hi!! i'm farah and i wanted to make a little into post :)
about me
pronouns: she/her
age: 20
main: @yviisxo
yapping is tagged #farah talks
f1
current drivers: isack hadjar, charles leclerc, alex albon, george russell, max verstappen, ollie bearman
other drivers: logan sargeant, lia block, jamie chadwick
retired drivers : nico rosberg, kimi räikkönen, jenson button
teams: ferrari (violently sobbing)
started watching: 2020
indy
drivers: colton herta, david malukas, alexander rossi, kyle kirkwood, pato o'ward
teams: andretti
started watching: 2024
i occasionally post about tennis and soccer lmao
i'm always looking for more motorsport friends so please don't be afraid to message!! i'm happy to have more mutuals :))
Le Mans Through the Decades; The small beginnings of the 1920s and before.
Original race poster, painted by H. A. Volodimer.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans saw its 100 year celebration in 2023. For this year, which will be the 94th running of the legendary race, I will be looking at the history of the oldest active endurance race, a decade at a time. So, I will be starting with the 1920s and working my way up to the 2020s. This time, I will be looking at the 1920s and what led to the first 24 Hours of Le Mans running in 1923.
Read on Substack
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Or read below
Warning: some of these editions will mention and/or describe fatal accidents. There will be no images or videos of these incidents but simply short factual descriptions when necessary. My 50s rendition will be more detailed as the ‘55 disaster is what marked that decade at Le Mans. That specific edition will have the appropriate warnings.
As many things in motorsport are, the 24 Hours of Le Mans was created through a series of events. Which means, despite holding its first edition in 1923, the history of this race goes further back, and does not necessarily have to do with any auto races.
Georges Durand was a Frenchman born in a small community north of Le Mans in 1864. He grew up mostly in The Belle Époque, a time after the Franco-Prussian War when France was full of optimism and busy with technological, scientific and cultural innovations. At the age of 20, he left his birthplace and moved to Le Mans to work with the bridges and highways department of the local council. This eventually gained him an interest in automobiles.
In the new century, Le Mans became a pioneer in the motor industry, mainly due to Amédée Bollée, a Frenchman born in 1844. He had worked in his family’s bell foundry before moving to Le Mans to produce his first steam-powered vehicle. Only two years after that, Bollée created a smaller and lighter vehicle that was so well received, 50 more were made. It became the first series-production car.
In 1895, Amédée and his son Léon participated in the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race, sometimes referred to as the ‘first motor race’. As the Paris-Rouen ‘contest’ a year prior was not run as a race, but rather as a contest. The finish of this race ended in an outcry as the first two finishers were found to be ineligible to receive a prize. As they competed with two-seaters instead of four-seaters, which meant the third place finisher – the first four-seater – took the win.
The father-son duo of Amédée and Léon finished ninth, last among all finishers. This didn't deter their interest, though. Léon Bollée Automobiles was created, whose product ended up winning competitions, including the Paris-Dieppe race in 1897.
When the Wright brothers visited Le Mans in 1908 to demonstrate their flying machine, Léon offered the brothers the facilities of his factories. Before this, the Wright brothers had faced much skepticism from the French aeronautical community. But these flights managed to convince the French public and made them apologize for their previous statements.
Georges Durand would watch this with great amazement, and a desire to take part in it. In 1897 he had joined the committee of the Union Auto-Cycliste de la Sarthe, of which Léon Bollée was the founding president.
A few years later, in 1905, there was huge dissatisfaction with the organisation of the Gordon Bennett Cup; a trophy offered by Gordon Bennett to Automobile Club de France (ACF), to be raced annually by various automobile clubs.
The race was run from 1900 to 1905, of which the first three editions all started in Paris. For 1903, however, the race was moved to Ireland in response to the French government banning point-to-point car races on open public roads. This was in turn a response to the 1903 Paris-Madrid race, where 8 people were killed, and over 15 were injured before the cars even reached the Spanish border.
