Le Mans: The Race That Rewrote The Rules

Before the races, the circuit. Before the results, the race itself.This opening episode of Chequered Past’s Le Mans series sets the scene for everything that follows — examining what the twenty-four hours of Le Mans actually is, what it has always been, and why it continues to matter in a way that no other race quite does.From its founding in 1923 as a test of reliability rather than outright speed, through the manufacturer battles that brought Ford, Ferrari, Jaguar and Porsche to the Circuit de la Sarthe with reputations and fortunes at stake, to the privateer teams who arrived with neither and occasionally beat everyone anyway — Le Mans has always asked a different question to the rest of motorsport. Not which car is fastest, but which car keeps going.This episode also considers what the race has meant to the drivers who defined it — among them Jacky Ickx, Tom Kristensen and Graham Hill, the only man in history to have won what is informally known as motorsport’s Triple Crown — and what it withheld from those it never quite rewarded, however much their speed deserved it.And it acknowledges, plainly, that this series will not look away from the darker chapters of Le Mans history. That history is part of what the race is. The episodes that follow will show why.Send us Fan MailMusic by #Mubert Music Rendering