I Drove All Night

March 7, 2025Newsletter Archives

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most grueling events in sports. First held in 1923, the race involves speeding around the roughly 8.5-mile course known as Circuit de la Sarthe in the northwestern France town of Le Mans as many times as possible in a 24-hour period. 

In conventional automobile races, the object is to drive a specific number of miles in the fastest time possible; at Le Mans, the mission is to go as many miles as possible in the allotted time. The record was 3,360 miles in the 2010 race, more than six times the mileage of the Indy 500, and further than the roughly 3,000-mile drive from Boston to San Diego. Let’s see you do THAT in 24 hours.

The 93rd edition of the race – organizers skipped most of the 1940s due to World War II and its aftermath and canceled in 1936 due to a labor strike – gets underway in mid-June. And when it does, there will be four teams driving Cadillac V-Series.R race cars. 

This strong position comes as General Motors marks the 75th anniversary of Cadillac’s first entries in the race: The 1950 running included Briggs Cunningham, an entrepreneur and yachtsman who later skippered the winning entry in the 1958 America’s Cup yacht race, and brothers Miles and Sam Collier. The Colliers drove a car nicknamed “Petit Pataud,” or “little clumsy,” to a 10th-place finish. Cunningham and his partner were just behind in 11th, in a car known as “Le Monstre.”  

So why do we do it? 

GM President Mark Reuss explained the motivation in a recent LinkedIn post. 

“For General Motors, motorsports is a test bed for innovation, and a training ground for our engineers, one that allows us to test new technologies in a fast-paced environment against the best competition that other manufacturers can throw at us,” Reuss wrote. “The lessons of racing are clear: You must have commitment and focus. You must be ready on time. You must solve problems quickly and effectively. You must make tough decisions. Teamwork and communication are paramount, and there is no time for excuses. And, most importantly, the winner takes all in racing.”

– Eric J. Savitz, editor-in-chief, GM News