In these George Bennett Cup Races, each nation was allowed to enter three cars, which led to dissatisfaction from the ACF, as France had a much higher number of auto manufacturers and wanted to be able to represent that.
This created the 1906 French Grand Prix, which is often referred to as the first ever Grand Prix. This race was run on the outskirts of Le Mans with a track just over 100km in length. The race would take place at the end of June and run across two days. The competitors would set out at ninety-second intervals to complete six laps on each day, a total distance of 1,238.16 kms The lowest aggregate time would determine the winner.
Tens of thousands of people travelled to Le Mans to see the race. Due to safety concerns for spectators, as several were killed in recent motor racing events, the ACF placed 65km of palisade fencing around the circuit. There were also several footbridges spanning over the track, and a grandstand was placed at the start/finish line.
(Pictured: Ferenc Szisz)
The race was won by Hungarian Ferenc Szisz driving for the Renault team at an average of almost 100 km/h. This race was seen as a commercial success and while the second edition was run in the town of Dieppe, a solid foundation for Grand Prix racing was established. Motorsport continued in Le Mans with Georges Durand now as secretary of the Automobile Club de la Sarthe et de l’Ouest.
In 1911, they ran a race over a completely different and shorter (about half in length) track than what was used during the 1906 Grand Prix. The track ran from Pontlieue, through the town of Mulsanne to Écommoy and Le Grand-Lucé. The part through Mulsanne was the first use of a section that would later be called Circuit la de Sarthe. This race was called the Grand Prix de France but was poorly supported and saw Le Mans’ first fatality when an axle broke on the car of Maurice Fournier. The car somersaulted and caught on fire outside Mulsanne (extremely close to the modern day Mulsanne corner), killing the driver. After that, just two more races were held in Le Mans before World War I.
France’s economy struggled to recover after the war, but the now renamed Automobile Club de l’Ouest was determined to resume its activities. They wanted an easier way to control spectators, and charge them for admission. Which meant the track had to be shorter, and thus a new layout was born. One that became rather close to what is used now.
(1921-28 vs the modern day layout)
The map above illustrates the circuit that was used during the majority of the 20s compared to the current day layout. Throughout the years several parts have been changed, but its placement and the run from Tetre Rouge to Arnage has remained mostly the same. The two chicanes on the Mulsanne straight have been there since 1990, implemented due to safety concerns after speeds reached above 400km, marred by two fatal accidents in the 80s.
In August of 1920, Le Meeting de la Reprise was held on the new 17.262 km track; a competition over two days where the Saturday was reserved for cyclecars and the Sunday for voiturettes. The success of this event prompted the ACO to return to Le Mans for their first Grand Prix post WWI in 1921.
Ahead of this race, grandstands were built on the pit straight, facing the pit lane. The 1921 French Grand Prix would be run under engine regulations that matched those of the Indianapolis 500 with a 3-litre maximum capacity. Jimmy Murphy won the race for American constructor Duesenberg. This would be the last victory for an American constructor in a major European race until the 24H of Le Mans in 1966. Where famously Ford took a 1-3 finish with their Ford GT40 Mk.II. The 1922 edition of the French Grand Prix was run to new GP regulations, requiring engines no larger than two litres, in cars with two seats and weighing at least 650kg. Italian driver Felice Nazzaro won the race for Fiat.
During those same years, so called ‘Grands Prix de Consommation’ were held as well, which the ACO kept a keen eye on. These races were fuel economy tests that ran over 100 kilometers at a set speed. After the races, the quantity of fuel would be measured for all cars with special formulas including engine size, weight, body type, cost of fuel and average speed – eventually deciding the winner. The philosophy behind these races played a massive part in the making of the race that would shape Le Mans for the next century.
