"**" "Announcer 1:" "Hello, everybody, this is Mobile 1 Radio Le Mans." "We're broadcasting live from the world's greatest and oldest endurance race, the Le Mans 24 Hours." "The ultimate test for drivers and cars that last from 3:00 in the afternoon one day to 3:00 in the afternoon the next." "Announcer 2:" "And with over a quarter million spectators flocking here, it's no wonder "National Geographic" named it the number one sporting spectacle on the planet." "** [engine rumbling]" "André Lotterer:" "[speaking German]" "Narrator:" "55 cars will start this years race, but as they battle to record the most laps in 24 hours, many fewer will finish." "[engine revving]" "Men and machines will fail under the extreme pressure in a race checkered with a history of spectacular accidents... [tires squealing]" "that have given it an almost mythical status." "Mark Webber:" "It is a dangerous race." "One of the most dangerous races that we have." "It's been around forever." "Lot of carnage, I supposed, involved famous drivers." "Announcer 1:" "Hollywood legend Steve McQueen loved this race so much he made a movie about it." "**" "Audi have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans an amazing 13 times in the last 15 years." "And it's Audi once again victorious." "Announcer 2:" "But Porsche are determined to steal their crown having dominated the race from the early '70s to the late '90s." "And so, too, are Toyota, known for their speed, yet so often the bridesmaid." "Sébastien Buemi:" "[speaking French]" "Narrator:" "And how will newcomers Nissan fare, here for the first time in LMP1, the top class, and experimenting with drivers plucked from their Playstations." "Feel pretty anxious." "There's a lot of expectation, so I'm just eager to get on the track." "** [horn honks]" "Announcer 1:" "These cars will cover up to 3,300 miles in 24 hours." "As Steve McQueen said," ""When you're racing, it's life." ""Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."" "** [French National Anthem]" "Narrator:" "To the rousing sound of the French National Anthem, we're about to get underway." "**[French National Anthem continues]" "Narrator:" "Three drivers will tag team each car in what's in essence a 200 mile an hour relay race." "[engine revving]" "Announcer 1:" "One thing is for sure, we're almost guaranteed some sort of history." "Porsche are chasing their 17th overall victory." "while Audi's reigning champion drivers," "Andre Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer, and Marcel Fässler, are going for an unprecedented fourth consecutive team win." "Mark Webber:" "I don't think we're competing against the other guys." "We're competing against the race." "That's the challenge." "To run on the limit for 24 hours is our challenge." "Announcer 1:" "Stand by as we're about to unleash over 30,000 horsepower on what is the Mount Everest of motor racing." "I've got a funny feeling this is gonna be very good indeed." "[engine revving]" "Narrator:" "Le Mans is a car race like no other." "It's an endurance test for drivers and cars that literally takes 24 hours to complete." "55 cars will start, but many fewer will reach the checkered flag." "With unprecedented access to six of the teams, and the event itself, this is the story of a race that pushes technology to the limit." "But where the ghosts of the past are never far from the present." "**" "Mark Webber:" "Le Mans is an old school race." "It's a lot more dangerous than Formula One." "And I know." "I've done both in the last two or three years, and people might say otherwise but they're wrong." "The race has everything they can throw at you, in terms of conditions, strategy, stress, sleep, length of race." "We do the whole Formula One season in one day." "It's such a brutal race, there's a guillotine waiting at any point to finish your day." "[engines roaring]" "Announcer 1:" "Oh my goodness me, that is Peter Dumbreks's Mercedes." "That's awful, and that looks like the crash Mark Webber had in his Mercedes earlier." "Mark Webber:" "You know, when they say that everything starts to flash before you, when you think you might cop the big one, that's what happened." "Thought about the females in my life, my sister and my mum, hope they're not watching." "Thankfully, you know, racing drivers don't have long memories." "You have to understand the crash, which I have done." "You learn from it and press on." "**" "My personal experience racing at Le Mans... three times and I haven't finished the race yet." "Announcer 1:" "Well, he's won nine Grand Prix, including Monaco twice, but it looks like Mark Webber, certainly one of the greatest drivers of his era, is yet again unable to complete the 24 hours of Le Mans." "Mark Webber:" "Last year with Porsche we were leading with a few hours to go, we could nearly smell the finish line, just pulled up short and Audi won the race." "**" "My