The famous Le Mans clock
06/19/2015
We have all seen the famous Le Mans clock many times. The 24-hour race is one of the few that lasts exactly 24 hours, so it runs twice around the (12-hour) clock. But, do we remember what time the round display at the start announced? Was it 3 p.m., 4 p.m. or even 2 p.m.?
Between 1929 and 2008, the race actually started at 16:00 local time, but since 2009 the starting signal has been given at 15:00 on Saturday.
In 1968, however, the race started at 14:00 because it took place later in the year, and in 1984 and 2007 the organizers decided to bring the start forward to 15:00 because of elections. And then there was 2006, when the ACO set the start time at 17:00 in order to achieve maximum television coverage during the World Cup.
So it's not at all clear that the Le Mans clock in the pictures here shows 16:00. However, the film "Le Mans" by Steve McQueen, from which the images shown here are taken, was set in 1970 and therefore "traditionally" started at 16:00.