In 1922, Charles Faroux introduced Émile Coquille and Georges Durand during the 18th Salon de l’Automobile in Paris (Paris Motor Show). The three began discussing ideas for a competition. While Faroux was conservative – suggesting an eight-hour race – Durand was ambitious, aiming for a full twenty-four hours. This was not an entirely new idea, as just earlier that year, the first edition of the Bol d’Or was held: a motorcycle race held across twenty-four hours that is still part of the FIM Endurance World Championship. Though at several different tracks across its history.
Durand’s plan was endorsed by the ACO in October of that year, and rather quickly, regulations were written for a race to be held in May of 1923. Invitations were sent to manufacturers – with the message that only cars that could be purchased for road use would be allowed in the race.
Cars were required to have four seats, with the exception of cars under 1100cc, which only required two seats. Each car was required to carry a 60kg bag of ballast for each vacant seat, resembling the weight of a passenger. Furthermore, cars would be painted in a country's national colours and would carry racing numbers allocated by engine size. Two drivers were nominated for each car.
There were strict rules – cars would have to cover a minimum distance to count as a finisher. And if a car were to fall behind its designated minimum speeds at certain intervals of the race, it’d be disqualified on the spot. All repairs during the race were only allowed to be carried out by the driver.
The first edition was won by René Léonard and André Lagache in the #9 Chenard & Walcker, followed by their teammates Christian Dauvergne and Raoul Bachmann in the #10. Third, and winner of the 2.0 class, was the #23 Bignan.
#9 Chenard & Walcker winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1923 with drivers René Léonard and André Lagache
While the race started after a massive hailstorm in the cold with heavy winds, there were no major incidents until the finish. When Paul Gros, driver of the third place finishing Bignan, tried to cross the circuit to shake the hand of a friend he was struck by the #10, driven by Raoul Bachmann. He braked hard and tried to keep himself from hitting Gros, but was unsuccessful as Gros was launched into the air on impact. Somehow, Gros walked away with only a broken arm.
The ACO did not declare an official winner or give out any award, as the race was set to be part of a triennial trophy. Entrants would be competing for the Rudge-Whitworth Cup, which would not be awarded until the 1925 edition of the race. An entrant, whose car qualified by meeting the target distance in 1923 would advance to 1924 – and those who succeeded a second time would advance to the final. At the same time, a second triennial competition would begin from 1924 - 1926, and so on.
This was done to encourage competitors to commit to the race beyond its inaugural season – which it initially did. But quickly, the honor of finishing first eclipsed that.
In the middle, the triennial Rudge-Whitworth 24 Hours of Le Mans cup. (Left the biennial 25-26 & Right 24-25 cups)
Ahead of the 1924 edition, the ACO ultimately announced that the initial triennial Rudge-Whitworth would run to its conclusion, but would be replaced by a biennial event starting from 1924. The biennial cup was abandoned in 1928.
1924 would be the first time the race would be run during its traditional June slot in the hopes of better weather. It proved fruitful, as the race was extremely hot. Bentley won the race with their #8, driven by John Duff and Frank Celement.
The first ‘Le Mans-style start’ was done in 1925 at Mulsanne. The owner of the original starting straight had tripled the rent, so the ACO decided to move the pits to the middle of the Mulsanne Straight. During this start, drivers would run to their cars placed on the opposite side of the track. There would be a 1000 franc bonus for the driver who completed the first lap in first position. This start was in place until 1969, until safety concerns caused the rules to be changed for the 1970 edition.
1925 also saw its first two fatal incidents, one ahead of the race and one during. On the Friday ahead of the race, André Guilbert, a mechanic for the team, was driving the #19 2.5-litre Ravel 12CV Sport racing car on the Mulsanne straight, as practice ahead of the race. The track was still open to regular traffic, when his car was struck head-on by a van on the wrong side of the road. Guilbert died from his injuries while the van driver was lightly wounded.
The second accident came when Marius Mestivier spun – once again on the Mulsanne Straight, on the eighteenth lap of the race. The car swerved off the road and went headfirst into a ditch, killing him instantly. It was initially reported to be a blown tire or brake lock that caused the crash, but later sources claimed that he was struck by a bird instead.
