Motorsport: The biggest endurance race in the world

New Zealand's Brendon Hartley poses in front of his car during the test day of the 83th Le Mans 24 hours endurance race. Photo / Getty Images

Motorsport fans, and sportscars racing aficionados in particular, all flock to the northern French town of Le Mans for the oldest and biggest endurance race in the world.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans, often know as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, is the race every manufacturer and most drivers are desperate to win.

Up to 270,000 fans flock to the 13km Circuit de la Sarthe for the race. The town is fairly bursting at the seams and the race organisers, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, open up numerous campsites around the track to accommodate the huge numbers of race followers.

Wondering through one of the campsites, it's possible to see Bentley GTs, all manner of Ferraris, Aston Martins, classic American muscle, Lamborghinis et el parked up next to everything from two-man tents to huge motorhomes.

At the other end of the scale are a few rather old and worn trucks and panel vans that make the trip on a regular basis. The best of them has to be an old British Royal Air Force mobile control tower once used by the Red Arrows. The crowning glory of the dark green machine just has to be a genuine command pennant flying in all its glory high above the truck, which just happened to be liberated from an Air Vice Marshall's safe.

The truck has been arriving at the same place at the campsite behind the start/finish straight for 10 years and some of the folk involved in getting it there have been coming to Le Mans for 25 years. These hardcore fans turn up year after year come rain, hail or sunshine.

Leader of this rag-tag bunch of the self-styled 'The Brethren', is Russell Pearman who hails from Greenhithe in Kent.

"We've got about 40 who have turned up this year," he said. "When we arrive, we hook up with the Germans, French and others and, in total, we're just over 100-strong.

"It was much more interesting in the early days when the cars were much better and nothing like they are now. The sound and everything else to do with them has gone now [there are not many big, thundering V8s left in the pack]. It was something to behold standing down at Tertre Rouge and hearing the Panoz heading into it.

"We haven't watched too much of the racing in the past few years but are planning to this year. I'm interested in this new Nissan, so we've got a few grandstand tickets this time. It's a bit different to most of the other cars [in LMP1]. It's the return of Godzilla, as they say."

Most of the long-time fans in the campsites who have made the trip year after year enjoy a few libations over the long weekend and would, in all honesty, see only a small portion of the race. They are more fans of the adventure rather than the motorsport aspect.

Ben Sturgess from Ashford in Kent, one of the more youthful fans in his early 20s, wants to watch a fair bit of the racing but was at the event for another reason as well. He had just arrived back at the campsite after running the entire 13.6km track in 58 minutes.
"I've wanted to run it in the past, so I did this time," said the amateur athlete who has ticked off a few half-marathons in the past.

At the end of the three qualifying sessions, the four New Zealanders contesting Le Mans had all qualified inside the top four in their respective classes. Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber sat second and third respectively in LMP1, Richie Stanaway was fastest in his LMGTE Pro category in the Aston Martin and Mitch Evans was fourth quickest in LMP2 in the Jota Sport car.

Le Mans by the numbers

9: Driver nationalities
10: Years since a petrol car has won the race
13: Number of brands of engine
9: Record wins for Tom Kristensen
16: Record wins for Porsche
17: Brands represented
20: Metres between Chris Amon (winner) and Denny Hulme in 1966
56: Cars taking part this year.
10: Women who raced in 1935
0: Women racing in 2015
90: Years ago the first Le Mans start