@@CD-Gaming yep. Gran Turismo 6 despite still great, is the one that made Gran Turismo series went completely downhill, with Sport denoted as the WORST GRAN TURISMO game ever!
I think there's something to be said about cars that were dominant in lower categories. Like, yes Porsche built a lot of prototypes that won.....but they also made the 911 that won one of the GT classes almost every year there were entries. It also birthed the trim packages like RS, RSR, GT3, and GT2 either due to homologation purposes or to honor their victories in those categories. And lets not forget that the 935, essentially the racing version of the 911 turbo, won outright in 79 despite being, effectively, a GT-class car racing against prototypes.
Idk where you got your information from but the 935 is not just a "GT class car" it was basically a full silhouette Group 5 racer. 700+ hp with a spaceframe, it absolutely was not just a GT car like the 934 was
The Porsche 919 Hybrid was utterly dominant in arguably the most competitive era in sportscar racing history and should have been ranked higher in my opinion
It definitely was a dominant car overall especially in the 2015 WEC. Although at Le Mans it was not consistently dominant over the rest (gapping the grid wise) In 2015 they won, but it was a very close fight with Audi. And in 2016 Toyota arguably would have won that race. It definitely is an incredible car though. Good to hear more support for the 919!
@@Hal9023 true but this video is the most dominant not just who won. That season as a whole was one of the most exciting wec seasons ever. Personally, when Toyota and later Porsche in their second year joined Audi it showed that Audi may have been winning simply because they didn't really have any real factory competitors for some time and it didn't take long for Toyota and Porsche to beat them and now they aren't even there anymore.
@@sgsheff t They aren't there, because the parent company won't approve it. It will always be questioned, if Audi was somehow 'told' to not beat Porsche when the 919s won in the Porsche 'come back' to Le Mans. It will be great fun to watch all the manufacturers back competing this year! It's just a shame, that Ford won't be there in the top category. I guess the grand kids of 'the deuce' aren't into Le Mans like he was.
@@FormulaJonah in case you dont know, Emma Verde, one of the Nijigasaki characters, drove that 919 Hybrid in 2015 WEC Season. It also appeared in FORZA MOTORSPORT 6, PROJECT CARS 2 and Gran Turismo 7.
The fact the R8 was only beaten by a car in a different category beat them showed how dominant they were. With Bentley actually being run by Audi Sport UK just under Team Bentley. Also Joest Racing were so instrumental in the building and development of the R8, Speed 8, R10 and R18s that without them none of these dominant cars could have been what they are. Also having 15 wins at Le Mans in total, with 2 wins coming from the 956.
Joest benefitted in 1984 from the Porsche factory team pulling out, but in 1985, they beat the the factory team head-to-head with superior mechanical and technological development, especially with regards to fuel injection systems.
and the Bentley was just an Audi underneath, but one thing to remember, with those R8 victories and and Toyota victories, there was no real competition, apart from small privateers
@@robertbearden785 you are right, will be interesting to see how long their dominance lasts now their is some competition. But lets be honest, the Audi R8 victories, and the Toyota victories, there was no real competition , more so for Toyota
@@superphonixlp4152I disagree, the Hippie martini livery, martini racing silver 917lh and of course the Gulf variants are the most beautiful versions ......
The Ford GT40 MKIV might’ve deserved an honorable mention. Setting top speed records, a distance record, leading the entire race, and directly causing a rule change that banned all large displacement engines. I believe it was also the last time Ford fielded a factory team.
The ROTHMANS PORSCHE 956/962 and similar cars are mythical. I wasn't even born when they stopped racing but as an endurance racing super geek I am in awe of them and their driver line-up: Ickx, Bell, Bellof, Mass, Holbert, Watson, Haywood, Schuppan, Wollek, Stuck, Lammers, Dumfries, Ludwig, The Andrettis and others I forgot to mention. All racing legends I do not know if the hybrid Era cars will ever field such an incredible array of talent. Both driver and car super stars who were dominant.
I'm 65 and remember them well, it actually, for some, got a little old, they just kept winning at so many tracks. You are very astute to realize the depth of drivers that drove them. It was because of this that kept my interest in their remarkable wins. I thought the Mazda 4rotor entry that won one race should have been mentioned. Had it not been for the rules changing this was a force to be delt with for a few years.
You should have another separate Honorable Mention list for greatest one-time victory cars. That would be the 787B, F1 McLaren GTR and the 79, 935. Also, completly left out the Bentley Boys dominance from the pre-war era? Those would've been better than the Audi based Bentley you included. Great vid wither way!
Yep, agreed, no mention of the 787B & GTR especially, even in honourable mentions was surprising! 787B has sto still be my favourite Le Mans racer to date.
@timbrad the 787B was not dominant at all, have you ever seen the '91 race? It was actually one of the slower cars and only won due to reliability le mans was the only race the car won
My favourite little detail about the R8 (I don't know which year it was) was when they changed the rules to require smaller wing endplates, to slow the cars down. Audi figured out that they could have two large fins sticking up from the bodywork meeting, but not touching (there was a 1mm gap) the much smaller, totally legal wing endplate. To the air, it didn't matter. The I-can't-believe-they're-not-endplates worked just as well as the proper ones from the previous year and the car dominated even harder. The next year the rules were changed again to make the wing narrower, where Audi pulled a similar trick, which is the version that has the box sections at the ends of the rear wing. So the airfoil section was as wide as the rules allowed but the thing behaved as if the wing was bigger.
2002 was changing of rules, then when Audi pulled out in 2003 regarding the last year of Bentley in Le Mans, Audi engineers worked on Bentley´s and they used that trick even on Speed 8 cars
The Audi R8 will also be remembered in LeMans history in 2000 where they completed one of the fastest rear end changes ever and it took the Joest mechanics less than 4 minutes to complete the repairs and get the car back in the race
Fun little fact about the Ferrari 250 LM’s victory at Le Mans, it wasn’t even the main Ferrari team that won the 1965 Le Mans, it was the N.A.R.T team. Ferrari originally entered 2 of their 330 P2s, but cause they had issues with their brakes, they retired the cars and backed the remaining 250 LMs from N.A.R.T and the Belgium team, Ecurie Francorchamps. There’s a video on YT, forget who it’s by, that covers the 1965 24 hours of Le Mans. Which funny enough the winning 250 LM was given to the IMS museum and left in the basement for some number of decades. Which it’s also kinda funny too, the car that it was cozied next to was the 1979 Le Mans winning Porsche 935.
I would have evaluated the 956 and 962C as one distinct model. Despite the number designation change, the only difference between the 956 and 962, other than the usual year-on-year incremental improvements, is a redesigned front suspension to move the axis of the front wheels in front of the driver's feet and a change from an aluminum to steel rollcage. This was originally mandated by IMSA, resulting in the 962, and were transfered back to the 956 as the 962C, which had the same engine, twin turbocharger setup and transmission as the 956 (although they bored it out over the years). The monocoque was the same (in fact, some 956 cars were converted into 962s), and the bodywork maintained considerable continuity, mostly just having been tweaked around the nose to move the front wheel wells forward.
@@robertbearden785That's a more tenable argument, given that they ran 2 valve-per-cylinder, air-cooled single turbo flat 6s, but since we're talking 956 and 962Cs at Le Mans, I find it more difficult to treat them as separate cars. Unlike the R8-R10-R15-R18, which were decidedly different cars.
The moving of the front axle in front of the drivers feet was a response to the loss of Bellof. He impacted the wall at Eau Rouge head on, and the injuries he sustained was partly due to the positioning of the pilots feet. The front axle line acts as part of the crash structure, since it is directly linked to the chassis and takes a considerable amount of force away from a head on impact.
