This video was filmed from the garden of Maurice Genissel’s restaurant "Chez Genissel", on the famous straight line of the hunaudières. My family used to have lunch on the Saturday of the race in the privatized room of "Les Tilleuls" 10 meters from the national road. I remember seeing cars over 370 kkm/h on bales of straw 10 metres from the track. That was absolutly crazy. The noise of the cars was absolute violence Thank you for this video
I must have watched this at least a hundred times. One of the best Le Mans videos out there, back when the Mulsanne was still properly straight. My favorite part has to be at 4:22 - works 962C, chased by one of the Jag V12s, followed closely by a Mazda 767 and yet another Jag. All the variety that made 1980s endurance racing so special, concentrated into 30 seconds. Absolutely magnificent!
@@MrSpanks yeah, for some reason, they sound better than in most other sound videos. Running at full chat on the glorious straight helps ;-) Recognition is possible due to a combination of sound, general appearance (compared to the Porsches, the Jags always seem taller and narrower, even though the actual differences are minimal to non-existant), livery (hard to identify in this video) and cross-referencing with racingsportscars.com. And, you know, binge-watching this video :D
Stop being a purist and accept that everything is bound to change sooner or later. The sport depends on technology which is ever-changing and will not stop, no matter how loud you cry about it.
@@MahatmaGhandi-qh4nt are we not allowed to appreciate things changing? Why is one pure and not the other? Stop trying to control what is perceived as "better"
@@GoldenTiger01he's just talking about the sound, so give it a rest mate. When electric cars sound this good we will change our opinion. Until then, please be quiet
Legendary race, legendary circuit, legendary straight, legendary era full of legendary cars. Never to be seen again at this peak. The 80s were just nuts for racing.
Actually a new golden era is upon us as we speak! Yes the Group C cars were the most spectacular and especially as it was the 80s! Yes the whole straight isn't going to be used again, but look at it as the golden era of the 2020s and onwards, hopefully it will last longer than Group C and FIA won't destroy it.
88 was the first year I went to Le Mans. So happy I was able to go before the chicane was installed. I was 16, sitting on some straw bales about 10’ from the track. Night time was best, looking to the right and seeing the headlights getting bigger, then a blast of noise and look to the left to see tail lights disappear.
As a fan, I wish the straight was still straight. Wondering what the drivers felt about it, crashing at 225 vs crashing at 250? Most current F1 drivers when asked about v6 turbo vs v8 NA say they preferred the v8s
@@Joop.23-2-63 still had brilliant drivers.must have seemed boring because all the other years had such highs.that can often be the case when you almost get used to such a high standard.was that a Miki Biasion championship win?
I know a lot of people will disagree, but noise is an essential part of the racing car; it adds a special ingredient into the mix of assaults on the senses - not easy to explain but its just the best!
TheThirdMan An unpopular opinion among viewers of this particular video, I would hazard to guess. Personally, my response is this: regardless of what can be specifically assessed as “better racing” (even though I may agree with you), there’s a certain romance associated with the old configuration. In much the same way contemporary prototypes are “better” racing cars, there’s a romance and appreciation for what came before. Arguing that things are “better” now, often feels irrelevant to those who feel nostalgic for the past. Despite being empirically and/or logically correct, I’d expect you’d be met with responses like, “yeah, but I don’t care”.
@@happy_camper I can't argue with the romantic aspect you highlighted. But from what I have read, the vast majority of drivers were never very keen on it. It the Book "From Brands Hatch to Indianapolis" (ed. Tommaso Tommasi, 1974), François Cevert referred to it in somewhat contradictory terms as "the big bore" and "quite dangerous". While the terms might have been contradictory, the sentiment wasn't. In the end, it was pressure from the drivers, led by no less than Jean-Louis Schlesser, which led to the demise of the old straight. They'd had enough. The biggest problem was always the speed differential. Even Cevert pointed out that negotiating slower cars was like "weaving through a mobile chicane" and he was particularly concerned about how that played out at night. There had been two recent fatalities on the Mulsanne prior to the 1990 race: a collision between two Aston Martin Nimrods in 1984 killed a marshal. Then there was the possibility of high speed mechanical failure which claimed the life of Jo Gartner in a Porsche 962 in 1986. As for its contribution to racing itself, there are very few places along the straight which are available to spectators anyway. So in the end, all you get is numbers, somewhat nebulous and inevitably exaggerated on places like RU-vid. Again, I won't argue the romantic angle but I think a lot of people take it far too seriously. They seem to think that 330-350 km/h isn't fast enough. They seem to think that it takes greater bravery to drive at 400 km/h and that people doing 340 are somehow lesser racers for it. People question my sexuality for daring to question it. That doesn't bother me particularly but it gives you some idea how childish and far removed it is from reality. JMHO.
