Enduring Le Mans

The 2012 Le Mans 24 Hour race was the 80th time the event had been run, and as a wide-eyed, first-time spectator it’s fair to say the world's most famous auto race is not for the faint of heart.

Among the 240,000 that watched the race for all or part of the 24 hours, I don’t mind saying it was a gruelling experience, especially when the beer ran out.

But spare a thought for the drivers in this race of resilience, where mental strength and physical stamina are arguably more important than driving skills when you've been driving flat-knacker all day... and all night.

And it’s scary how often crashes occur in the final hour of racing...
While the 2012 race was run and won by Audi for the 11th time, Toyota put

in a strong showing in the premier 'Le Mans prototype 1' class, or LMP1, and French driver Nicolas Lapierre even took the lead for part of the race.

But how does a driver prepare himself, mentally and physically, for such an arduous event? We spoke to Lapierre, to find out what actually goes on behind the scenes for the drivers.

"You have to get used to not sleeping a lot," he says with a wry smile.

"Also we have two test sessions in the week [before the race], and they are at night. So you wake up early too."

As he explains, staying fit is important in any motorsports event, but being mentally prepared is just as crucial -- particularly when driving at night, or when coming off the long main straight of the 13.6km Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans.

"We have the best top speed of any car - 335km/h we made in qualifying," he boasts.

The Toyota Motorsport team had two cars in this year’s race, with three drivers for each to share the load. "If it's dry, it'll be 2.5 hours [between driver changes]... If it's wet, it depends on when we change the tyres."

It's important to squeeze some shut-eye between stints but getting to sleep is not always easy...

"When you get [out] of the car, you have to go to the engineer for a short debrief. Then I eat, I go to the massage room for massage, then I go to shower. Then I go to sleep for 1 or 2 hours.

"Sometimes I can sleep, sometimes not; depends where we are in the race. If we are fighting with another car I want to watch, I cannot sleep," he grins.

If you're not a morning person, a career in 24 hour endurance racing may not be a good fit, as Lapierre has to spend at least 15 minutes in a room full of flood lights, right after being roused.

"When I wake up, I warm up on the [exercise] bicycle, then light. We have a room full of light in the middle of the night -- you wake up when you go there."

While Toyota wasn't expecting to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, the team was pleasantly surprised when Lapierre took the lead from the Audi R18 diesel race car three hours into the race.

But the elation was shorted lived, when 60 seconds later the second Toyota car was clipped by a slower Ferrari, which sent the Toyota flipping through the air at 300km/h, crash landing hard. LaPierre's team mate Anthony

Davidson ended up in hospital with several cracked vertebrae.

Neither of the two Toyota TS030 cars finished the race, with the second car bowing out after 11 hours due to an engine problem.

"We did 24 hours a few times on other tracks. The thing is other tracks are not Le Mans. This is the toughest track of the world, a lot of very long straight lines, a lot of heavy braking, a lot of traffic," Lapierre concludes with a sigh.

As the saying goes, that's motoring racing...

"It's exactly like driving (the Toyota Le Mans) car," explains LaPierre.

"You work there with your engineer and teams. At one stage you are almost lost, you do not know if you're in the real world or in the simulators.

"It's very nice. It's much easier to crash the simulator than normal car. Much cheaper," he chuckles.

The simulator was originally developed during Toyota's F1 tilt, but is now used for other race training. You can even rent it for 4000 Euros (A$4830) a day. Expensive videogaming!

According to Toyota Motorsport driver Nicolas LaPierre, when the electric engines spark up and add more acceleration, the car really hustles. "It's a bit more than 500hp [368kW] and when you get the kick it's like - I cannot say the numbers - but it's huge! The feeling is like a big turbo and it stays for 1 or 2 seconds."

With around 250,000 tickets sold in 2012, the atmosphere was jovial, with people everywhere and a real sense of occasion in the air.
And while flares are regularly set off, copious amounts of alcohol imbibed and fireworks dot the sky all night, almost everyone is smiling and having a good time. Bring on the 81st Le Mans...

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