@@justinreynolds2235 Bellof was literally racing against Ickx's factory 962 in 1985 when he crashed at Spa, so the 962 existed before Bellof's accident, and was not created as a response. IMSA had insisted on feet behind the front axle before the 956 could be raced in IMSA in 1984, for safety purposes as you mentioned, hence the creation of the 962 for IMSA. FIA looked at it and said that they needed to adopt the same requirement, which they did for all new cars in 1985. 956s were grandfathered in for two years, so the Porsche privateer teams didn't all have to buy cars to go racing in '85, and to keep the Porsche factory from getting backed up. Bellof was in one of the grandfathered Brun 956s (#116, to be precise) when he crashed. The last 956s I can find in FIA WSPC are the ones that raced at Fuji in 1986, and the race was in fact won by Barilla and Ghinzani in Joest's 956 #117, and they also raced in some other series, like Interserie, Supercup, and some non-championship races at Kyalami. A little aside, I had always thought that 962s didn't race at Le Mans until 1985, but it turns out that John Fitzpatrick/Skoal Bandit brought 962 #105 and Preston Henn/T-Bird Swap Shop brought 962 #104 to Le Mans in 1984. While Henn's 962 had an IMSA-spec two-valve single turbo engine and raced in the GTP class, Fitzpatrick's car had the 2.65 liter 4-valve twin turbo 935 engine (the engine designation, despite the fact that this type had not run in Porsche 935s - confusing) that was standard issue for Group C, and the car was run under Group C rules! So, it appears that a privateer had the first 962C almost a year before the factory! It may have been that they bought an IMSA-spec 962 and retrofitted the engine and rear bodywork from a 956, but on this, I'm speculating.
When they raced the Audi R8 for the fist time, the leading car had to go to the pits. They replaced the gearbox in less than 5 minutes. When they left the pit, they were stilll leading the race!!! That is dominance!
Putting in the Toyota TS050 which got it‘s wins with basically no competition and not the 919 which beat it every time they competed (Yes I remember how that happened but still) feels a little bit weird.
Certainly for me nr. 1 are the couple 956/962. Wins from 1982 until 1987. But don' t forget the speed record of Marko/Van Lennep of 1971: 39 years !!!!
Toyota GR might have to be re evaluated after this 24h. Seeing as each win came with virtually no serious competition. And when they finally did this year Ferrari took the front row and the. 51 car never looked back. Especially seeing as Cadillac, Porsche and Peugeot had a taste of the lead at certain points.
yeah but as we can see now, even if they didnt win lemans since the hypercar introduction, they still did cook and still got both WEDC and WEMC in 2023 also their 23rd to 2nd sprint on the 2024 LeMans was amazing also the car u r probably talking about isnt the GR010 but the TS050, but then that broke LeMan's fastest lap time
Well done, very nice compendium, and top 15 choices indeed! Let's not forget the GTs though (whether it be Group 5, GTS, GT1, GT2, LMGTE etc): Porsche 935 and 935K, 961, 911 RSRs, the awesome Viper, Corvette, Ferrari 488 LMGTE, and the absolute outsider McLaren F1 GTR (courtesy of Ueno Clinic haha)
Great video again FJ. I agree with your rankings too. I noticed some comments about the Porsche 919 not being on the list but they were able to come in on the back of the Audi dominance with the R18 as both are from the VW stable. An absolute shame that Audi have chosen the F1 path when all their success has been in sports car enduros.
The Mazda 787B was a phenomenal car. A 3 rotor engine making it a 1.3 engine producing 500bhp. The first outing won, but then the FIA banned it, so it was not raced ever since. but I could be wrong
It wasnt close to being the fastest car though. Le Mans was the only race it won in 1991, and it qualified 12th for the race. It won it because of reliability and consistency. The FIA didnt ban specifically the 787b, the regulations were changing to be in line with F1 engine regulations regardless of the 787b, its a common misconception that the FIA thought the 787b was "too good" but its simply untrue.
In general I think this video is very good. My only issue is that cars that won Le Mans once are portrait as dominant. While this may be true to further illustrate that dominance you could emphasis the gap to the next cars more in order to show how dominant these machines really were.
I honestly wouldn't put the 905 that high up on the list. The Sport 3.5L regulations were put by the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone purely to kill Group C and endurance racing in general. Peugeot played a huge role in politics at this time and their only opposition were the few manufacturers that could actually keep up with the ramping costs.
@@Luisml8 Group C had more and more manufacturers join in the late 80s (Sauber Mercedes, Jaguar) which could challenge Porsche for the win. That drew a lot of attention from the media and the public, so much that Bernie Ecclestone feared it would overshadow Formula 1. As a side effect, some manufacturers like Peugeot later joined F1 as engine suppliers because, well, what are you going to do with that F1 engine now that sportscar racing is dead?
The 905 easily should be ranked up here. Porsche often barely had any competition back in the hey days. Toyota came with a very strong car and failed against the 905. A 3.5 v10 screaming at 12,000rpm really shouldn't last 24hrs. But it did......Twice, Including a full podium lockout.
Also the Alfa Romeo T33 winning the 2.0 L class in 1968 and going 4th, 5th and 6th overall. I'm sure there must have been years when Porsche had similar results in their class.
Your list is pretty spot on I would say. The only other car I would add is the McLaren F1 not just because I was there in 1995 where it one. But also because Gordon Murray himself drove the race car to and from Le Mans to prove a point. As far as I know it was the last production car to have won the race.
Thank you! The McLaren F1 is absolutely a cool car, I gotta make a separate video about it tbh! Although for this list, I don’t think I would classify it as being dominant over the rest of the field at Le Mans right? I could be wrong though! That is so cool you were there in 1995 at the event! It must have been quite the race!
@@FormulaJonah Depends on what you mean by dominant? When I was there in 95 4 of the top 5 cars were McLaren F1’s. But as far as I can remember I don’t think it won again as they upset a lot of manufacturers ( particularly Porsche ) which came back with revenge the following year. Yeah it was absolutely brilliant going to Le Mans. I’ve got a photo somewhere of me with my Dad and brother outside the McLaren pits standing infront of the car. Oh how times have changed try doing that now lol. The night time was my favourite seeing the brakes glow red hot and the flames popping out the exhausts on the downshifts. My favourite sounding car was the Corvette that thing was like angry thunder when it went passed. We did have a tent on the campsite there but as you can imagine you couldn’t sleep nor did you want too. It’s just a brilliant event they had rock concerts there and a pretty good fair and theme park there so you were never bored. Luckily I live in south England so we drove there from our house through the channel tunnel and was there in a few hours. But for the 95 race it certainly did dominate.
I somewhat feel that the 919 was better than the Toyota, and the fact that the Toyota saw success was due to the fact that I personally feel, its easy to win when you are the only big competitor in your class. With the return of newer better cars this year and next year I feel that the Toyota will once again be deemed to not be as good again, and return to being a competitive but not winning car
What a SUPERB presentation! Great history lesson; neat graphics and concise presentation; extra bonus points for Honorable Mentions; you added metric for those that make up 95% of the world; great narration; no annoying background music. Only thing I wish was present, if I may knit pick would be the amount of HP these monsters produced. Thanks for this. Now to pick one to race in my sim rig.
@Formula Jonah did you read that Alfa Romeo going to team up with HAAS 2024 but THEN in 2026 WEC entry! They will replace Peugeot on the grid. Car will be Alfa Romeos own but using some useful stuff from Peugeot 9X8
It's all still speculation for Alfa Romeo coming to WEC in 2026 and taking over the Peugeot program. Can I ask where you read that Alfa had confirmed this?
I have heard of the Haas / Alfa Romeo deal, very interesting.. Will need to see where that goes. I haven’t heard about the 2026 WEC Alfa Romeo entry yet. Would be cool if they do join WEC and also stick with F1 in the form of Haas
well in my opinion the ts050 wont be really that successful if porsche or audi didnt left but the smp racing and reb cars did absolutely amazing so pretty fair for toyota.
@@vwjetta4138 No, it's actually wrong. Simply because Toyota GR team was scoring more victories and podiums than porsche in the last years. That's why porsche didn't respected the contract they had with the ACO and FIA, and suddenly left the competition. Porsche was supposed to stay until the end of lmp1 era. Porsche was clearly aware they wouldn't be able to win over Toyota in the next years, and they run away to avoid being beaten by Toyota fairly. The last year with Toyota and porsche illustrated it the best, when porsche only won WEC, because of the double points from LeMans, when Toyota had won more WEC races than porsche. When this unfair situation have been pointed out, and the ACO-FIA suddenly announced removing this double points rules from LeMans, porsche withdraw themselves. Porsche victories are often doubtful, and sometimes outrageously lucky. As the victory on LeMans, when porsche actually abused the rules and fuel regulations, by over consuming all the time gasoline, going to penalties in pitlane. It only appears that a cheater could won LeMans by cheating one of the main rules, since they were obviously going faster by over consuming, the penalties weren't enough to slowdown this abuses.
