As an engineer, the lure of working at Le Mans can be the most exciting phase of a sportscar career. The whole experience, from the scrutineering that takes place in the town’s centre square with all the teams forming up one by one to have photographs taken, to being on the pitstraight with the cars lined up across the road in their qualifying order before they are wheeled to their start positions, is magical.
I have only engineered at the 24 Hours four times, but back in the 1990s there was no such thing as a backup or data engineer to relieve you during the night. Therefore, it meant preparing and steeling yourself to stay awake for at least 36 hours. The only data we had was just for the engine management team who had telemetry, only one-way from the car as two-way was not allowed, and of course the radio.