mentality's definitely different to when I was 25." "I mean, when you're 25, you're completely fearless, and you're not really thinking of getting hurt when you get strapped in the car." "I'm thinking about performance and going as quick as possible, and you're super, super arrogant and selfish, and it's about you." "When you're in your late 30s, you start to think a bit more." "I've lost friends behind the wheel." "How lucky can you be?" "Of course, yeah, I do think like that." "But what are you gonna do now?" "Stop?" "You still need the adrenaline." "I still want to race, I still want to win Le Mans." "**" "**" "Narrator:" "Le Mans is the spiritual home of motor racing." "The very first grand prix was raced here in 1906." "Back then the car was still a new fangled invention, prone to mechanical failure." "Manufacturers needed to prove to the skeptical public the long distance reliability of their vehicles." "And so in 1923, the 24 hours of Le Mans was born." "Narrator:" "This is Le Mans, the most famous motor race." "Narrator:" "Run on public roads, conceived to demonstrate the very limits of what a car could do." "Narrator:" "To race without respite round the clock, from the boiling sun into the darkness, and through the chill night into the dawn of a new day." "Narrator:" "But of course, pushing the cars to the limit also pushes the drivers to the limit." " [siren blaring] - [tires squealing]" "And even though the race is run as a tag team, with up to three drivers in one car, as speeds got greater, so did the danger." "Commentator:" "Levegh's Mercedes collides and blows up." "Narrator:" "The horrific crash of 1955, killing 83 spectators, sent headlines around the world, and also led to the introduction of new safety measures." "**" "Commentator:" "To preview the race for us, one of our cameras and recording gear are fixed in one of the D-type Jaguars over in Le Mans." "**" "So let's go round Le Mans now with Mike Hawthorne." "Michael Hawthorne:" "Now they've made" "Dunlop bridge much faster this year." "[engine revving]" "Coming round, there's somebody in the way." "Cyclists everywhere." "[chuckles] Typical French." "Narrator:" "But on a circuit made up mostly of public road, the race retains some of its peculiarities, and a sense of danger." "[man speaking French]" "Narrator:" "It's challenge that's drawn F1 legends like Derek Bell, and Jacky Ickx, but because it's open to amateur drivers has also lured Hollywood stars like Oscar winner Paul Newman, who famously finished 2nd overall in 1979," "and Steve McQueen who crystallized its mythical status in his 1971 film of Le Mans." "However, Le Mans is not an individual sport at all, but a team effort with dozens of mechanics and engineers required to keep these cars running in the ultimate endurance test of man and machine, which throughout its history has pushed the limits" "of automotive science." "From headlights and seatbelts to anti lock brakes, and in recent years hybrid engines, all were first tested here." "It's attracted the titans of car manufacturing." "Names like Bentley, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Jaguar." "But in the 20th century, one manufacturer stood head and shoulders above the rest, with 16 overall victories," "Porsche." "[tires squealing] [engine roaring]" "Andreas Seidl:" "The history Porsche is having at Le Mans is simply unique." "[engine revving] [man speaking French]" "Andreas Seidl:" "One car, obviously, everyone knows is the number 23." "Which was the first car of Porsche winning Le Mans in 1970." "[engine revving]" "Andreas Seidl:" "Porsche stopped racing in '98, mainly due to economic reasons." "But in 2011," "Porsche were keen again to go back, and then we started really from scratch, putting a team together." "With all this heritage that is around at Porsche, to have the chance to go there with your team, to fight for the overall victory, it's-- it's special." "[cheering] [engines roaring]" "Andreas Seidl: 2014 was a difficult season for us." "Two hours before the end," "Mark Webber had to stop car 20with an engine failure." "We learned a lot." "I mean, if you don't have the reliable car down there, you will end up nowhere." "We saw that we have to step up quite a bit." "Between the two cars 2014 and 2015, we have touched, uh, 95% of the-- of the car." "The biggest updates were done on the hybrid system... working on weight, efficiency, power." "But these hybrid cars, definitely the most complex racecars on the planet." "More complex than the current Formula One cars." "In terms of reliability, we were a lot better sorted than the year before, and we knew that with our hybrid system we had some advantages." "But I think you never have a car of your dream because you always see stuff which can be made better." "As always in motorsport, you never know what the competition is doing." "Darren Cox:" "We're here at our