Another Fantastic Video and an very interesting Format maybe you can do this with other popular races too. I am very exited for Le Mans. Do you have an favourit car for Le Mans I think there are many entries on the grid with very great Liveries you can see them all on the offical App of the wec. I think the best looking car with the best Livery is the number 66 Ferrari from JMW Motorsport. What do you think?
Thank you for watching! Good question! The #66 Ferrari definitely has an amazing livery, good choice! Personally, I really like Peugeot’s Le Mans Livery, but tbh it’s really hard to pick! The Matra / Pescarolo tribute livery is also super cool. And we can’t forget Rexy haha!
@@FormulaJonah Yes I think to the Peugeots have very good Liveries were Fantastic not a classic idea but it looks great and Rexy is a very beautiful car I'm love it the mouth looks perfect but we need more of some Art Liveries they Look so great for some examples: Iron Force Racing, T3 Motorsport and Street art Racing I think they have very cool designs on their cars
Top 1 should have been the Peugeot 905, it held the "chicane added hunaudière straight line" track record with a 3:21 lap time, only beaten in 2010 by the Peugeot 908 with a lap time of 3:19. Peugeot 905 was simply 3 to 4 second faster than the competition in its time on a clear lap and was by design ( It was basically a late 2010 LMP1 in performance 20 years prior to the Peak of non hybrid LMP1 race cars ) The aerodynamics of this car were just 20 years ahead of it's time. Peugeot 905 Should definitely be the top 1 in regards of how old the car is and how well it'd hold up against contemporaries today.
I am honestly surprised you didn't add the McLaren F1 in 1995. It is essentially a modified street car that came in and won Le Mans, taking 4 of the top 5 positions; 1,3,4, and 5. An absolute masterclass, yet not even an honorable mention.
It was not added because it didn’t dominate over the field at Le Mans in the race. While they did finish with an incredible result and truly remarkable story, it was not above and beyond the field for example the Audi R8 was in the early 2000s. It also wasn’t on the same pace compared to the prototypes. This list and video was made a long time ago so I would’ve structured it a little differently, but I do stand by my decision to not put the McLaren in here as it doesn’t qualify. Such an incredible car though and a truly deserved win in 1995. I plan on making a full video on the car and how it won in 95 actually!
Enjoyed this greatly. About ten years back I helped move an Audi R-15 from the back of a car-carrier to the floor of the museum it was being loaned to. Sa dly about as close to the Sarthe as I've ever come. But come on now -- no mention of the REAL Bentleys -- the ones that won the first five of the six wins claimed by cars bearing that name. The cars that won four times on the trot in the 30's. The cars that to many are synonymous with Le Mans. Woolf Barnato and Henry Birkin are spinning at 10,000 rpm. lol
The Ferrari TR’s in all there versions have 3 victories, 4 including the 330TRI and were brilliant. Also I think a special mention should have gone to the Bugatti Type 57’s partly because they were ahead of the time and also like the TR’s they look fantastic.
Peugeot 908 hdi fap is arguably the fastest non hybrid endurance car of all time and with a win loss ratio of over 65% throughout its racing history and multiple endurance championships, including winning the 2009 24hr, it should easily be up here. Unless this is for purely winning the 24hr to which it still should be cos it was soo damm fast.🤷🏽♂️
It wasn’t dominant though. The prototypes were faster and McLaren won by luck and consistency. It’s definitely an amazing car, but it doesn’t fall into the same category that is related to this list
@@FormulaJonah for a road car beating prototypes on it's debut it doesn't matter how it happens it's incredible and should be on the list. It will probably never ever happen again.
ALL THE CARS MENTIONED WERE AWESOME FOR THEIR DAY now as for favorites would be 962 since it the first l saw race , Next 917 & GT40 , followed by the AUDIs R8 /R10s NOW as for most interesting motors would be the MAZDA rotary 787B and 919 v4
Hard to pick which Porsche was best....🚗 The Gulf livery 917K is my favourite and IMHO the best looking racecar ever, but the 911 GT1, 956 and 962 were also dominant..
I can't put the Bentley Speed Eight on that list. Sure it won in 2003, but the Audis it beat were privateer entries. It was nowhere near the Audi R8 when the factory focus was on it the previous two years.
Awesome video. I hsve only one thing to add. The ford gt40 you mentioned as the "mk1" was actually a "mk2." Though its an easy mistake to make. Again that was a great video !
The only reason the Bentley Speed 8 existed was because the VW group exploited the memories of the early Bentleys that won 5 out of the first 10 editions of Le Mans. They deserved to be in the list.
I was expecting this to be a yank upheaval of the GT, but it was only brief. Very happy that porche dominance was addressed, but I feel like this is a bit historical. did the video creator not watch Fernando Alonso Toyota, should be fresh in everyones memories.
Considering this video is about Le Mans dominant cars from 1923 till 2022, it was bound to be historical. Fernando and the TS050’s wins were definitely amazing to watch! And proved the TS050 was dominant at Le Mans regardless of fewer competitors, hence its #7 on this list.
I cannot disagree with anything here that's obviously a very well thought out of and knowledgeable list Did not realize that the Porsche 956 was even more successful than the 917 Surprise there were no Ferraris on the list As an aside I think the book go like hell was fascinating about the Ford/Ferrari war What I found interesting was it the decision to put the 427 into the GT 40 was done over the objections of team manager John Wyer and was a decision of the Ford board of directors Perhaps the GT 40 mark lV would've had more prominence and they not changed the engine displacement rules the following year
@@magg7771why? It won 1 race out of 22 races in two years......And that one race it only won on pure luck........ That car was not dominate at all ......
The question I have is the changing from 2 driver to 3 driver to 4 driver regulations which would of course enhance the performance of racing especially in the duel drivers compared to 3 or 4.
962 fastest speed was 244mph with a tow down the straight and the boost turned up, speeds come from porsche AG they have a book that published this number
Personally I believe that the Peugeot 908 deserves a spot on here, because (if I got my history right) it took a big 1-2-3 victory at their home French race. But the it’s 905 predecessor is a respectable pick, especially since it won the race twice. EDIT: I take it back, it was in the honourable mentions. 😅
To be honest I'd have the 908 over the 905 on the list because the 905 won during a dark period for Endurance Racing and the Le Mans 24h and the competition was almost non-existent by the time they won
I miss these legendary LeMans race cars from GRAN TURISMO 2, 4, 5, and FORZA MOTORSPORT 6, especially Audi R10 TDI from Yuu Takasaki, Audi R8 2001 from Kanata Konoe, Bentley Speed 8 from Mia Taylor, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP from Emma Verde and Karin Asaka and Sauber Mercedes C9 from Ayumu Uehara...
In 1966 it was a 7 litre Ford GT40 mark 2 which came 1, 2 and 3. In 1967 it was a 7 litre mark 4 (1st and 4th). 1969 was the last overall win for Ford. Neither the Jaguar D or C type was developed using a wind tunnel. Malcolm Sayer was an aircraft designer who calculated the ideal shapes.
So, in the general opinion. The Renault Alpine 442 and the BMW V12 LMR fall into the "they came, they saw, they conquered" category. Does that not make them all time greats?
Both are definitely amazing cars, but they haven’t really dominated Le Mans like others have. Let’s take the BMW for example, Toyota and Mercedes had the fastest car but both were involved in unfortunate circumstances, and BMW was just more reliable and consistent. Plus the car only raced in one Le Mans. In this particular instance they would fall into the success range, but not dominance range.
