24 Hours of Le Mans - Appearances in Media

Appearances in Media

The 1964 event plays a critical part in the Academy Award winning Un Homme et Une Femme, in which the wife of the driver hero commits suicide when she mistakenly thinks that he has been killed in an accident during the race.

The 1969 event, known for its close finish, was documented in a short film titled La Ronde Infernale. This was given a limited cinema release, but is now available on DVD.

The race became the center of a major motion picture in 1971 when Steve McQueen released his simply titled Le Mans, starring McQueen as Michael Delaney, a driver in the 1970 event for the Gulf Porsche team. Likened to other motorsports films such as Grand Prix for Formula One racing and Winning for the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans is the best known film to center on sports car racing. It was filmed during the race using modified racing cars carrying cameras, as well as purchased Porsche 917s, Ferrari 512s and Lola T70s for action shots made after the race. The Porsche 908 which served as a camera car in the race actually finished, yet was so far behind the winners due to lengthy reel changes during pit stops that it was not classified in the results.

A modern film not centering on Le Mans yet featuring events from the 2002 race was Michel Valliant, about a French comic book motorsports hero. Again using two camera cars to tape action during the race, the French film was not as widely accepted as Le Mans had been. The 1974 TV show The Goodies also featured an episode entitled The Race, involving a comedic trio attempting to run Le Mans.

More recently, a documentary film called Truth in 24, narrated by Jason Statham, covered the Audi team in its effort to win a 5th straight title in 2008. The race features prominently as the film covers the racing season leading up to the Le Mans race.

The race has also been used for several video games over the years, some of which have allowed players to compete for the full 24 hours. Although most used the Le Mans name itself, the PlayStation 2 game Gran Turismo 4 also included the Circuit de la Sarthe and allowed players to run the full 24 hour races with and without the chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight. The race then returned in Gran Turismo 5 for the full 24 hours, but with the chicane version only. The race can be raced in both A-spec and B-spec modes. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC game Race Driver: Grid also includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the end of each in-game season albeit being only 24 minutes in length by default. However, the player can also choose to compete in the race for different lengths of time ranging from several minutes to a full 24 hours. The track also appeared in the Xbox 360 games Forza Motorsport 3 and Forza Motorsport 4, but are not raced in the full 24 hours in their respective career modes.