LE Mans

Retired track cyclist Sir Chris Hoy swaps two wheels for four to pursue his boyhood dream of competing in the world's toughest endurance motor race, the Le Mans 24 Hours.

1966: la corsa per costruire la macchina più veloce che il mondo avesse mai visto era iniziata. L'appassionante sfida sulla pista e fuori tra due giganti dell'automobilismo. Una rivalità che ha ispirato documentari e grandi film. All'inizio degli anni Sessanta, Enzo Ferrari dominava la scena automobilistica europea con le sue sfavillanti auto sportive: un design rivoluzionario unito a un tachimetro che superava i due cento Settanta chilometri orari rendevano le sue macchine vera fantascienza su ruote. Ma i rischi che l'alta velocità comportava gli avevano fatto guadagnare il soprannome «l'assassino», a causa dei piloti che persero la vita correndo per lui. Nel frattempo, il giovane e inesperto Henry Ford II, che aveva preso in mano le redini della compagnia di suo nonno, sapeva che doveva cambiare le sorti dell'impresa di famiglia: la gente non cercava più il comfort in un'auto ma la velocita, non la sicurezza ma estetica..

The Le Mans race track in France is one of the world’s most famous and demanding courses. And one of the most famous of all race cars to tackle it was based on the fabled C9 chassis from Sauber that was supercharged with a Mercedes Benz powerplant and debuted in the 1987 World Sportscar Championship (the C9 had numerous wins in 1988, 1989).

Almost in breadth and depth of a documentary, this movie depicts an auto race during the 70s on the world's hardest endurance course: Le Mans in France. The race goes over 24 hours on 14.5 kilometers of cordoned country road. Every few hours the two drivers per car alternate - but it's still a challenge for concentration and material. In the focus is the duel between the German Stahler in Ferrari 512LM and the American Delaney in Gulf Team Porsche 917. Delaney is under extraordinary pressure, because the year before he caused a severe accident, in which his friend Lisa's husband was killed.

At 6.26 pm, June 11th 1955, the world of playboy racers and their exotic cars exploded in a devastating fireball. On the home straight early in the Le Mans 24-Hour race, future British world champion Mike Hawthorn made a rash mistake. Pierre Levegh's Mercedes 300 SLR smashed into the crowd, killing 83 people and injuring 120 more. It remains the worst disaster in motor racing history.