Not really the fastest or most dominant cars, but I've always had a soft spot for the '98 season.. The Mercedes CLK-LM, Nissan R390 GT1, Mclaren F1 GTR Longtail and Porsche 911 GT1 are still 4 of my all time favorite LM cars to date..
I might be biased, but the C6.R won 5 times between 2005 and 2011 and I believe that this chassis deserves to be on the list. Given the cars on this list currently, it seems hard not to put it in the top 3. Thoughts?
I’m surprised the Porsche GT3 isn’t at least honorable mention. It’s a great car for teams to race in the gt class and it’s been racing for 2 decades now. While other manufacturers come and go the GT3 is there every year
It will be interesting if in 5 years time we will see the 499P here, or especially the 9x8, as it was a car specifically built for Circuit De La Sarthe.
I can understand why it’s not on the list as it only won one Le-Man in 1995 but technically as it’s only done one race it’s never lost one 😂. But I think the McLaren F1 GTR was a massive achievement yes it got a little help from the weather but a win is still a win. And I always liked the interview with Gordon Murray as he said his only regret from the project was not driving them to Le-Man and back home after the race.
I'm not really sure how you are figuring out what car "dominated" le mans and what car didn't. You said the porsche 919 "didn't necessarily dominate", yet it won 3 consecutive le mans races. Considering there are other cars that did make the list that didn't get 3 consecutive victories, and there are also cars that only won once on the honerabke mentions list, how are you deciding to call one car dominating, and not another?
For the word dominant, I am going off of how consistently ahead of other entries these cars are (even ones that had little to no competition) Reliability and accuracy in design that would finish beyond the others car’s design. And results, how many overall victories in a row, how dominant they were from start to finish of said victory, and how many entries survived and succeeded over the rest. As for the 919, yes it was a dominant car, but at Le Mans it was a less dominant. In 2015 they had major competition from Audi, and even though the 919 won, Porsche wasn’t miles ahead of Audi. In 2016, Toyota arguably won Le Mans, Porsche just got lucky because of Toyota’s heartbreaking moment. And in 2017 they once again had pressure from Toyota and were not miles ahead like how the Audi R8 was to the Pescarolo C60 JUDD in 2006, that year was also about survival, and #2 car was the only LMP1 finisher in the top 5. This is coming from a long time Porsche fan btw. The 919 was on honorable mentions though and got close to the Top 15, but since it didn’t I wanted to make sure I included it in HM.
The Mercedes Sauber C9 is not the reason why le mans added the chicanes. It is the international federation which banned straight lines of more than 1km
It’s true that the Sauber Mercedes wasn’t the full reason why. They did add in the chicanes to limit speed that could be achieved down the Mulsanne though and the Sauber Mercedes C9 did have a part to play in the whole situation as it was one of the fastest cars at Le Mans down the Mulsanne before the 2 chicanes were introduced
I might push the 956/962 above the r8 just because the 962 is literally just a 956 with safety added so they could race in imsa, basically the same car winning 6 years in a row
I think the Audi R15+ TDI should have made the list for apart from winning the 2010 24h of Le Mans it set the Record for: Longest Distance: (5410.713 km) Most Laps Raced: (397) Highest avg. Race speed by a winner: (225.228 km/h)
Those Hypercar Toyota wins should have a big asterisks next to it, as they were the only ones that were competitive, and by that I think they should have been lower...
@@blankfiilenot really because many came and went trying to beat Audi and couldn't.... Same with the 956/962, it was so dominate because it was the perfect race car..... Till this day Jacki Icky, Stuck and Bell all claim it was the greatest prototype they raced...
@@MiguelGarcia-vj7oo the porsches yes they had enormous competition and should have been top of the list. the audi R8 had no real factory opposition for its entire run except when they ran against themselves (bentley). the low budget crysler, panoz, pescarollo or caddy efforts are comparable to privateers. hell the toyota is dominating wec as we speak against massive factory opposition. just because the wins came that much more dominant against privateers doesnt mean they werent wins, exactly like the R8
Porsche 917 is the best ever! Air cooled Flat 12, forget about it! If this model was not written out by the rule book it would have dominated the 1970’s! Just listen to this beast down shift! The most intimidating car/monster ever!
Personally, I feel the Audi R10 TDI should be just a little higher, based on the fact that it rarely broke down, won every single Le Mans it entered, and had an insane top speed for its time.
I miss Gran Turismo 4 when I see these group C cars
You can play it on pc
In GT7 there are also some of the most famous Group C Cars. 962C, 787B, 92CP etc
I wish Gran Turismo was made more like 3 and 4 and less like 5 and the 6, the PlayStation Killer...
@@CD-Gaming yep. Gran Turismo 6 despite still great, is the one that made Gran Turismo series went completely downhill, with Sport denoted as the WORST GRAN TURISMO game ever!
@@The_Abhy on PC, there is emulator named PCSX2, and RPCS3 for those who wanna play Gran Turismo 5.
I think there's something to be said about cars that were dominant in lower categories. Like, yes Porsche built a lot of prototypes that won.....but they also made the 911 that won one of the GT classes almost every year there were entries. It also birthed the trim packages like RS, RSR, GT3, and GT2 either due to homologation purposes or to honor their victories in those categories. And lets not forget that the 935, essentially the racing version of the 911 turbo, won outright in 79 despite being, effectively, a GT-class car racing against prototypes.
Idk where you got your information from but the 935 is not just a "GT class car" it was basically a full silhouette Group 5 racer. 700+ hp with a spaceframe, it absolutely was not just a GT car like the 934 was
The Porsche 919 Hybrid was utterly dominant in arguably the most competitive era in sportscar racing history and should have been ranked higher in my opinion
It definitely was a dominant car overall especially in the 2015 WEC. Although at Le Mans it was not consistently dominant over the rest (gapping the grid wise) In 2015 they won, but it was a very close fight with Audi. And in 2016 Toyota arguably would have won that race. It definitely is an incredible car though. Good to hear more support for the 919!
@@FormulaJonah it’s the Le Mans 24 hours not the Le Mans 23:57
@@Hal9023 true but this video is the most dominant not just who won. That season as a whole was one of the most exciting wec seasons ever. Personally, when Toyota and later Porsche in their second year joined Audi it showed that Audi may have been winning simply because they didn't really have any real factory competitors for some time and it didn't take long for Toyota and Porsche to beat them and now they aren't even there anymore.
@@sgsheff t
They aren't there, because the parent company won't approve it. It will always be questioned, if Audi was somehow 'told' to not beat Porsche when the 919s won in the Porsche 'come back' to Le Mans. It will be great fun to watch all the manufacturers back competing this year! It's just a shame, that Ford won't be there in the top category. I guess the grand kids of 'the deuce' aren't into Le Mans like he was.
@@FormulaJonah in case you dont know, Emma Verde, one of the Nijigasaki characters, drove that 919 Hybrid in 2015 WEC Season. It also appeared in FORZA MOTORSPORT 6, PROJECT CARS 2 and Gran Turismo 7.
The fact the R8 was only beaten by a car in a different category beat them showed how dominant they were. With Bentley actually being run by Audi Sport UK just under Team Bentley.
Also Joest Racing were so instrumental in the building and development of the R8, Speed 8, R10 and R18s that without them none of these dominant cars could have been what they are. Also having 15 wins at Le Mans in total, with 2 wins coming from the 956.
Was quite a machine.
Joest benefitted in 1984 from the Porsche factory team pulling out, but in 1985, they beat the the factory team head-to-head with superior mechanical and technological development, especially with regards to fuel injection systems.
and the Bentley was just an Audi underneath, but one thing to remember, with those R8 victories and and Toyota victories, there was no real competition, apart from small privateers
@@northstarsixtysix right but Toyota gets crap for it unfortunately for some reason
@@robertbearden785 you are right, will be interesting to see how long their dominance lasts now their is some competition. But lets be honest, the Audi R8 victories, and the Toyota victories, there was no real competition , more so for Toyota
The 917 is such a cool car. It's probably one of my favourate cars ever.
My favourite is the Sauber C9
917/10 I think is the most beautiful version of the car 😁❤️
@@superphonixlp4152I disagree, the Hippie martini livery, martini racing silver 917lh and of course the Gulf variants are the most beautiful versions
......