UK base at Silverstone, we've just come from the US last week, and would you believe tomorrow... we're gonna be heading off to Le Mans so we really are all over the place." "Someone said we're gamblers," "In a way, motorsport is gambling." "The gamble is if you have three rolls of the dice you're more than likely to pull up a six than if you have two rolls of the dice." " [whistling] - [tools clattering]" " [whirring] - [hammering]" "So we think it's the right thing to run three cars." "At the moment, it doesn't look like a great idea." "This is gonna be the 23 car." "There's literally tens of thousands of parts that have got to be put together by this team before it goes out there." "This is the 22 car just here, which is got even less parts on it." "And this is our third car." "A little square piece there." "Yeah, I mean, I could go maybe even go like half that thickness again." "Darren Cox:" "What's the quote?" ""Progress is down to the unreasonable man."" "Maybe we are the unreasonable men." "Our car is very different to the opposition in many, many ways." "They think we've put the engine in the wrong place." "Normally, the engine is in the back, and as you can see here, the chaps are working on the engine, which is in the front of the car." "And in low grip conditions, so when it rains, pushing is not the right thing." "Normally, the rear of the car moves around a lot." "With front wheel drive, the car is literally being pulled around, so therefore, in the rain, we think we've got an advantage." "Motorsport is war without the bullets, and our weapon in this war is innovation, and certainly we are doing it different." "[laughter]" "Darren Cox:" "A third of our driver line up are gamers, guys that three or four years ago were on their PlayStations, and now taking on ex formula one drivers." "James Morris:" "So Jann, how's, uh, the girlfriend scene coming along eh?" "[laughing]" "I ain't got no time for that!" "[laughing]" "I've literally got no time for that." "I have a specific amount of time dedicated to my racing." "So don't like other drivers have girlfriends?" "Yeah, but I want to be better than them." "And for me to be better than them, I have to, you know" " I have to ban sex." " I have to-  [laughing]" " Have to become a nun." "[chuckling]" "A guy-- a guy nun, uh, a Buddhist." "[laughter]" "Jann Mardenborough:" "People think racing drivers, they go out, have champagne, have a load of attention." "It's not." "I don't have enough time for female attention." "[laughing]" "I live here with my, uh-- my mum and dad and my brother." "I get all my stuff washed." "Okay, I pay rent, but it's not-- not much compared to my mates." "We come back, and, racing drivers-- for me anyway, I come back and I don't do rock climbing or anything crazy like that." "I just come back and just be normal." "Konstantinos Karros:" "When we first heard he wanted to be a racing driver, well, we just didn't believe it, you know." "It was ridiculous." "James Morris:" "You don't assume playing on the Playstation's going to get you that far." "Hopefully, if I play enough FIFA" "I'll become a football player, so... [laughing]" "That's how it works, right?" "[engine revving]" "Jann Mardenborough:" "2011, I was on a gap year from university, turn on the Playstation, play some Gran Turismo and I noticed there was a new menu, GT Academy, and after the first hour" "I think I was like top 50th in the UK." "The next round was at a racetrack in Brands Hatch." "And there was a gaming element, and a fitness element." "The real cool part of the whole day was you get to drive a sports car." "It was a Nissan 370-Z and, you know, I've never driven anything like that before." "[engines roaring]" "You know all I was doing was controlling the car how I would normally do at home, you know, on this wheel." "[tires screeching]" "I got to the next stage, and then eventually won the competition." "And then it's just been a whirlwind since... learning as I go along with instructors and my mentors." "[indistinct dialog]" "The feeling of the car is completely different." "There is no way I could have got into motorsport without GT Academy and Nissan." "To get kids through karting, parents spend 50 grand a year," "My parents don't have a million pound in the bank." "Man:" "Is it tight enough that side?" "[indistinct dialog]" "Darren Cox:" "I believe that one day a gamer will win Le Mans." "In fact, I believe that one day a gamer will be Formula One world champion." "Why do I think that?" "The circumstances around motorsport are such that the boundaries are blurring between real and virtual." "Mark Webber:" "So we're in the simulator this morning, so, uh, simulators a great tool for us to test the car, uh, in really quick succession as well between test and runway, so it's incredibly accurate for us, uh," "compared to the cars." "This'll replicate absolutely everything." "It'll