This is what you missed at this year’s Le Mans 24-hour race.
You might remember McLaren making a fuss about their first Le Mans victory, which happened 20 year ago. Well, to celebrate their one and only win on the Circuit de la Sarthe, the British car manufacturer gathered the most prolific models built to do a symbolic (and very noisy) lap right before this year’s event started.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our hands on the spectacle McLaren offered until now.
That said, the video below was supposed to feature the whole occurrence, but instead barely shows the actual cars. And you know what? It’s still amazing. I don’t know how it manages to pull it off, but watching it is an experience of its own. Play it, close your eyes, and begin dreaming.
The amount of “eargasm” the video generates is incredible. The concerto of V12 BMW engines mixed with McLaren’s own 3.8-litre V8 makes any petrolhead giggle like a schoolgirl. But that’s what you get when you assemble 5 race-spec F1s (including the race-winning #59 chassis), a GTR Longtail and a couple of P1s. Motoring Valhalla. Circuit de la Sarthe is alive with the sounds of “the-God-of-thunder”.
And just look how the cars are performing on the track. It might have been a demo lap, but the drivers surely didn’t hold back on the throttle. Granted, compared to the naturally aspirated V12 powered F1s, the P1 GTR widens the gap constantly on the Mulsanne straight.