The endurance race on the Sarthe celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. With its new special exhibition from April 1, 2023 to January 7, 2024, the Technik-Museum Sinsheim is honoring one of the most important motorsport events in the world. A press conference was held on March 28 as part of the exhibition. Two-time Le Mans winner Hans-Joachim Stuck took part and opened the special exhibition "One hundred years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans". Together with curator and museum member Uli Ehret, he gave a guided tour of the exhibition and signed the wall dedicated to him.
After two successful special exhibitions in the specially created Hall 3, the Technik-Museum Sinsheim is now presenting its third special show: On 3000 square meters - always changing - around 30 racing cars form the core of the exhibition, including a Porsche 919 from 2015, a Borgward RS 1500 from 1953 and a Triumph TRS from 1961. The museum had designer and Le Mans enthusiast Uli Ehret on hand to help with the design. One of the biggest challenges for the curator was to select and procure vehicles that matched the respective decade. "Every year, 180 drivers, 60 cars and teams from 40 nations take part. For me, the race is comparable to the Olympic Games. We wanted to include all nations, manufacturers, winning brands and also the smaller competitors. It would be a no-go to forget anyone, after all, everyone from Europe and the world who is interested in motorsport should feel at home here," says Ehret.
Carefully selected vehicles, divided into racing groups according to decade, are displayed on the "race track", virtually in their "natural environment": on the start and finish line, under the famous Dunlop arch, on the long Hunaudières straight and in the famous Mulsanne and Arnage bends. The current exhibition shows the history of the race from its beginnings to the present day. Watercolors by artist Uli Ehret, historical photographs, drawings by artists from the region and 40 information panels hanging from the ceiling are designed to give both adults and children an understanding of the exciting 100 years of the "Grand Prix d 'Endurance" in three languages.
A video documentary shows Le Mans at night: the roar of the engines, the orange-red glow of the brake disks and the fireworks of the exhaust pipes when braking into the Dunlop chicane. In summary, the special exhibition offers a fascinating insight into the development of racing and its technology over the course of a century; the exciting and sometimes touching stories show the human and social aspects of racing in the west of France. "The diversity of the cars on display here will inspire both Le Mans experts and those less interested in technology," Hans-Joachim Stuck is convinced.
The exhibition opens with the pre-war racing cars, including the famous "Le Mans start". This is followed by a fast-paced scene of racing cars from the 1950s through the Dunlop arch. The cars of the next decade are staged along the Hunaudières straight. Through the Mulsanne curve, visitors can experience the racing cars of the 70s, such as the legendary Porsche RSR. Group C prototypes such as the Porsche 956 and the enduring Porsche, the Le Mans winning car from 1994, can be marveled at in the Arnage curve. The rest of the "indoor race track" continues through the Porsche curves and the Ford chicanes back to the start and finish, where modern racing cars from Lotus, Porsche, Audi and Toyota represent the years 1993 to 2023.
All information about the new special exhibition "One hundred years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans" can be found here.
