The Roaring Season

The information plaque for each vehicle tends to discuss the make and model, rather than the actual chassis. Therefore, I assume this to not be the actual 1991 race winner (the first and only Japanese car to win outright), but rather a sister car or factory replica.

Finally, this was the section which really began to get me excited; the pre-1980s era. While the obvious top flight sports car machinery from the late 1960s and 1970s were the Porsches, Ferraris, and Renaults, I've always been fascinated by the smaller and lesser known French entrants, such as Rondeau, Alpine, Matra, Courage etc. The museum had a good selection of these:

The Oct/Nov/Dec issue of Automobil Sport has a really great story on how Renault got involved in sports car racing in the 1970s through Elf oil, and how their development of turbocharging in sports car racing led firstly to their Le Mans win, and then to their entry and ultimate success in F1.

A Le Mans museum just wouldn't be right without at least one Matra.

Likewise, it just wouldn't be right without a Porsche 917.

American muscle. This French owned Corvette contested the race several times.

That's a great museum Steve, Thanks for taking the photos and sharing them.

B

Bruce302 wrote:That's a great museum Steve, Thanks for taking the photos and sharing them.

B

Thanks Bruce, glad you're enjoying them.

OK, jumping a little further back in time now. I've seen a few genuine Ferrari 250GTOs in my life, and I honestly couldn't tell if this was the real deal or a copy. Only the info board provided my answer.

And now for another area of interest for me; tiny French sports cars with such interesting bodywork, designed mostly to contest the Index of Performance. Just look at the lines on this car. I absolutely love it.