Manufacturer Le Mans exhibition at Prototype
16.03.2010
G ewiss, there have been and still are other endurance races this planet - the Sebring 12 Hours, for example, or the Daytona 24 Hours. And at the Nürburgring, the legendary Marathon de la Route was once a proud 96 hours in a row.
77 times 24 Hours of Le Mans
But none of that changes the fact that the long-distance classic has been held in French Le Mans on the river Sarthe since 1923 ; In June 2009 the 77th edition went off with a victory for the Peugeot 908 HDI.
The myth of the 24 heures du Mans is unique. This is due to the 13 km long stretch with this six km straight called Hunaudières, which otherwise serves as a normal country road, and the many stories: The White House Corner Crash when seven cars crashed into one another in 1927, or the battles between Ferrari and Ford and Ferrari and Porsche. And of course on the 917, which was measured at 386 km /h on the Hunaudières, where 'the driver had to pinch his ass cheeks terribly,' as Porsche Museum Director Klaus Bischof explains.
The prototype museum is celebrating this Le Mans myth with a remarkable exhibition of several vehicles - including Bentley 4.5 liters, Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM, German Bonnett DB 2 from 1938, Jaguar D-Type, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W194), Ford GT 40 and Audi prototypes - with photographs by Wieselmann, Schlegelmilch and Orel as well as unpublished shots from the cult film Le Mans.
The exhibition at Shanghaiallee 7 is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., details at www.prototyp-hamburg.de