Just after midnight, there was another major incident. The suspension on Léon Saint-Paul's Lorraine broke, throwing the car into a roll. The driver was pulled from the wreck by Tulio Vesprini, who stopped to help and then waited until an ambulance arrived. He was later given a 2000 franc prize for his efforts.
1926 saw the top three average over 100kph for the full twenty-four hours – a record for that time. It also saw controversy when two Peugeots were disqualified during the race. One was lying in second when it was disqualified for a broken windscreen support, much to the dismay of the spectators. The other Peugeot was disqualified when its driver reversed up the pit to try and bump-start the car with a dead battery.
In 1927, Marcel Michelot went out to test one of the cars a week ahead of the race. He lost control of the car near Arnage and hit an oak tree; he was killed instantly.
That same year, a sparse grid entered the race. Political turmoil and economic uncertainty caused inflation, which meant many of the major manufacturers did not make it to Le Mans that year. On the Saturday morning ahead of the race, the Tracta team drivers were all injured in an accident en route to the track. They were taken to a clinic and were ordered to rest for the next two days.
Albert Grégoire instead snuck out and made his way to the track. Left without a co-driver, he made an announcement over the PA system and recruited a mechanic willing to drive the car. Because of the lack of high profile manufacturers, Bentley seemed all but certain of a victory.
Frank Clement in the #1 Bentley had lapped his teammates and set a new track record when he found the Th. Schneider of Pierre Tabourin sitting in the middle of the road at Maison Blanche. The car had hit a wooden hut and bounced back on the road. In avoidance, Clements ran into a ditch and was flung from the car. George Dulle, also in a Bentley, arrived next, and seeing the danger, jumped out of the car over his steering wheel just before the car struck its sister.
Several other cars were involved – another Th. Schneider, an Ariès and a SARA before Sammy Davis, also in a Bentley, stumbled upon the accident. The gravel and debris had warned him, but he was unable to avoid its sister car, the #1 Bentley. Despite the mess, only one driver was injured, Tabourin, who suffered a broken arm and ribs.
The scene of the crash the following day
The #3 Bentley of Davis managed to untangle itself from the wreck, but not before making sure all other drivers involved were OK. The #3 limped back to the pits and was fixed by Davis before being handed over to his teammate Benjafield, who had to navigate the night with a flashlight strapped to the windscreen frame for visibility.
Miraculously, through misfortune for the leading Ariés, the #3 took the lead and won the race despite being involved in what was later described as ‘one of the most sensational accidents ever recorded in connection with the history of motor racing.’
Grégoire, who had snuck out of the clinic ahead of the race, finished seventh overall. He’d driven the majority of the race with his head bandaged – only relieved by the stand in when he needed a break. The car had reached its needed distance a few hours before the finish but Grégoire knew that he needed to finish the final lap to qualify as a finisher. He parked the car between the trees, took a nap, and woke up in time to finish the car’s final lap.
Despite the small grid, and an even smaller amount of finishers: the now infamous crash at Maison Blanche gathered more media attention than the race had ever had.
1928 finally saw, alongside the Biennial Cup, the Coupe á la Distance introduced. This was for the car that travelled the furthest over the twenty-four hours. This meant there would be an overall winner declared.
Next up: the 1930s and 40s. The Great Depression, WWII and the first female participants.
(First woman to score a championship in F1. Also openly lesbian!)
