a 24-hour party – with one hell of a race attached

Le Mans is the endurance race. The track is one of the fastest, most challenging in the world and the race lasts not just a few minutes or even a few hours. It lasts an entire day. Which is why most would agree that Les Vingt-Quatre Heures du Mans, which takes place next weekend, is one of the greatest races in the world.

Certainly, British fans need no convincing. For decades tens of thousands of Brits have flocked to Le Mans, making it the third most popular motor sport event after the British Grand Prix and the Goodwood Revival.

In fact many of the 35,000 British spectators have come to regard it as a British motor race that just happens to take place in France. You have only to look at the bulging British campsites and the endless convoys of British sports cars making their way from the Channel ports to the circuit just south of the city of Le Mans to know it.

Why do they do it? Most British fans look upon it not only as a race but a great weekend away. They tend to go in groups, driving down, camping at the track, drinking too much, staying up most of the night and soaking up the sights and sounds and smells of the race.

The prizes go to the cars that cover the most distance in 24 hours. Teams compete in four separate classes, though they share the same track at the same time. Top of the pile are custom-built Le Mans prototypes, which are split into two categories, LMP1 and LMP2, and divided by speed, weight and power output. The next two classes are production-based grand tourers, also divided by speed, weight and power output and known as GT1 and GT2.

Traditionally the race began with a Le Mans start, with the cars parked in the pit lane and the drivers running to them, clambering in, turning on the ignition and racing away. The practice has been replaced with a rolling start because of safety concerns (with a Le Mans start, there was no time for drivers to strap themselves into safety harnesses before pulling away).

Once under way, the cars may stop to refuel and to be repaired as often as they need, but the clock is ticking so the race is as much a test of the cars’ stamina and reliability over 24 hours as that of the drivers.

Originally two drivers would take it in turns behind the wheel. However, in recent years this has changed in an attempt to reduce driver fatigue and crashes. Today drivers are not allowed to drive for more than four hours consecutively, and no driver can drive for more than 14 hours in total.

This year’s main race is likely to be a battle between Audi and Peugeot. Each team is fielding three diesel-powered prototype racing cars. Jacques Villeneuve, the former Formula One world champion, is driving for Peugeot while Scotland’s Allan McNish lines up in the Audi squad.

In the GT class, Aston Martin will be hoping for a successful defence of last year’s win with its DBR9 racer. It has Heinz-Harald Frentzen, another F1 driver, to help beat its principal opposition, the Chevrolet Corvette.