@@MiguelGarcia-vj7oo hippie one gets my vote too
The Gulf 917K is my all time favourite race car, and my screen backgrounds
i've personally worked on the #9 yellow audi r8 testing and it's crazy how quick it still is in present day
Wow that’s awesome! I am sure that was a great experience for you! It definitely became a great a car.
The Ford GT40 MKIV might’ve deserved an honorable mention. Setting top speed records, a distance record, leading the entire race, and directly causing a rule change that banned all large displacement engines. I believe it was also the last time Ford fielded a factory team.
Neen lola MK7
You are correct
Correct
The ROTHMANS PORSCHE 956/962 and similar cars are mythical. I wasn't even born when they stopped racing but as an endurance racing super geek I am in awe of them and their driver line-up: Ickx, Bell, Bellof, Mass, Holbert, Watson, Haywood, Schuppan, Wollek, Stuck, Lammers, Dumfries, Ludwig, The Andrettis and others I forgot to mention. All racing legends I do not know if the hybrid Era cars will ever field such an incredible array of talent. Both driver and car super stars who were dominant.
they conspired with the whops and french to get the 427 side oiler banned
Porsche 962 and 962C both are equally OP in Project CARS 2 and GT7.
I'm 65 and remember them well, it actually, for some, got a little old, they just kept winning at so many tracks. You are very astute to realize the depth of drivers that drove them. It was because of this that kept my interest in their remarkable wins.
I thought the Mazda 4rotor entry that won one race should have been mentioned. Had it not been for the rules changing this was a force to be delt with for a few years.
You should have another separate Honorable Mention list for greatest one-time victory cars. That would be the 787B, F1 McLaren GTR and the 79, 935.
Also, completly left out the Bentley Boys dominance from the pre-war era? Those would've been better than the Audi based Bentley you included.
Great vid wither way!
I came here to comment that, not much a matter of dominance overall, just outright luck, still great stories
Yep, agreed, no mention of the 787B & GTR especially, even in honourable mentions was surprising! 787B has sto still be my favourite Le Mans racer to date.
@@timbradraving against old jags and mercs lol
@timbrad the 787B was not dominant at all, have you ever seen the '91 race? It was actually one of the slower cars and only won due to reliability le mans was the only race the car won
My favourite little detail about the R8 (I don't know which year it was) was when they changed the rules to require smaller wing endplates, to slow the cars down. Audi figured out that they could have two large fins sticking up from the bodywork meeting, but not touching (there was a 1mm gap) the much smaller, totally legal wing endplate. To the air, it didn't matter. The I-can't-believe-they're-not-endplates worked just as well as the proper ones from the previous year and the car dominated even harder. The next year the rules were changed again to make the wing narrower, where Audi pulled a similar trick, which is the version that has the box sections at the ends of the rear wing. So the airfoil section was as wide as the rules allowed but the thing behaved as if the wing was bigger.
what year cars were these?
2002 was changing of rules, then when Audi pulled out in 2003 regarding the last year of Bentley in Le Mans, Audi engineers worked on Bentley´s and they used that trick even on Speed 8 cars
not touching, can't get mad
The Audi R8 will also be remembered in LeMans history in 2000 where they completed one of the fastest rear end changes ever and it took the Joest mechanics less than 4 minutes to complete the repairs and get the car back in the race
Fun little fact about the Ferrari 250 LM’s victory at Le Mans, it wasn’t even the main Ferrari team that won the 1965 Le Mans, it was the N.A.R.T team. Ferrari originally entered 2 of their 330 P2s, but cause they had issues with their brakes, they retired the cars and backed the remaining 250 LMs from N.A.R.T and the Belgium team, Ecurie Francorchamps. There’s a video on YT, forget who it’s by, that covers the 1965 24 hours of Le Mans. Which funny enough the winning 250 LM was given to the IMS museum and left in the basement for some number of decades. Which it’s also kinda funny too, the car that it was cozied next to was the 1979 Le Mans winning Porsche 935.
Very interesting! Thank you for explaining the story!
I think it’s from vinWiki
I would have evaluated the 956 and 962C as one distinct model. Despite the number designation change, the only difference between the 956 and 962, other than the usual year-on-year incremental improvements, is a redesigned front suspension to move the axis of the front wheels in front of the driver's feet and a change from an aluminum to steel rollcage. This was originally mandated by IMSA, resulting in the 962, and were transfered back to the 956 as the 962C, which had the same engine, twin turbocharger setup and transmission as the 956 (although they bored it out over the years). The monocoque was the same (in fact, some 956 cars were converted into 962s), and the bodywork maintained considerable continuity, mostly just having been tweaked around the nose to move the front wheel wells forward.
I mean the 962 gtps were quite different from the European 962s and 956s tbh
@@robertbearden785That's a more tenable argument, given that they ran 2 valve-per-cylinder, air-cooled single turbo flat 6s, but since we're talking 956 and 962Cs at Le Mans, I find it more difficult to treat them as separate cars. Unlike the R8-R10-R15-R18, which were decidedly different cars.
The moving of the front axle in front of the drivers feet was a response to the loss of Bellof. He impacted the wall at Eau Rouge head on, and the injuries he sustained was partly due to the positioning of the pilots feet. The front axle line acts as part of the crash structure, since it is directly linked to the chassis and takes a considerable amount of force away from a head on impact.
@@justinreynolds2235 Bellof was literally racing against Ickx's factory 962 in 1985 when he crashed at Spa, so the 962 existed before Bellof's accident, and was not created as a response. IMSA had insisted on feet behind the front axle before the 956 could be raced in IMSA in 1984, for safety purposes as you mentioned, hence the creation of the 962 for IMSA. FIA looked at it and said that they needed to adopt the same requirement, which they did for all new cars in 1985. 956s were grandfathered in for two years, so the Porsche privateer teams didn't all have to buy cars to go racing in '85, and to keep the Porsche factory from getting backed up. Bellof was in one of the grandfathered Brun 956s (#116, to be precise) when he crashed. The last 956s I can find in FIA WSPC are the ones that raced at Fuji in 1986, and the race was in fact won by Barilla and Ghinzani in Joest's 956 #117, and they also raced in some other series, like Interserie, Supercup, and some non-championship races at Kyalami.
A little aside, I had always thought that 962s didn't race at Le Mans until 1985, but it turns out that John Fitzpatrick/Skoal Bandit brought 962 #105 and Preston Henn/T-Bird Swap Shop brought 962 #104 to Le Mans in 1984. While Henn's 962 had an IMSA-spec two-valve single turbo engine and raced in the GTP class, Fitzpatrick's car had the 2.65 liter 4-valve twin turbo 935 engine (the engine designation, despite the fact that this type had not run in Porsche 935s - confusing) that was standard issue for Group C, and the car was run under Group C rules! So, it appears that a privateer had the first 962C almost a year before the factory! It may have been that they bought an IMSA-spec 962 and retrofitted the engine and rear bodywork from a 956, but on this, I'm speculating.
That front design change itself was already kinda big
When they raced the Audi R8 for the fist time, the leading car had to go to the pits. They replaced the gearbox in less than 5 minutes. When they left the pit, they were stilll leading the race!!!
That is dominance!
I knew the Mazda 787B didn’t actually exist. I knew it was a fever dream.
It wasn't dominant though it got it's win in 1991 due to being more reliable than it's competitors.
It didn't dominate. It qualified outside the top 10 and only won sue to reliability.
I’d have the 917 higher, but just my opinion. Don’t mind anyone’s personal order, it was just nice to reminisce over some great cars. Love the vid.
Putting in the Toyota TS050 which got it‘s wins with basically no competition and not the 919 which beat it every time they competed (Yes I remember how that happened but still) feels a little bit weird.
Surely the 4 1/2 litre Bentley deserves a mention. 4 wins and a 1,2,3,4!
Puts most of the other cars mentioned well and truly in the shade.......
917 was the GOAT, but the MS670 has the greatest sound ever.
Certainly for me nr. 1 are the couple 956/962. Wins from 1982 until 1987. But don' t forget the speed record of Marko/Van Lennep of 1971: 39 years !!!!
