Last weekend, the 10th edition of Le Mans Classic was held. We went to see it with Lotus Passion.
If you don't know Le Mans Classic, look it up! Le Mans Classic is organized every two years, a few weeks after the Le Mans 24h race. It's one of the few races in Le Mans that besides the 24h also takes place on the big 13.626 km circuit layout. You can only participate with cars that have previously driven in the 24h race. This means that a lot of historic Lotus models are allowed to participate. They are certainly not demonstration laps in Le Mans. Many drivers are still racing for the win and sometimes even go over the limit. We saw this again this year when a one-off Ferrari Breadvan went off in the first chicane of Haudières.
This edition saw a total of 26 Lotus racing cars at the start. The oldest date back to 1955. And these were 2 Lotus Mark IX of the 30 ever made. Of these, 2 also competed in the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, driven by Chapman. However, the car was disqualified at the time, apparently for driving backwards to get back on track after going off course. The cars competed in plateau 2 and pilots Regent / Le Metayer didn’t do badly this year. They had to compete with Jaguars, Ferraris, Maserati’s and so on with their Mark IX. Still, they achieved a beautiful 11th place with the oldest Lotus on the grid.
Regent / Le Metayer on their way to the start
In plateau 3, a lot of beautiful Lotus were competing. Here O. Bryant and G. Bryant won the overall victory with their 1958 Lotus 15. Much more successful than when the Lotus 15 participated in the 24h in 58' & 59' where it never reached the finish despite its fantastic speed.
In plateau 4, S.Evans was the fastest Lotus with a fine 16th place.
We have heard rumours that next year will be another Le Mans classic because the previous edition did not go ahead. For every Lotus and car fan this event is definitely a must!
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