Social spotlight 📱

This amazing fly-over shot of this year’s Le Mans line-up is very visually pleasing. Maybe it’s always this colourful, but it somehow seems more striking this year. Amazing to see the Hypercars, LMP2 and LMGT3 all lined up together, setting the scene for effectively multiple races playing out on the same track over 24 hours. A recipe for many, many overtakes and usually a lot of drama. If you’re tuning in (you should) the race starts at 3pm today!

Small screen scene 📺

The extraordinary Porsche 963 RSP is a one-off road car tribute to the road-registered Porsche 917 that was created 50 years ago. While that 917 (chassis 30) was owned by Count Rossi of Martini Rossi fame, the ‘RSP’ in the new car’s name refers to Roger Searle Penske. The motorsport legend has spearheaded Porsche’s endurance racing effort in recent years and his team has been integral to the creation of this road version of the 963. Henry Catchpole went to Le Mans (very briefly) to have a look at both cars and then drive the new 963.

Hot off the press 📰

It’s Le Mans weekend! If you have ever fallen asleep in a tent, meters away from a Corvette thundering around Circuit de la Sarthe, aided by an unhealthy volume of beer then you’ll share my excitement. As I’m not visiting this year, I’ll be falling asleep on the sofa following along, as it traditional. The 24 hour race is motor-racings equivalent to a test match - you don’t rawdog 24 hours of racing, you stay in touch with a radio, you drop in and out of the action and you stay suitably…hydrated. This year is set to be a fantastic event with a number of manufacturer teams partaking in the hypercar class, including Ferrari and Aston Martin with the Valkyrie. This cheat sheet gives you an overview of the cars and the drivers taking part this year to make the race easier to follow. Aston Martin having the 007 number is satisfying.

Podcast of the week 🎙️

If that’s whet your appetite and you want to get more into the Le Mans spirit, check out this episode of The Intercooler where Dan and Andrew talk about how to make the Le Mans the best weekend of your year - They look at the runners and riders in each category, discuss the Le Mans debut of the Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar and speculate on which teams look like competing for the win. They also share memories from Le Mans and top tips for spectators. 

Seen in the wild 👀

OK, it doesn’t fit the theme. At all, but this car caught my eye for a few reasons; its lucid green paintwork, the minions hanging off the wing mirror and the fact that I’ve never seen one before. I had to run a check on the reg to work out what it actually is, a Toyota Spade apparently. Interestingly(?) it has doors on the driver’s side, but a sliding door on the other side. In the unlikely case that you’re tempted by this contraption, you’ll probably need to import one.