I am a Porsche fan in out and all around......but that D-type does it for me.....judgement based on looks. lol
A good list. I’m a big fan of the Jaguar XJR-9 personality.
Toyota GR might have to be re evaluated after this 24h. Seeing as each win came with virtually no serious competition. And when they finally did this year Ferrari took the front row and the. 51 car never looked back. Especially seeing as Cadillac, Porsche and Peugeot had a taste of the lead at certain points.
Ever since the top LM class adopted BoP, the results are meaningless.
yeah but as we can see now, even if they didnt win lemans since the hypercar introduction, they still did cook and still got both WEDC and WEMC in 2023
also their 23rd to 2nd sprint on the 2024 LeMans was amazing
also the car u r probably talking about isnt the GR010 but the TS050, but then that broke LeMan's fastest lap time
Well done, very nice compendium, and top 15 choices indeed! Let's not forget the GTs though (whether it be Group 5, GTS, GT1, GT2, LMGTE etc): Porsche 935 and 935K, 961, 911 RSRs, the awesome Viper, Corvette, Ferrari 488 LMGTE, and the absolute outsider McLaren F1 GTR (courtesy of Ueno Clinic haha)
thd 919 has a small engine but the hybrid system it had was monstrous, it pulled like a train and was also quite efficienf
Great video again FJ. I agree with your rankings too. I noticed some comments about the Porsche 919 not being on the list but they were able to come in on the back of the Audi dominance with the R18 as both are from the VW stable. An absolute shame that Audi have chosen the F1 path when all their success has been in sports car enduros.
The Mazda 787B was a phenomenal car. A 3 rotor engine making it a 1.3 engine producing 500bhp. The first outing won, but then the FIA banned it, so it was not raced ever since. but I could be wrong
6 rotor rb26 motor 2.6l wankel engine*
Agreed. It should have at least made the mentions list since it's the only non-piston powered car to win.
@@lasallejr2935 4 Rotor*
It wasnt close to being the fastest car though. Le Mans was the only race it won in 1991, and it qualified 12th for the race. It won it because of reliability and consistency. The FIA didnt ban specifically the 787b, the regulations were changing to be in line with F1 engine regulations regardless of the 787b, its a common misconception that the FIA thought the 787b was "too good" but its simply untrue.
In general I think this video is very good. My only issue is that cars that won Le Mans once are portrait as dominant. While this may be true to further illustrate that dominance you could emphasis the gap to the next cars more in order to show how dominant these machines really were.
I honestly wouldn't put the 905 that high up on the list. The Sport 3.5L regulations were put by the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone purely to kill Group C and endurance racing in general. Peugeot played a huge role in politics at this time and their only opposition were the few manufacturers that could actually keep up with the ramping costs.
Why would they wanted to killed group C?
@@Luisml8 Group C had more and more manufacturers join in the late 80s (Sauber Mercedes, Jaguar) which could challenge Porsche for the win. That drew a lot of attention from the media and the public, so much that Bernie Ecclestone feared it would overshadow Formula 1. As a side effect, some manufacturers like Peugeot later joined F1 as engine suppliers because, well, what are you going to do with that F1 engine now that sportscar racing is dead?
@@valentin7574 wow that guy was insane 💀
The 905 easily should be ranked up here. Porsche often barely had any competition back in the hey days. Toyota came with a very strong car and failed against the 905. A 3.5 v10 screaming at 12,000rpm really shouldn't last 24hrs. But it did......Twice, Including a full podium lockout.
A GT40 would be my dream car, but as Clarkson taught me, I can’t fit in one 🤣
Nico Yazawa also love the 1966 Ford GT40.
Well, there's the GT40 Roadster Prototype, if you still can't fit in this one, I will be stumped...
ruclips.net/video/MlM_WHsAqqk/видео.html
Nice video, I’d have been tempted to throw some class cars in there as well. Porsche 911, Corvette C6R/C7R, Oreca 07, Viper GTS-R
Also the Alfa Romeo T33 winning the 2.0 L class in 1968 and going 4th, 5th and 6th overall. I'm sure there must have been years when Porsche had similar results in their class.
good list- I'd bump the 962 up a few spots- but good list
Your list is pretty spot on I would say. The only other car I would add is the McLaren F1 not just because I was there in 1995 where it one. But also because Gordon Murray himself drove the race car to and from Le Mans to prove a point. As far as I know it was the last production car to have won the race.
Thank you! The McLaren F1 is absolutely a cool car, I gotta make a separate video about it tbh! Although for this list, I don’t think I would classify it as being dominant over the rest of the field at Le Mans right? I could be wrong though! That is so cool you were there in 1995 at the event! It must have been quite the race!
@@FormulaJonah Depends on what you mean by dominant? When I was there in 95 4 of the top 5 cars were McLaren F1’s. But as far as I can remember I don’t think it won again as they upset a lot of manufacturers ( particularly Porsche ) which came back with revenge the following year. Yeah it was absolutely brilliant going to Le Mans. I’ve got a photo somewhere of me with my Dad and brother outside the McLaren pits standing infront of the car. Oh how times have changed try doing that now lol. The night time was my favourite seeing the brakes glow red hot and the flames popping out the exhausts on the downshifts. My favourite sounding car was the Corvette that thing was like angry thunder when it went passed. We did have a tent on the campsite there but as you can imagine you couldn’t sleep nor did you want too. It’s just a brilliant event they had rock concerts there and a pretty good fair and theme park there so you were never bored. Luckily I live in south England so we drove there from our house through the channel tunnel and was there in a few hours.
But for the 95 race it certainly did dominate.
The matra made such a unique sound it could be recognisable of any car from afar, just like the Mazda 787b. It was a glorious sound.
I somewhat feel that the 919 was better than the Toyota, and the fact that the Toyota saw success was due to the fact that I personally feel, its easy to win when you are the only big competitor in your class. With the return of newer better cars this year and next year I feel that the Toyota will once again be deemed to not be as good again, and return to being a competitive but not winning car
the 919 was definitely better than the ts050
What a SUPERB presentation!
Great history lesson; neat graphics and concise presentation; extra bonus points for Honorable Mentions; you added metric for those that make up 95% of the world; great narration; no annoying background music.
Only thing I wish was present, if I may knit pick would be the amount of HP these monsters produced.
Thanks for this. Now to pick one to race in my sim rig.
I still think the 956 was the most dominant racecar of all time. The R8 never took 9 out of the first 10 places at Le Mans.
The Bugatti Type 35 would like to have a word with you on that.
917 30 Nark Donahue
Most dominant race car of all time is the Ferrari 500 and it's not even clos3
@@zachdebuhr6347 I think he was talking sports car/GT not f1 in which the 917k reigns supreme
@user-kt8dy7pc8n the 917K was not as "dominant" as the 956 or Jaguar D Type or Audi R8
The Nissan Deltawing was the most dominant in my opinion.... it completely dominated the headlines for being a failed project with so much potential.
@Formula Jonah did you read that Alfa Romeo going to team up with HAAS 2024 but THEN in 2026 WEC entry! They will replace Peugeot on the grid. Car will be Alfa Romeos own but using some useful stuff from Peugeot 9X8
It's all still speculation for Alfa Romeo coming to WEC in 2026 and taking over the Peugeot program.
Can I ask where you read that Alfa had confirmed this?
I have heard of the Haas / Alfa Romeo deal, very interesting.. Will need to see where that goes. I haven’t heard about the 2026 WEC Alfa Romeo entry yet. Would be cool if they do join WEC and also stick with F1 in the form of Haas
@@maxb148 from Italian sites as I speak Italian. We could get confirmation by late June this year
well in my opinion the ts050 wont be really that successful if porsche or audi didnt left but the smp racing and reb cars did absolutely amazing so pretty fair for toyota.
True
@@vwjetta4138 No, it's actually wrong. Simply because Toyota GR team was scoring more victories and podiums than porsche in the last years. That's why porsche didn't respected the contract they had with the ACO and FIA, and suddenly left the competition. Porsche was supposed to stay until the end of lmp1 era.
