These historically important machines will be on loan from the Automobile Museum of the Sarthe, located at the Le Mans circuit, where private collections of former Le Mans race cars are kept, and will be presented to celebrate this historic endurance event to be run on 14-15 June 2014 for the 82nd time.
The race remains the toughest test of automotive technologies for the future and will be particularly important this year as Porsche will return with a completely new hybrid prototype race car, to join the traditional battle between Audi and Toyota for the overall win.
Other all-electric or hydrogen-powered prototypes will be competing on the 13.6 kilometre circuit, to which more than 250,000 spectators will make the annual pilgrimage.
The race, created in 1923, ranks with the Monaco Grand Prix, the Monte-Carlo rally, and the Indianapolis 500 as the top (and most challenging) motor races in the world.
The 20 race cars in the exhibition are:
1923: Chenard & Walcker Sport (Lagache-Léonard, 1st)
1929: Bentley Speed Six (Barnato-Birkin, 1st)
1933: Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 (Nuvolari-Sommer, 1st)
1937: Bugatti Typ 57 (Wimille-Benoist, 1st)
1949: Ferrari 166 MM (Chinetti-Mitchell Thompson, 1st)
1954: Jaguar Type D (Hamilton-Rolt, 2nd)
1958: Ferrari Testa Rossa (Gendebien-Hill, 1st)
1966: Ford GT40 MkII (Amon-McLaren, 1st)
1970: Porsche 917K (Attwood-Herrmann, 1st)
1974: Matra 670B (Larrousse-Pescarolo, 1st)
1978: Alpine Renault A442B Turbo (Jaussaud-Pironi, 1st)
1980: Rondeau M379B Ford (Jaussaud-Rondeau, 1st)
1989: Sauber Mercedes C9 (Dickens-Mass-Reuter, 1st)
1991: Mazda 787B (Gachot-Herbert-Weidler, 1st)
1991: Jaguar XJR9 (Boesel-Ferté-Jones, 2nd)
1992: Peugeot 905 (Blundell-Dalmas-Warwick, 1st)
1998: Porsche GT1 (Aïello-McNish-Ortelli, 1st)
2000: Audi R8 (Biella-Kristensen-Pirro, 1st)
2009: Peugeot 908 (Brabham-Gené-Wurz, 1st)
2013: Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro (Duval-Kristensen-McNish, 1st, Faessler-Lotterer-Tréluyer, 1st in 2012)
We picture (above) the 1923 Chenary & Walcker Sport, winner of the 1923 Le Mans, and (below) the Peugeot 098 (Brabham-Gené-Wurz, which won the 2009 race.
