1988 Le Mans 24hr

Introduction

Arguably the World's most prestigious endurance motorsport event, the Le Mans 24hr race takes place annually at the 8.5 mile Circuit de la Sarthe. The track is made up partly of public roads that are open to the public most of the year and closed off for racing, with the famous 3.7 mile Mulsanne Straight where cars reach 250mph!

Organised and run by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the race began in 1923 and has gained a reputation as the ultimate test of car and driver. At the time, there were less restrictions on the time a driver could spend at the wheel and the number of drivers per car. The race traditionally began with the drivers sprinting to their cars when the flag was dropped, now replaced with an Indianapolis-style rolling start.

This DVD spends a lot of time concentrating on the preparation of Tom Walkinshaw's Jaguars - the five XJR-9s more than prepared to hold off the Porsche 962Cs (the factory in West Germany is also covered in the introductory section), the biggest threat to their first victory since 1957. The 1988 race saw Jaguar take the lead but rain allowed the Porsches back into the reckoning to create a dramatic race between the Porsche of Derek Bell, Klaus Ludwig and Hans-Joachim Stuck and the XJR-9 driven by Johnny Dumfries (the 7th Marquess of Bute), Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers.

Video

This was originally produced by Videovision in 1988 and is obviously a VHS to DVD transfer. The picture is a little soft and whilst being VHS quality it is a marked improvement over previous years. The luminescent flare and smearing from the headlights evident in previous releases has gone and there are far more aerial shots, on-screen graphics, nighttime racing and footage from their camera-car.

Audio

A perfectly acceptable Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack with informative and well delivered commentary, obviously provided after the event rather than live.

Conclusion

As I said, this was originally produced by Videovision in 1988 and is exactly the same as the VHS would have been. However, given that that format is obsolete the release of this on DVD is to be welcomed. There is far more nighttime racing shown than the previous years due to improvements in the recording equipment and a slightly longer running time.

Whilst not the most accomplished motor racing DVD ever produced, I quite enjoyed this despite its shortcomings and it is interesting to see what the Le Mans 24 hours race looked like 20 years ago. I imagine the DVD of this year's event would be considerably longer, with better photography, more varied camera angles and behind the scenes footage making for a more entertaining package.

24 hours of racing plus build up and celebration has been condensed into a 60 minute package, but considering this was made for TV (where there was no live coverage) or the home video market, this is understandable. The improvement in coverage in the DVD over those from the beginning of the decade is massive, with far more interviews and background information, not to mention the inclusion of race coverage throughout the 24 hours. This was an excellent race and one that the overview of which is recommended for Le Mans fans.