P88-Peugeot, driven by French driver Roger Dorchy, had been timed at 407 km/h (253 mph) during the 1988 race.

Originally planned to be a three-year event awarded the Rudge-Whitworth Triennial Cup, with a winner being declared by the car which could go the farthest distance over three consecutive 24-hour races, this idea was abandoned in 1928.

The early races were dominated by French, British, and Italian drivers, teams, and cars, with Bugatti, Bentley, and Alfa Romeo being the top brands.

[39] After the formation of the World Sportscar Championship in 1953, of which Le Mans was a part, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and many others began sending multiple cars backed by their respective factories to compete for overall wins against their competitors.

This competitiveness sometimes resulted in tragedy, as in the 1955 Le Mans disaster during the 1955 race in which Pierre Levegh's car crashed into a crowd of spectators, killing more than 80 people.

Mercedes-Benz won in 1989, with what was seen as the latest incarnation of the elegant "Silver Arrows", the Sauber C9, while an influx of Japanese manufacturer interest saw prototypes from Nissan and Toyota.

The circuit would also undergo one of its most notable changes in 1990, when the 5 km long Mulsanne was modified[39] to include two chicanes in order to stop speeds of more than 400 km/h (250 mph) from being reached again.

Although the ACO attempted to close the loophole for 1995, newcomer McLaren would win the race in their supercar's first appearance thanks to the reliability of the BMW V12 powered F1 GTR, beating faster yet more trouble-prone prototypes.

The trend would continue through the 1990s as more exotic supercars were built in order to skirt the ACO's rules regarding production-based race cars, leading to Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Nissan, Panoz, and Lotus entering the GT categories.

At the same time, Mercedes left sportscar racing indefinitely following three catastrophic though non-fatal crashes stemming from severe aerodynamic flaws with their CLR.

In 2011, the Audi driven by Allan McNish crashed heavily in the first hour, barrel rolling into a tire wall shortly after the Dunlop Bridge.

Cunningham entered two 1950 Cadillac Coupe de Villes, one nearly stock and the other completely rebodied in a streamlined aluminum shape developed by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation that looked so unusual that it was nicknamed "Le Monstre" by the French press.

The smoothing of body shapes and fairing-in of various parts of the machine brought about by the continual search for reduction of aerodynamic drag led to a separation from Grand Prix cars, which rarely had large bodywork.

During the 1988 race, the crew of a Peugeot powered WM prototype taped over the engine openings, allowing Roger Dorchy to set a recorded speed of 407 km/h (253 mph) down the Mulsanne.

[48] A wide variety of engines have competed at Le Mans in attempts to achieve greater speed and have better fuel economy and spend less time in the pits.

Three-time winner Woolf Barnato (1928 to 1930), Luis Fontés (1935), American racing legend A. J. Foyt (1967), Nico Hülkenberg (2015), and Fernando Alonso (2018–2019) are the only drivers to have won every Le Mans in which they participated.

In the same race, Frenchman Jean-Louis Lafosse was also killed on the Mulsanne Straight when his Rondeau suffered a suspension failure, steered very suddenly to the right, and slammed into the Armco barrier on the driver's side at extreme speeds.

The 1984 race saw British privateer John Sheldon crashing at more than 320 km/h (200 mph) at the Mulsanne Kink; his Aston Martin V8 powered Nimrod tore through the Armco barriers into the trees.

After initially happening on Thursday to the #4 car, Mercedes rebuilt the chassis on Friday and claimed to have solved the problem, only for it to occur again at warmup on Saturday.

The last and most damaging accident occurred during the race itself when Peter Dumbreck's CLR #5 became airborne, flying over the safety fencing and landing in the woods several metres away.

[64] Motors TV covered the Le Mans 24 Hours in its entirety in 2006 and 2007, including coverage of the scrutineering, qualifying, driver parade, warmup, and race.