Porsche was clearly aware they wouldn't be able to win over Toyota in the next years, and they run away to avoid being beaten by Toyota fairly.
The last year with Toyota and porsche illustrated it the best, when porsche only won WEC, because of the double points from LeMans, when Toyota had won more WEC races than porsche. When this unfair situation have been pointed out, and the ACO-FIA suddenly announced removing this double points rules from LeMans, porsche withdraw themselves.
Porsche victories are often doubtful, and sometimes outrageously lucky. As the victory on LeMans, when porsche actually abused the rules and fuel regulations, by over consuming all the time gasoline, going to penalties in pitlane. It only appears that a cheater could won LeMans by cheating one of the main rules, since they were obviously going faster by over consuming, the penalties weren't enough to slowdown this abuses.
@@jingorooroad2559 Porsche like Audi left the competition because of VAG Diesel gate scandal same with shut down of VW Rally program.
@@jingorooroad2559 top level cope
No mention of the Bentley speed six? Those Bentleys cleaned house throughout the 20s and 30s.
I would love to see more content for this gt challenge ... great for this preview
Another Fantastic Video and an very interesting Format maybe you can do this with other popular races too. I am very exited for Le Mans. Do you have an favourit car for Le Mans I think there are many entries on the grid with very great Liveries you can see them all on the offical App of the wec.
I think the best looking car with the best Livery is the number 66 Ferrari from JMW Motorsport. What do you think?
Thank you for watching! Good question! The #66 Ferrari definitely has an amazing livery, good choice! Personally, I really like Peugeot’s Le Mans Livery, but tbh it’s really hard to pick! The Matra / Pescarolo tribute livery is also super cool. And we can’t forget Rexy haha!
@@FormulaJonah Yes I think to
the Peugeots have very good
Liveries were Fantastic not
a classic idea but it looks great
and Rexy is a very beautiful car
I'm love it the mouth looks perfect but we need more of some Art Liveries they Look so great for some examples:
Iron Force Racing, T3 Motorsport and Street art Racing I think they have
very cool designs on their cars
Top 1 should have been the Peugeot 905, it held the "chicane added hunaudière straight line" track record with a 3:21 lap time, only beaten in 2010 by the Peugeot 908 with a lap time of 3:19. Peugeot 905 was simply 3 to 4 second faster than the competition in its time on a clear lap and was by design ( It was basically a late 2010 LMP1 in performance 20 years prior to the Peak of non hybrid LMP1 race cars ) The aerodynamics of this car were just 20 years ahead of it's time. Peugeot 905 Should definitely be the top 1 in regards of how old the car is and how well it'd hold up against contemporaries today.
it would easily beat the current hypercars which I find kind of funny, imagine if it had modernized tyres
Nice, I appreciate you stating, in your opinion. There are so many cars that could have been mentioned.
Glad you liked it! There are definitely so many to choose from.
I am honestly surprised you didn't add the McLaren F1 in 1995. It is essentially a modified street car that came in and won Le Mans, taking 4 of the top 5 positions; 1,3,4, and 5. An absolute masterclass, yet not even an honorable mention.
It was not added because it didn’t dominate over the field at Le Mans in the race. While they did finish with an incredible result and truly remarkable story, it was not above and beyond the field for example the Audi R8 was in the early 2000s. It also wasn’t on the same pace compared to the prototypes.
This list and video was made a long time ago so I would’ve structured it a little differently, but I do stand by my decision to not put the McLaren in here as it doesn’t qualify. Such an incredible car though and a truly deserved win in 1995. I plan on making a full video on the car and how it won in 95 actually!
Late 1960's / early 1970's Le Mans is my favorite era!
The Ford GT40 is such a Gorgeous and Sexy car!🏁🇺🇸
Enjoyed this greatly. About ten years back I helped move an Audi R-15 from the back of a car-carrier to the floor of the museum it was being loaned to. Sa dly about as close to the Sarthe as I've ever come. But come on now -- no mention of the REAL Bentleys -- the ones that won the first five of the six wins claimed by cars bearing that name. The cars that won four times on the trot in the 30's. The cars that to many are synonymous with Le Mans. Woolf Barnato and Henry Birkin are spinning at 10,000 rpm. lol
The Ferrari TR’s in all there versions have 3 victories, 4 including the 330TRI and were brilliant. Also I think a special mention should have gone to the Bugatti Type 57’s partly because they were ahead of the time and also like the TR’s they look fantastic.
I have to mention Mazda's 787B winning at 1991. It was the only rotary engine that won the LeMan.
While it was a great win, it wasn’t a dominant victory for Mazda at Le Mans! So for this video, that car technically doesn’t qualify
Peugeot 908 hdi fap is arguably the fastest non hybrid endurance car of all time and with a win loss ratio of over 65% throughout its racing history and multiple endurance championships, including winning the 2009 24hr, it should easily be up here. Unless this is for purely winning the 24hr to which it still should be cos it was soo damm fast.🤷🏽♂️
what about the McLaren F1 GTR ? - a ROAD car winning on debut in 1995 up against prototypes - at least an honorable mention - c'mon!
It wasn’t dominant though. The prototypes were faster and McLaren won by luck and consistency. It’s definitely an amazing car, but it doesn’t fall into the same category that is related to this list
@@FormulaJonah for a road car beating prototypes on it's debut it doesn't matter how it happens it's incredible and should be on the list. It will probably never ever happen again.
@@FormulaJonah nobody wins without luck 😜
ALL THE CARS MENTIONED WERE AWESOME FOR THEIR DAY now as for favorites would be 962 since it the first l saw race , Next 917 & GT40 , followed by the AUDIs R8 /R10s
NOW as for most interesting motors would be the MAZDA rotary 787B and 919 v4
Hard to pick which Porsche was best....🚗
The Gulf livery 917K is my favourite and IMHO the best looking racecar ever, but the 911 GT1, 956 and 962 were also dominant..
I have seen a report that some cars of peugeot reach to 405 kmh at le mans
I love the fact that they brought a NASCAR to Le Mans.
It did amazingly well considering what it was designed for. Driving at night and in the rain and it managed to make a good showing!
Small correction, the GT40 Mk I never actually won at le mans. The Mk II is what won all those races. It had the 427 ci.
I can't put the Bentley Speed Eight on that list. Sure it won in 2003, but the Audis it beat were privateer entries. It was nowhere near the Audi R8 when the factory focus was on it the previous two years.
Some tweaks can be done by considering the other rivals (Peugeot 905 for example) but overall great video
Found your channel by this video and loved
The R8 is my favorite car, i have the number #3 from 2002 in a 1/18 scale 😍
Glad you found the channel! And that’s awesome you have the R8 as a model!
Just missed one legend car Jaguar X JR 9
Awesome video. I hsve only one thing to add. The ford gt40 you mentioned as the "mk1" was actually a "mk2." Though its an easy mistake to make. Again that was a great video !
The only reason the Bentley Speed 8 existed was because the VW group exploited the memories of the early Bentleys that won 5 out of the first 10 editions of Le Mans. They deserved to be in the list.
The peugeot 905 evo1b was phenomenal
Agreed
The Peugeot 905 is still a Group C, the last le mans race to feature Group C cars was 1994
Excellent video however for ford the GT40 MKII was the car that won the race in 1966.
I was expecting this to be a yank upheaval of the GT, but it was only brief.
Very happy that porche dominance was addressed,
but I feel like this is a bit historical. did the video creator not watch Fernando Alonso Toyota,
should be fresh in everyones memories.
Considering this video is about Le Mans dominant cars from 1923 till 2022, it was bound to be historical. Fernando and the TS050’s wins were definitely amazing to watch! And proved the TS050 was dominant at Le Mans regardless of fewer competitors, hence its #7 on this list.
The R18 looks so menacing and mean wow
I cannot disagree with anything here that's obviously a very well thought out of and knowledgeable list
Did not realize that the Porsche 956 was even more successful than the 917
Surprise there were no Ferraris on the list
As an aside I think the book go like hell was fascinating about the Ford/Ferrari war
What I found interesting was it the decision to put the 427 into the GT 40 was done over the objections of team manager John Wyer and was a decision of the Ford board of directors
Perhaps the GT 40 mark lV would've had more prominence and they not changed the engine displacement rules the following year
The 787B will always have a special place in my opinion
I was expecting it to have an honourable mention at least.
