Every two year as the dust starts to settle on Le Mans circuit after the big 24 hour race, the Le Mans Classic hit the venue for a few days of historic awesomeness. The event usually doesn’t attract much media attention, which is why it is more like an exclusive club for a group of exquisite people.
The 2014 Le Mans Classic was a fantastic event with 450 cars from 1923 to 1979 participating. The biggest highlight of it, however, was the launch of the new Jaguar F-Type Project 7, which took to the track next to the car that inspired it, the D-Type, which was also celebrating its 60th anniversary.
The F-Type Project 7 will be Jaguar’s fastest production car to date with 575PS and 680Nm from its 5.0-litre supercharged V8 petrol engine. It will reach 60mph in 3.8-sec (0-100 km/h in 3.9-sec) with a top speed of 186mph (300km/h). The car is already sold out in the UK, where only 65 units are offered for sale. Worldwide production is limited to 250 units.
Apart from the Jag thing, 2014 Le Mans Classic treated the fans with the usual blend of static and dynamic action:
Some of the best exhibitions at the 2014 Le Mans Classic included Le Mans Heritage Club; a gathering of Ferrari 250; 70’s era camping; Vintage Gas station; Ferrari Classic’s workshop; and Vintage Police station. The Little Big Mans with one hundred cars driven by drivers between 7 and 12 years old was also an interesting occasion.
As for the racing cars, they were divided into six grids based on the year of production:
Grid 1 (1923 – 1939) Bentley Blower, Talbot Lago, Bugatti Type 35…
Grid 2 (1949 – 1956) Jaguar D-Type, Maserati 300 S, Mercedes 300 SL…
Grid 3 (1957 – 1961) Ferrari 250 GT, Lotus Elite, Lister Jaguar…
Grid 4 (1962 – 1965) Ford GT 40, Ferrari 250 LM, Porsche 904…
Grid 5 (1966 – 1971) Porsche 917, Ferrari 312 P, Matra MS 660…
Grid 6 (1972 – 1979) BMW M1, Rondeau M 379, Sauber C5…
Here’s a magnificent gallery of the best cars at Le Mans Classic courtesy of Marc Fleury MotorSport Photography