RACING
68 SEP/OCT 2019 MAXIM.COMJOURNEY TO
LE MANS
Text by DUNCAN QUINNMaking the scene at the world’s
most famous endurance raceI
have driven faster. But so has my copilot. So much faster
that most of you would be blubbing like small children
poked in the eye with a stick. Pleading to slow down to the
point where the world made sense again. It’s Le Mans 2019.
Famed racing driver Derek Bell and I are belting down the
Mulsanne Straight flat out in an original Bentley from 1930.
At a tear-inducing 79 miles per hour. A far cry from Bell’s
days pushing the outside of the envelope going faster than
almost anyone has since. Epic. Magnificent. Emotional.
The “24 Heures du Mans” Automobile Club De l’Ouest’s endurance
race was first held in 1923 in and around the small town of Le Mans in
northwestern France. Each team of drivers shares a car, and the chal-Left: Le Mans contenders line up on the world-famous
racetrack in France; Opposite: this year’s winner Sébastien
Buemi climbs into his Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 HybridCOURTESYOF^
ROLEX