A lap around Le Mans

The 24 hours of Le Mans is still three weeks away, and so far it looks like TVU is the best bet for a livestream. There are other possibilities, so I'm keeping my options open.

In the meantime, I found a nice video featuring an Oreca flm09 much like this one.



The Oreca is a French built car that is made from a variety of parts suppliers. It's turned out to be very popular with teams and drivers due to its dependability and relatively low budget. It races in the LMPC class, which is the slowest of the three prototype classes, but still tops out at 180 plus.

The Circuit de la Sarthe, as the Le Mans course is called, takes place mostly on public roads. In this video, driver John Elton crosses the start/finish line at about 13 seconds in. Shortly after passing under the Dunlop Bridge, it's on to the public byways for some very long straightaways, giving the Oreca plenty of room for sixth gear. And what would a straightaway be without some hairy high speed corners at the end?

Hold on to your popcorn on a romp through the French countryside. (Click the lower right corner for full screen and crank the audio for the full effect)