@@magg7771why? It won 1 race out of 22 races in two years......And that one race it only won on pure luck........ That car was not dominate at all ......
The question I have is the changing from 2 driver to 3 driver to 4 driver regulations which would of course enhance the performance of racing especially in the duel drivers compared to 3 or 4.
962 fastest speed was 244mph with a tow down the straight and the boost turned up, speeds come from porsche AG they have a book that published this number
Personally I believe that the Peugeot 908 deserves a spot on here, because (if I got my history right) it took a big 1-2-3 victory at their home French race. But the it’s 905 predecessor is a respectable pick, especially since it won the race twice.
EDIT: I take it back, it was in the honourable mentions. 😅
To be honest I'd have the 908 over the 905 on the list because the 905 won during a dark period for Endurance Racing and the Le Mans 24h and the competition was almost non-existent by the time they won
@@luscorpio3679totally agree
Just a correction AloneRacecar,The 908 in 2009 took first and second,and audi third in the 24 hours of le man
Great post!!!👍👍👍
Thanks!
Obviously the one that you picked.👌🏿👍🏿👍🏿
I miss these legendary LeMans race cars from GRAN TURISMO 2, 4, 5, and FORZA MOTORSPORT 6, especially Audi R10 TDI from Yuu Takasaki, Audi R8 2001 from Kanata Konoe, Bentley Speed 8 from Mia Taylor, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP from Emma Verde and Karin Asaka and Sauber Mercedes C9 from Ayumu Uehara...
In 1966 it was a 7 litre Ford GT40 mark 2 which came 1, 2 and 3. In 1967 it was a 7 litre mark 4 (1st and 4th). 1969 was the last overall win for Ford. Neither the Jaguar D or C type was developed using a wind tunnel. Malcolm Sayer was an aircraft designer who calculated the ideal shapes.
So, in the general opinion. The Renault Alpine 442 and the BMW V12 LMR fall into the "they came, they saw, they conquered" category. Does that not make them all time greats?
Both are definitely amazing cars, but they haven’t really dominated Le Mans like others have. Let’s take the BMW for example, Toyota and Mercedes had the fastest car but both were involved in unfortunate circumstances, and BMW was just more reliable and consistent. Plus the car only raced in one Le Mans. In this particular instance they would fall into the success range, but not dominance range.
Not really the fastest or most dominant cars, but I've always had a soft spot for the '98 season.. The Mercedes CLK-LM, Nissan R390 GT1, Mclaren F1 GTR Longtail and Porsche 911 GT1 are still 4 of my all time favorite LM cars to date..
Great video, thanks
Glad you liked it!
I might be biased, but the C6.R won 5 times between 2005 and 2011 and I believe that this chassis deserves to be on the list. Given the cars on this list currently, it seems hard not to put it in the top 3. Thoughts?
I’m surprised the Porsche GT3 isn’t at least honorable mention. It’s a great car for teams to race in the gt class and it’s been racing for 2 decades now. While other manufacturers come and go the GT3 is there every year
It will be interesting if in 5 years time we will see the 499P here, or especially the 9x8, as it was a car specifically built for Circuit De La Sarthe.
I can understand why it’s not on the list as it only won one Le-Man in 1995 but technically as it’s only done one race it’s never lost one 😂. But I think the McLaren F1 GTR was a massive achievement yes it got a little help from the weather but a win is still a win. And I always liked the interview with Gordon Murray as he said his only regret from the project was not driving them to Le-Man and back home after the race.
The F1 GTR also raced at Lemans in 1996 though. The Longtail variant also raced at Lemans in 97 and 98
The 917 is in my opinion the most beautiful car of all time although I wouldn’t wanna race her in the 24 hrs if I appreciated my life 😂
I think about how the 1999 Mercedes CLR does backflips at high speeds at least once a year tbh
Bentley? BENTLEY!? OH HELL NO. Audi threw Bentley a bone with a green R8C.
I'm not really sure how you are figuring out what car "dominated" le mans and what car didn't. You said the porsche 919 "didn't necessarily dominate", yet it won 3 consecutive le mans races. Considering there are other cars that did make the list that didn't get 3 consecutive victories, and there are also cars that only won once on the honerabke mentions list, how are you deciding to call one car dominating, and not another?
For the word dominant, I am going off of how consistently ahead of other entries these cars are (even ones that had little to no competition) Reliability and accuracy in design that would finish beyond the others car’s design. And results, how many overall victories in a row, how dominant they were from start to finish of said victory, and how many entries survived and succeeded over the rest. As for the 919, yes it was a dominant car, but at Le Mans it was a less dominant. In 2015 they had major competition from Audi, and even though the 919 won, Porsche wasn’t miles ahead of Audi. In 2016, Toyota arguably won Le Mans, Porsche just got lucky because of Toyota’s heartbreaking moment. And in 2017 they once again had pressure from Toyota and were not miles ahead like how the Audi R8 was to the Pescarolo C60 JUDD in 2006, that year was also about survival, and #2 car was the only LMP1 finisher in the top 5. This is coming from a long time Porsche fan btw. The 919 was on honorable mentions though and got close to the Top 15, but since it didn’t I wanted to make sure I included it in HM.
@@FormulaJonah gotcha. Thanks for the clarification.
Porsches strategy in the 70s and 80s: there can't be another winner, when every car at the start is a Porsche^^
Brilliant!!!
The Mercedes Sauber C9 is not the reason why le mans added the chicanes.
It is the international federation which banned straight lines of more than 1km
It’s true that the Sauber Mercedes wasn’t the full reason why. They did add in the chicanes to limit speed that could be achieved down the Mulsanne though and the Sauber Mercedes C9 did have a part to play in the whole situation as it was one of the fastest cars at Le Mans down the Mulsanne before the 2 chicanes were introduced
I might push the 956/962 above the r8 just because the 962 is literally just a 956 with safety added so they could race in imsa, basically the same car winning 6 years in a row
If the Toyota was in this list then the Porsche 919 should have been right there above them, especially since Toyota couldn't beat Porsche.
I think the Audi R15+ TDI should have made the list for apart from winning the 2010 24h of Le Mans it set the Record for:
Longest Distance: (5410.713 km)
Most Laps Raced: (397)
Highest avg. Race speed
by a winner: (225.228 km/h)
Those Hypercar Toyota wins should have a big asterisks next to it, as they were the only ones that were competitive, and by that I think they should have been lower...
well then the audi r8 should be much lower too
@@blankfiilenot really because many came and went trying to beat Audi and couldn't.... Same with the 956/962, it was so dominate because it was the perfect race car..... Till this day Jacki Icky, Stuck and Bell all claim it was the greatest prototype they raced...
@@MiguelGarcia-vj7oo the porsches yes they had enormous competition and should have been top of the list. the audi R8 had no real factory opposition for its entire run except when they ran against themselves (bentley). the low budget crysler, panoz, pescarollo or caddy efforts are comparable to privateers. hell the toyota is dominating wec as we speak against massive factory opposition.
just because the wins came that much more dominant against privateers doesnt mean they werent wins, exactly like the R8
@@blankfiile finally someone said it
Agreed, to me pretty much all of toyotas wins are hollow victories
McLaren F1`s victory was imperessive to. A production car once defeated prototypes that spesifically produced for this race
I was surprised to see some of the more recent cars without an enclosed cockpit. I assumed they all were enclosed. How did they deal with rain?
Porsche 917 is the best ever! Air cooled Flat 12, forget about it! If this model was not written out by the rule book it would have dominated the 1970’s! Just listen to this beast down shift! The most intimidating car/monster ever!
interestingly the 917ls were even faster than the Ks at Le Mans, but always had reliability problems
Personally, I feel the Audi R10 TDI should be just a little higher, based on the fact that it rarely broke down, won every single Le Mans it entered, and had an insane top speed for its time.