Photography by Tim Scott
In the world of sports car racing, and specifically “prototype” cars, everything revolves around the 24 Hours of Le Mans. From 1982-1993, Group C was, basically, a class of wickedly quick prototypes that quickly became legendary machines. This is 2016, however, and owning (let alone driving) one of these beasts in anger isn’t quite the same…unless you’re at the Le Mans Classic.
Why else own a Group C car unless you’re planning on maxing it out down the Mulsanne Straight, a stretch of French public road that’s seen its fair share of both glory and incident. Behind the wheel of a quick Group C car, even today, and an excess of 200 mph is seen each lap. In period, they were touching 248 mph.
Though not over a full 24 hours, the average speed by eventual Group C class winner, #145 Julien Piguet, in a Spice SE89C was 206.7 km/h (128 mph), which is roughly equal to the average speed of a c.2000 Le Mans-winning Audi R8 race car. So, they’re pretty quick, still.
Being able to top 200 mph lap after lap is positive attribute in a used racing car, no? Photographer Tim Scott was on hand to capture the action of Group C at speed, a sight that’s surely reason enough to put the Le Mans Classic in your travel plans for next year.
