Video: the evolution of Le Mans winning cars

When you think about it, the rate of technological change in endurance racing is quite astonishing. 

You don’t have to scroll too far back in the annals of Le Mans to find the days when gents bobbled around for 24 hours sans seatbelts in basically brakeless cars. Nowadays, they’re surrounded by borderline bomb-proof carbon safety cells with space-grade drivetrains, allied to the kind of downforce that allows them to slink around La Sarthe at silly speeds. 

To showcase how things have progressed, some clever people have made an evolutionary flick-book animation, highlighting ten of the best Le Mans winners (both overall and class) over the last 92 years. 

From dominant Twenties Bentleys all the way up to this year’s Le Mans winning Porsche 919 – as well as  some fan favourites in between – it’s an enthrallingly visual way of showing what it takes to win one of the greatest races on Earth. 

Check it out for yourself above, and tell us which Le Mans racers are your favourites below…