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Abi Pulling just won GB3 so we’re getting closer to another woman on track <3
Also if you’re interested in learning about lgbt people in motorsport as a whole, Toby (pit lane pod) has a series on Tick-tock called ‘queer people in motorsport’ he only talks about people who are openly gay, there’s no speculating over whatever the hell went on with Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber…
more depressing news for us girlies who love f1, because of course.
claudia schwarz, the former chief marketing officer at williams, says she was fired in november 2022 after raising concerns about sexism and racism at the team. then, on top of losing her job, williams never even paid her severance package.
the parent company, dorilton, didn't just argue against her claims. they went full sexism as a time honoured strategy to discredit women and painted claudia as a cartoon villain, saying she slept her way to the top and used a secret relationship with the then ceo to steal $6.9 million. because when a woman is successful in f1, the only explanation is she fucked a man, not that she's good at her job. (i want to note that the team principal who hired her, jost capito, says the allegations against her are complete nonsense.)
business f1 magazine, an officially licensed f1 media outlet, ran an article headlined, "a vixen who infiltrated williams." gag. gag. gaggggg. they didn't even pretend they were doing, yah know, journalism. they went straight to women are evil fucking sluts who eat men like air. the article is just as putrid as the headline. claudia says dorilton were behind the hit piece and yep, the article lines up a little too neatly with the sexist allegations dorilton are levelling against her.
then it gets batman-y in the sense a reclusive billionaire enters the picture. his name is peter du putron and he has public ties to conservative politics. claudia's allegations against him are chewy in the worst way; she says that he owns williams, that he uses the team for tax dodging, and that he's racist af. allegedly he threw a tantrum when black celebrities were hosted by williams hospitality. she also says peter was a sooky lah lah and said no when she wanted williams to join lewis hamilton's diversity commission.
peter tried telling the courts he's just a "passive" investor, yet there is evidence williams staff were made to call him "our dear leader." which. ugh. why are men. good news though: the court has ruled peter is involved in williams management and ordered his name should no longer be redacted from filings. hence the guardian article covering his role in this.
claudia's position is that her name has been dragged through the mud and her career is over, but she's choosing to fight the f1's boys' club because she wants to be a good role model for her teenage son. go claudia!
so. bleak. more rot in the house of f1. and more issues for williams.
The problem with f1 fans they became so sensitive and kpop fan like. Not everyone but so many of fans. Y'all are obsessed with data like kpop stans obsessed with charts. The only difference you can't really manipulate f1 data like kpop charts. And it's clearly an opinion if you don't like it block me instead of coke rant in the comments and calling me names.
every day i learn something new about logan sargeant and his racing career, not just about his performance in f1 but in f2 and previous series, too. and every day i end up so sad because he genuinely has so so much potential and can do so much but he keeps being give a poor hand of cards. this guy out qualified his teammate in f2 TEN TO FOUR. and who was his teammate?? liam lawson. liam joined redbull’s driver academy in february of 2019 while logan only got to join an f1 team’s driver academy in october of 2021. that team was williams. which, as we know, hasn't exactly been the best performing team in recent years. oscar piastri got to join an f1 team’s driver academy in january of 2020 (the renault sport academy, later rebranded as the alpine academy). liam and oscar both got the opportunity to do f1 tests for YEARS prior to their f1 debuts in 2023. liam had 4 and a half years of experience in f1 cars before 2023. oscar had 3 years of experience in f1 cars before 2023. even if it was just testing and practice sessions, it's still something.
what did logan get? one measly fp2 session, post-season testing, and then jumped right in to pre-season testing in 2023. he already had a seat in williams then, so with the experience from before the pre-season testing in 2023 he got to do maybe 800km of testing in an f1 car. the others — in this case i mean oscar, liam, and heck even nyck de vris — had opportunities to drive f1 cars and gain experience for YEARS before logan. if you look at nyck de vris: he got signed to the mclaren young driver programme in 2010. he joined the audi sport racing academy in 2016. granted, he left the mclaren programme in before the 2019 season and left audi after the 2019 season, too. but he then went to mercedes as a reserve driver and tester for 2020 and afterwards. this means he got just about a DECADE AND A HALF of teams putting their time and energy into training him to join f1.
logan got a year. one. single. fucking year. that is entirely incomparable to the other rookies from 2023, who had so much more experience before hand. and yet logan was jumped into f1 and the expectations were so high for a guy who hasn't had the chance to train and learn and gain experience.