replicate engine temperatures, hybrid settings, electrical settings, tires, aerodynamics." "They have every single channel here that they have beside the track." "Conduct in 3, 2, 1." "Mark Webber:" "Staring the lap here in Le Mans, very famous Dunlop chicane, this is purpose built part of the circuit." "We plunge downhill now into this in 4a." "Beautiful little chicane, quite quick nice feeling over the crest here, and now we enter what is one of one of the most famous sections of tarmac in the world," "Mulsanne Straight." "Narrator:" "A stretch of public road broken only by two chicanes, the Mulsanne Straight is one of the most iconic, and certainly fastest, parts of the eight and a half mile long" "Circuit de la Sarthe." "[engine roaring]" "With 90% of the course taking place not on specialist track but on regular highway, the highly unpredictable surface is littered with unexpected cracks and bumps that drivers must navigate while enduring G forces five times the power of gravity." "Forces that increase by several times over as they brake into the near 90 degree corners of Indianapolis and Arnage before hitting what most drivers will tell you is the trickiest part of the track, the Porsche curves, where the cars need to be balanced perfectly" "to corner at nearly 200 miles an hour." "Amazingly, despite the length of the circuit, the cars brake just 11 times." "Throughout the heat of the day and the cold of the night, round and round, it's no wonder that it demands in each car a three man team of drivers, and while many have attempted to conquer," "few have mastered it like Audi's reigning champion team of Andre Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer, and Marcel Fässler." "Announcer 1:" "And it's Audi once again victorious." "These three drivers have proved for the third time they are the best team." "[cheering]" "Man:" "Ha, ha!" "Marcel Fässler:" "We won already three times." "The pressure is more on the people who never won." "Andre Lotterer:" "Especially Porsche, you know, they have such a history here at Le Mans, they're-- they're so eager to win again." "I think in some other teams you can see that there's more competition there, somebody wants to start the race, we-- we don't care." "Benoît Tréluyer:" "As a team, we just want the car on the top of the podium at the end." "[speaking French]" "[laughing]" "It's your duty to make sure you're in the right mindset, and-- and you take care of your fitness, your-- your everything to be the most balanced person you can be in approaching a race because a lot is in the head." "You go there as a winner, all the hostesses are quite keen on-- on having a drink with you and dancing with you so, um, we kind of work hard and play hard, I would say." "Just let everything go." "Announcer 1:" "Five days until the start of the race, and in recent years in the LMP1 top category," "Audi have utterly dominated." "But with Porsche, Toyota, and now Nissan also challenging for the top step on the podium, this year there's simply no room for error." "[engines revving]" "Darren Cox:" "We're at Le Mans, despite everyone's theories, we've got three cars." "We're looking pretty smart at the moment, but of course, we don't know how it's going to go until the cars roll out of the end of the pit lane." "Earlier on, the head of Audi motorsport, Dr. Ulrich, came past, and said, "Ah, it's good to see that you're here."" "As if he wasn't expecting us." "We have to pick an enemy." "Audi is the reference, they are brilliant at what they do, they've been doing it for 15 years." "They've probably spent $3 billion on their program to this point." "Having won various times within the latest history," "I think we have the privilege to be used to that kind of pressure, that we are the hunted one and everybody wants to beat us." "The formula of success is that we really tackle Le Mans as a complete team, the complete Audi family as we call it." "To have a competitive car for the 24 hours, it's about performance and about reliability, because first you have to survive the race before you can come in first." "Darren Cox:" "Yes, it's a war." "They are the big Goliath and innovation is our weapon." "We haven't got a sling, we've got innovation." "So wouldn't it be great that a gamer in our car, that's got the engine in the wrong place, goes and does the fastest lap." "Wouldn't that be amazing?" "And then they'll be talking about us as proper challengers to the domination of Audi." "Announcer 1:" "Well, hello everybody and welcome along to Radio Le Mans qualifying." "This is going to be a blistering opening." "Man:" "Copy Porsche." "Copy Porsche." "[engines revving]" "Announcer 1:" "Porsche have blown the old record out of the water, they have destroyed it!" "Man:" "If you're gonna crash in a real racing car, you've gone into the wall." "In a game, you can just press re-start and start again."