2023 is a special year when it comes to motorsport: the mythical Circuit du Mans is in fact celebrating its 100th anniversary! The Race of the Century is to be held on the coming 10th and 11th June.

As a warm-up for the occasion, Autoworld will be presenting its "24 Hours of Le Mans, 100 years of race history" exhibition, being held from 1st April through to 28th May 2023. 

An exhibition to dive into the 24 Hours of Le Mans universe, just as though you were there!

The carefully selected fifteen or so cars largely contribute to the exhibition, but not only that! All the circuit’s finer details are reproduced in the show: throbbing engine noises on the starting grid, not forgetting the driver changes. Nothing is left to chance! Small films retracing the history and the greatest race moments will make you travel through space and time!

The cars exhibited are all part of a true story of the 24 Hours of Le Mans; whether they actually competed or were used as practice machines!

Let us take a look at three of the iconic models to be found on our warm-up track:

Is the "Le Mans 66" film one of your favourites? You will be able to admire the 1966 Ford GT40P used for the renowned race’s test sessions in which Ford dethroned Ferrari by claiming the top 3 places! It was even the reserve car for the competition.

We now move ahead to 1976, to discover the Inaltéra. The name doesn’t ring a bell? It was in fact the first car to appear under the name of its sponsor! It was also the first car designed and developed by Jean Rondeau (French racing driver and car manufacturer who was the only one to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans behind the wheel of his very own creation). It is also on board of this Inaltera that Christine, one of our Belgian women pilots and Lella Lombardi won the "Coupe des Dames" in 1977.

We conclude this overview of the exhibition with the Peugeot 905. The latter claimed a double in 1992 when it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Championship. It has to be said that its design proved to be an asset which certainly favoured its victories: its chassis benefitted from the Dassault Aviation technology and its engine was near on what was produced in Formula 1 at the time.

Should you wish to take the experience a step further, why not take a seat in one of the simulators (during the weekend) to live through the sensations of racing drivers and try to set a best time!

This exhibition is the outcome of the collaboration between the Automobile Club de l'Ouest and Autoworld