Excellent, great to see those classic cars taking full advantage of the straight. More than any other video of Le Mans that I've seen, this gives the true sense of speed. When you're around the track, exciting as it is, it's mainly round corners where speeds are slow, you have little sense that this is what they can really do.
what a great vid ! i nominate this for the next oscar(s) best actors,best sound,best french blue jacket in the front, best relaxed monsieur gendarm and best tiny house near the track. wanna live there!
I love this video. I watch it at least once a month! Those types of cars are long gone. The straight isn't "straight". And videos like this are all that remain of the days of spectators at Mulsanne and ear-splitting noise. But it's still the greatest motor race in the world (in my opinion). 99 years and counting...
I went to the 1972 race when I was only 17. I’ll never forget the sound of those cars building in the distance before you could even see them. Around 11pm, we walked halfway down the Mulsanne straight. There’s a house there and there was a party going on. We joined the party and asked them what they were celebrating. ‘Matra-Simca victory tomorrow!’ And you know, they were right! I’ve loved motorsport ever since and introduced ‘that sound’ to my sons when they were young. We used to go to Silverstone a lot for the sports cars, and cycle around the circuit on Saturday evenings, stopping at the pits and chatting to the mechanics. Wonderful inclusive sport, and very happy days.
None that I ever noticed,the noisiest car this year(88)was the 4rotor mazda which just piped the V12 Jaguar.The previous two years the triple rotor mazda would have been a lot worse but the worst I ever heard was the twin rotor which last ran in 1985.4am in the morning,a near deserted grandstand and the mazda changing up near the end of the pit straight was pure aural cruelty.The lack of valves in a wankel rotary were mostly to blame.The heavily turbo'd porshes were contrastingly civilised.
I remember when David Hobbs was giving commentary of a race, and there was a camera in a factory Porsche. He said, " you can now see the difference between 700 HP of the Porsche and John Pauls Buick Spice V-6 with 1000HP" The Buick went around the outside of Porsche at the right turn leading to the beginning of the Mulsanne and was GONE! Unfortunately it blew the motor as usual, but it was a great shot! Ted.
Fantastic video. Thank you so much. Ah what a way to wake up in the freezing early morning at Le Mans. I camped 30 metres from the track (not the Mulsanne!) in 1985 and the sound was incredible - especially the Mazdas.
The 1980’s were something special for racing fans. Lucky to have seen Nige, Senna, the “professor”, PK, and many more race F1 at Silverstone and Brands at that time. Group A touring cars, group B rally cars, rally cross, etc. but nothing has that magic like Le Mans did in those days... listening to the cars howl through the night and into day was something I wish I could experience again!
When the top speeds on the straight reached the magic nimbers of 400kmh / 250mph the governing body forced the organisers to take action.The 2 chicanes effectively split the straight in 3.The car designers were forced to abandon high speed aerodynamics for high downforce,slowing the cars even more.
Not strictly true. The straight was truncated because the drivers, led by no less than Jean Louis Schlesser, wanted it changed. The long straight contributed nothing to the actual racing and even when split into three sections, still produced speeds in excess of 330 km/h. One of the legendary Nissans actually hit 366. So, in fact, the only difference was a number...But if 330 km/h isn’t fast enough for you, you might remember that even during the mid-late 1980s, that wasn’t exactly slow. In fact, the Nissan was faster on the truncated straight than say, a Porsche 917 ever was.
TheThirdMan well all I was saying was in the 80s cars were speeding down the straight at almost 400kmh but now the cars are more focused on aero and only go about 330 to 340kmh because of hybrid. So I think these cars might be more focused on the speed cause of the long straight and they might even be going close to 500 if they were focused on top speed still if that makes any sense. Then again this is just a hypothetical situation so it’s hard to say if they would still be focused on speed or on aero and downforce.
You'd need about 1,500 hp to do that sort of speed and I doubt it would do anything for the racing. What also needs to be considered is the benefit to lap times. On the surface, you'd think it would make lap times faster. But there's the rest of the lap to be considered. There are lots of third and fourth gear sections which are critical to a good lap time. But if you're doing 200 km/h through those sections, how are you going to gear for 500 on the straight? The spread is just too big. The next thing to consider is something most people give not thought to - the drivers. They made it clear 30 years ago that they didn't want to be travelling at those speeds. That's why chicanes were introduced. The FIA rule came later. One of the biggest issues is the speed differential between the classes. A car doing 250 km/h is traveling pretty fast but to have another go past at double that speed leaves no room for error.
I happened to remember about this video, hopefully it begins working soon. You can't replace that raw sound and nostalgia, gives me goosebumps every time. One of the best Le Mans videos on youtube.
As mentioned earlier,the camera was a Sony CCD V-100E.8mm video tape meant that it was a lot smaller and lighter than the full size VHS cameras of the day but it still rested on your shoulder and you peered into a small black & white viewfinder.
the only thing to add here, is that the sound of these things driving by at over 200+ you cant help but say... HOLY SH... or FU...k because you have to understand the engineering for these beasts at these speeds are insane. Great video again.. lovin it.
