In this edition of the various reviews of the 2007 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas, we get to see the Michelin booth boasting their status as the powerhouse of tire manufacturing, and a major contributor to 10 consecutive wins at Le Mans .
In the GT style of Le Mans racing, every facet of the car and driver are tested, as these specially designed and tuned cars must drive on a very competitive track for 24 hours straight. Circuit de la Sarthe is the track upon which these top-notch cars and drivers must circle around for an entire day. The track features a small variety of turn styles, but is most known for its massive straights, and more particularly the one known as the Mulsanne straight. The drivers can spend roughly 85% of their driving time in full throttle, and as you can imagine, the high speeds (sometimes over 200mph) are also coupled with high speed breaking and follow-through turns.
Since 1923, the 24 hours of Le Mans racing has been on the cusp of auto technology, where companies like Audi, Bugatti and Ferrari pushed the limits of the best they had to offer. Such advancements have been in the areas of creating more aerodynamic cars, as well as the understanding of what is known in the racing world as down-force, the advancement in engine structure and materials, and even the creation of high-performance transmissions all culminated from the Le Mans series. Of course with all these high-speed cars, you need something to stop them for the corners. As a solution to this, we first saw disk breaks on the 1953 Jaguar, and air brakes on the 1955 Merc. By the late 90’s we saw carbon breaks coupled with ABS systems finally take their place. Some of these high performance cars never made it to the finish, however, as many notorious crashes have been seen at Le Mans events. Most notably, a crash in 1955 led to the deaths of over 80 people (spectators and a driver), and thus causing motorsports to be banned in the entire country of Switzerland.
