The Road Legal Racing Cars Of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is undoubtedly one of the most toughest race events in the calendar year. It is a true test for both man and machine and has also managed to claim several lives over the years. This year’s event saw Toyota take a stunning 1-2 victory. The winning racecar, the No. 8 Toyota driven by Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastian Beumi, finished first followed by the No. 7 Toyota driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez. Over the years, the iconic race event has led countless car manufacturers to produce some truly amazing supercars for homologation.

Here, we bring you a list of some of the coolest cars to have ever been produced thanks to their respective manufacturer’s participation in one of the world’s oldest endurance races.

Jaguar XKSS

The road-going version of the iconic Jaguar D-Type which claimed a hat-trick of victories between 1955 and ‘57, the XKSS, was produced in limited numbers and boasts of being one of the rarest Jaguars ever built. Among the select few who owned one was Bullit-star Steve McQueen.

Built in 1957, the company intended to build just 25 units of the supercar. However, a fire at the brand’s factory consumed nine out of the total cars built. Thankfully, Jaguar decided to rebuild these machines and sold all of them in 2016.

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The XKSS featured a powerful 3.4-litre engine that produced close to 250PS. While that may not seem like much in this day and age, it weighed just 920kg, giving it enough poke to beat the rest of the field.

Ford GT40

With four consecutive victories between 1966 and 1969, the Ford GT40 is probably one of the most recognisable supercars ever built. If you are not familiar with the legend of the GT40 and Ford’s intense rivalry with Ferrari, then calling yourself a petrolhead would be considered a sin! Anyway, only seven examples of the Le-Mans inspired GT40 were ever built. They featured a 4.7-litre V8 engine with more than 300PS on tap.

The Mk1, MkII and MkIII versions of the supercars were based on the Lola Mk6 that were designed and built in England. The MkIV, on the other hand, was built entirely within the US. These cars some of the most-sought after classics today.

Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

The Mercedes-AMG CLK GTR came out of the golden era for the GT1 class. The road-going version was launched as both a coupe and a roadster and featured a stonking 7.3-litre V12 that produced in excess of 730PS. 25 units of the supercar were built to conform to FIA’s rule book to take part in the endurance event held at the Circuit de la Sarthe. All of them were very similar to the Le Mans racecar and featured a bare-minimum interior with bits of leather and storage spaces under the door sills.

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The CLK GTR also has the distinction of entering the Guiness Book Of World Records as the most expensive production car ever built at the time, with a price tag that was upwards of $1.5 million!

McLaren F1 GTR Longtail

The McLaren F1 GTR was produced in 1995 to take part in grand touring-style racing. When Gordon Murray designed what he called the "Ultimate Road Car", the McLaren F1, he had no intention of taking it racing. However, in 1994, the BPR Global GT Series was created to replace the World Sportscar Championship. Many teams at the time were looking to get their hands on a GT1 race car and approached Murray to offer factory backing for racing versions of the F1.

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Convinced by team bosses that the F1 had the potential to become a race-winning GT car, Murray and his engineers agreed to modify an unused F1 chassis into a GT car with the addition of minor changes like additional cooling ducts and an adjustable wing to generate more downforce. It was said the F1 GTR was capable of driving along the ceiling of a tunnel at 100mph! The Longtail was the last evolution of the GTR. Only three units were approved for road use, of which one is still in Woking, England at McLaren’s HQ.

Porsche 911 GT1

In spite of its 911 moniker, this road-going racecar had very little in common with the Porsche 911 of the time. It featured a mid-engine configuration rather than the rear-engine layout of a conventional 911. The 911 GT1 was designed to compete in the GT1 class of sportscar racing. This meant Porsche had to make road-legal versions for homologation purposes.

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The limited edition street versions were called the 911 GT1 Straßenversion (Street version). It featured a water-cooled, twin-turbocharged and intercooled flat-six engine with four valves per cylinder. The engine made about 600PS of power! Unlike the Mercedes-AMG featured above, the 911 GT1 failed to win the championship. However, it did succeed at the 24 Hours Of Le Mans in 1996 and then again in 1998 with a more evolved model. Only 25 units of this racecar exist in the world.

Toyota GR Super Sport Concept

While still a concept, we thought we should mention it here since the GR Super Sport Concept is based on the race-winning Toyota TS050 Hybrid from this year’s 24 Hours Of Le Mans. The concept features a 2.4-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 engine paired to an electric motor and batteries.

Toyota claims the combined output of the system is somewhere in excess of 1,000PS! Read more about the GR Super Sport Concept here: Toyota Gazoo Super Sport Concept Revealed