The Le Mans Classic 2010 was held July 9-11 at the famed Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France. The fifth running of the event saw one of the strongest fields in classic motorsports take to the full 13.65 kilometer Le Mans circuit run in the modern 24 Hours of Le Mans. From pre-war Bentleys and Talbots to the Porsche 935 and Ferrari 512 BBLM of the late ‘70s, all the golden age of motor sports flashes before the spectators’ eyes.
The Le Mans Classic 2010 celebrated many anniversaries: 100 years for Alfa Romeo; the 75th anniversary of Lagonda’s first victory at Le Mans and Porsche’s 40th. The Aston Martin Owner’s Club will celebrate its 75th anniversary. This year is also the 40th anniversary of the film Le Mans starring actor-driver Steve McQueen. Saturday morning at Le Mans saw a tribute with a parade dedicated to the film with the presence of the Porsche 908/2 Spyder, the car with which the actor excelled with a 2nd place at Sebring in 1970.
The Le Mans Classic is open to all cars, or models of the same type, that participated in the original running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1923 and 1979. Each grid is made up of 65 cars (plus 12 reserve cars), allowing the public to admire no less than 470 cars of incredible variety. The six grids run a non-stop relay each other on the track for 24 hours, with each class taking the track three separate times.
Le Mans Classic 2010 – Group One Final Results
1. BMW 328 – Albert Otten, 21 laps, Overall Time 2:17:39.053
2. Talbot 105 BGH 21 – Lee Maxted-Page, Julian Bronson, Gareth Burnett and Ales Ames, – 2:20.454
3. Talbot 105 – John Ruston, Alex Amex and Phil Stanton , – 4:44.485
4. HRG 1500 – Didier Marty and Francois Legeleux, – 4:51.468
5. Invicta S Type – Helmut Rothenberger and Gaetan Woitrin, – 6:38.309
Le Mans Classic 2010 – Group Two Final Results
1. Jaguar D Type – Peter Neumark and JS Baxter, 25 laps, Overall Time 2:22:46.188
2. Maserati 300S – Nicolas Chambon and Henri Chambon, – 21.957
3. Jaguar C Type – Nigel Webb, – 34.482
4. Cooper T39 – John Clark, Chris Clark and David Smithies, – 1:11.357
5. Mercedes-Benz 300SL – Pierre de Thoisy and Robert Frowein, – 4:21.341
Le Mans Classic 2010 – Group Three Final Results
1. Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage – Willi Balz and Frank Stippler, 27 laps, 2:21:43.405
2. Lotus 15 – Roger Wills and Joe Twyman, – 3.654
3. Lotus 15 – Ewan McIntyre and Jamie McIntyre, – 1.38.683
4. Aston Martin DB4GT – Peter Thornton, David Garrett and Adrian Willmott, – 4:53.321
5. Lister Costin Jaguar – Carlos Monteverde, Gary Pearson and Andrew Smith, – 6:37.464
Le Mans Classic 2010 – Group Four Final Results
1. Ford GT40 – Christian Glasel, 27 laps, 2:13:57.402
2. AC Cobra – Steve Hitchins and Bernard Peruch, – 8:15.166
3. Ford GT40 – Manuel Ferrao and Diogo Ferrao, – 14:05.757
4. Lotus Elan – Anthony Schrauwen, – 2 laps
5. Jaguar E Type – Hugo Payen and Tristan Couedel, – 3 laps
Le Mans Classic 2010 – Group Five Final Results
1. Lola T70 Mk III – Bernard Thuner, 30 laps, 2:18:18.646
2. Chevron B16 – John Sheldon, – 4;04.652
3. Porsche 917 – Richard Attwood and Vern Schuppan, – 4:23.678
4. Chevron B16 – Stephane Gutzwiller, – 7:17.369
5. Alpine A 220 – Sylvain Stepak, – 7:27.081
Le Mans Classic 2010 – Group Six Final Results
1. Porsche 936 – Jean-Marc Luco and Jacques Nicolet, 30 laps, 2:13.54.655
2. Lola T298 – Patrice Lafargue, – 3:35.052
3. Chevron B21 – Ludovic Caron, – 5:17.131
4. Ferrari 512 BBLM – Mr. John of B and Soheil Ayari, – 5:38.957
5. Sauber C5 – Philippe Scemama, Yves Scemama, Philipp Brunn and Siegfried Brunn, – 10:05.250
Le Mans Classic 2010 – Photo Gallery (picture credit: Steve Rossini)
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[Source: picture credit: Steve Rossini / Highland Design Studio]
Has to be the best field in vintage racing today…marvelous images. The Bizzarrini on page one..
Hi Team,
Excellent job to get the pictures up so quickly, but me being picky again, second car in the bottom row panel 2
‘1931 MG C-Type Montlhery’
And where is the picture of the 1935 Austin Seven Sports which successfully ran in the 1935 Le Mans and came 16th on handicap 75 years later.
Cheers, Tony
It bothers me to see all these fine cars defaced with modern advertising all over them looking completely out of preiod. If at any event the cars need to appear as they originally did it would be at LeMans. They need to appear in original form,paint and number. It truely ruins the spirit of the vintage movement for me.These are supposed to represent the finest vintage race cars that were ever built. Let’s keep them pure to their originality and not make rolling modern billboards of them.
Great idea Bob,
all you need to do now then is stump up the sponsorship money and “Bob” is our uncle! Well done with that generous offer ;o)
No? ah well, I guess we will just have to carry on “defacing” our cars and let some other generous person pay. I for one am enormously grateful to those that sink their money into our sport.
Thank you sponsors!!
Jules.
It bothers me even more to see Morgan cars passing Ferrari as I saw many times in U.S vintage racing car events.