As I say in the notes, the camera takes a break for a split second when hit by the electronic pulse of SOME of the cars but there is no distortion at all that I can hear.The video camera(Sony CCD V100E) was about as good as it got for a domestic model at the time and the sound on here is exactly as I remember it at the time,any body else getting distortion?
@tommy9927 The position is 320m before the start of the first chicane,access began to get tricky in the early nineties, before that it was a free-for-all.
This video captures the good essence of the old Lemans, when the Mulsanne didn't have any chicanes, wow i wish i could've been in that race back in those days, i've been dreaming with going to Lemans since i was like 5 lol
Late reply here, but they measured the GTP cars via trackside decibel meters. There's a story about James Weaver in a Dyson Porsche 962 which cracked its muffler and was going to be DQ'd because of excessive noise, so knowing where the little meter was he just went a bit off line and destroyed the device with his car :). I think that was at Del Mar...
I never got round to the Mulsanne straight. But watched the 1988 Le Mans from the stands opposite the pit lane. Taking photos from the start till about 8pm at night. The sound is totally authentic
racing in general was so dang cool in the 80s. Endurance racing, group B, F1, hell even NASCAR were all exciting. Wish I could have seen that time period in person
10 years prior to this in 1978 I made an audio recording from this exact same spot. It is only recently that I re-discovered it in a box of old cassettes. It was still in quite good condition so I have now put it on a video. It was when the main battle was between the Porsche 936s & the Renault Alpine 442s. The famous "Moby Dick" long-tailed Porsche 935 was also there. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W_XXcP3KVPA.html&ab_channel=coleorum
Wicked sounds... I wished I lived at the house at 1:09 LOL The long straight is truly amazing and a testiment to the cars ability for sustained RPM and high speed of over 220+ mph. Miss those days.
This is the soundtrack that should have been used in the Ford vs. Ferrari movie. Why music was used in so many of the race scenes is a mystery. Detracted from a good movie.
The closest I’ve experienced to this was at Daytona for the 500 from ‘06-‘11. Made damn sure to stand right next to the catch fencing when the pack passed at 200-205. All I can say was that was unreal, but compared to 250 mph, forget it. The Mulsanne Straight is something I would legally marry.
Far out footage! I've forwarded this one to many allready. Soooo great ! One small 'but' though. You calculate a little about the travelled distance of the cars and the sound reaching the camera. The sound is irrelevant. At 230mp/h,the cars travel at little over 115 yards a second(!),so it IS indeed 0.9 mile away... Shortly after which the brakingzone for Mulsanne corner came. Again,m-a-g-n-i-f-i-c-e-n-t footage mate! ;-)
The Two V12 XJR9 jags chasing the works 962 Porsche at the end of the video along with the 767B Mazda @4:22 got to be my favorite we will never see nor hear anything like these again.. very sad
Mazda didn''t enter a 767b until 1989, in 1988 they ran two 767's and an older 757 3 Rotor which beat both of the newer 4R cars and won the GTP class. It ended up 15th overall (57 laps behind).
@@marks7197 didn't know that ..the winning 1991 787B is so popular that we barely speak about the previous ones that MAZDA raced at lemans prior to 1991
@@juniormichelesperant6372 Undeservedly so in my opinion, given the circumstances of that race. When I heard the rotaries in person in the 80's at the Silverstone and Brands Hatch 1000km most of the fans in the grandstand hated the sound. I suppose it was good for added variety though back then with the turbo 4's, 6's and v8's as well as the Jag V12.
@@marks7197 I think people hated it maybe because it was too loud? Too pitchy perhaps? I heard even one of the Mazda drivers even went Deaf..but Yeah my favorite sounds were the ones coming from the V12 jags
@@juniormichelesperant6372 The other cars were loud too, but without the grating edge. It was worse in the grandstands where the sound echoed off the walls. It's odd but much later the Rebellions in the 2000's had the same effect (not as severe) in the stand at Woodcote but it was more obvious as they were petrol engines amongst the diesels.
There's no reason they cant get rid of those annoying chicanes. Its better for the fans as the laps are faster. Also, better for slip streaming. We all want max top speed also. Personally 300mph would be appropriate.
Was there one vehicle that was emitting rfi that jazzed up the camera? Seemed to only happen when a certain car came by but I couldn’t see which one. Just wondering.
@soulwaxer, The WM Peugeot did it topspeed run during the first half of teh race and was officially clocked at 252,5 mp/h. Jan Lammers did 251mp/h during the race in light rain,on slicks! The year after,Hans J. Stuck achieved just short of 254(unofficially) during nighttime qualifying... Yep,those were the days!