and yet when we look at the 2022 f2 season, logan sargeant, a rookie, was 1 point off from his teammate —the one and only liam lawson — scoring p4 in the championship. he outqualified his teammate 10 to 4. he was the first american to win an f2 race (that is, of course, following the rebrand from gp2 to f2, but regardless, that’s still an important thing to note and an achievement of his that should be celebrated).
logan sargeant has so much potential and if only williams would show him a little more faith unlike what they’ve been doing, if only they’d give him the same upgrades as alex, if only they wouldn’t force him to drive a car 15kg overweight from that of his teammate’s car, if only they wouldn’t force him to use outdated rear and front wings from the season prior. then perhaps he would have a chance to show what he can do. perhaps if he wasn’t stuck in a team with a crap car who have shown zero faith (which has been vehemently obvious since the circus in australia) in him and made him absolutely miserable, a shell of himself — which you can clearly see in recent interviews and photos of him — then maybe he’d be able to show how good he really is. and maybe if williams hadn’t been so adamant about taking him out of f2 so quickly and let him develop for one more year, we’d be seeing headlines that say “logan sargeant, first american f1 driver on the podium since michael andretti in 1993.” and perhaps we could even see him winning races.
no matter what someone says about his current f1 performances — though most base that solely off of where he ends up on the grid rather than looking at his actual driving and seeing how good he is as a driver considering the crap circumstances he’s in — logan sargeant is a better driver than what everyone says. he is trying so insanely hard to get a car that is miles off from the rest of the field to place as high as humanly possible. no one can say that if you put another driver in that car that logan is driving they'd be doing better than he is now. the fact is, they wouldn't be. he's been given an absolute tractor and is expected to score points when that car isn't built for getting in the points. and yet logan managed to get p10 in the miami sprint race — which should be recognized and commended. because he was in an awful car and he absolutely shined that day. that was just the start of showing what he could do. but he hasn't been given the same resources as alex, those being the upgrades, so what more can he do compared to what he's doing now?
and i am actually sitting here crying as i type this because this is a driver who is giving it his all even when the entire world is against him, even when his entire TEAM is against him, and he is persevering to the best of his abilities. and i know exactly what it’s like to sit here, wanting to reach for your dreams and show everyone how good you are, but to have only your closest friends and family on your side, rooting for you. what it’s like to look everywhere around you and see everyone calling you crap and saying you should quit and that you aren’t and never will be good enough. to look around and see your closest friends and family cheering for you, yet feeling like crap because you aren't doing as well as you would want, feeling inferior to everyone around you.
news flash: logan sargeant is and will always be good enough. he just needs the opportunity to show it, and williams is ruining that for him.
and yes, i will defend him with my life. people who try to say otherwise can try to do the same hours — the WEEKS — worth of research that i’ve done about logan and his career because he IS a good driver and HE DESERVES BETTER.
any hate comments towards logan will be deleted, because i have neither the time nor the energy to deal with that and argue with logan haters. i've said all of what i know and can remember about him and his career above, and will add what i can as time goes on and i remember something else or learn something new. if you have the time to hate on logan, you have the time to do your research and examine the fact that he has the potential to do well, but is not in a position for that because of the abhorrent circumstances he is currently in.
thank you for coming to my ted talk.
edit: i'd also really recommend reading this twitter thread!! it goes into some more depth on logan and his f2 / f1 career, and even a little bit about his f3 career. it's very informative and articulates much of logan's career and why he is a better driver than many believe very well.
https://x.com/herrocult/status/1795747913588761027
the fact that it's been 2 years since i wrote this... i cannot believe how much things have changed since then. absolutely crazy. thank you to everyone who has read this essay & i am so grateful that i posted it when i did because i ended up meeting some of the most amazing people, including my best friend & sister @k-pevensie28x 🥹❤️
