ART CARS in the 24h Le Mans

The creative and artistic boom that marked the first half of the 1970s was also expressed on the race track through the ‘Art Cars’. Cars with an original and memorable liveries were at the start of the 24 hours of Le Mans beginning with a BMW in 1975.

The “psychedelic” Porsche 917 who obtained a second-place finish in the 1970 race, and probably the “pink pig” 917  were pioneers in this field. But the name ‘Art Cars’ was officially born in 1975. Hervé Poulain, French gentleman driver (with already ten participations in Le Mans) and auctioneer, competed in the 24 Hours at the wheel of a BMW 3.0 CSL (#93) decorated by American painter-sculptor Alexander Calder. Together with Sam Posey and Jean Guichet, he was forced to retire. The 1976 BMW was painted by Frank Stella, a minimalist. He chose a millimetre paper design suggesting the hidden beauty of mechanical parts. Poulain returned in 1977 with a new livery for his BMW 320i (#50) decorated by Roy Lichtenstein, one of the most important American pop art contributors in history, who chose yellow and green lines, and with blue dots and suns on the doors "to illustrate the magical cycle of 24 hours." The car Poulain shared with Marcel Mignot made it to the chequered flag in ninth place. In 1979, the two Frenchmen were joined by German Manfred Winkelhock in a BMW M1 (#76). The car was painted by Andy Warhol in a camouflage outfit in greenish tones. They finishing sixth overall and second in the IMSA class.

1976 24h Le Mans
 

1977 24h Le Mans

1979 24 Le Mans

When BMW left Le Mans, Poulain carried on in 1994 with a Venturi 600 LM, nicknamed the "Reptile" as its tiled livery gave the impression of a dinosaur covered in scales. The French artist Arman had included the sponsor, a tile maker, in his vision.
Hervé Poulain did continue his tradition. In 1995, sculptor César illustrated a McLaren F1 GTR #42. César created a design reflecting the various trophies Poulain had won at Le Mans The car ended the race P13 with Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière - Marc Sourd and Poulain. Last trick for the art car instigator in 1998 with the Porsche 911 GT2 (#68) decorated with naked and chubby young women (and inspired by Toulouse-Lautrec) drawn by his friend Georges Wolinski.

24 h Le Mans 1994 &1995
 

1998 24h Le Mans

The idea of Herve Poulain inspired others to do a similar thing. BMW did go on with the art race car. American artist Jeff Koons’ BMW M3 GT2 Art Car really caught the eye in France. The #79 Schnitzer BMW M3 GT2 with Dirk Werner, Dirk Müller and Andy Priaulx at the wheel, had to retire in the 6^th hour.
For the 90^th anniversary of the 24 hour race the prototype Morgan LMP2 Art Car entered in 2013 ( to be seen at the museum). The design by Fernando Costa was based on road signs meticulously covering the chassis of the Morgan fielded by OAK Racing and driven by Jacques Nicolet- Jean-Marc Merlin-Philippe Mondolot. The rather heavy car did not see the finish line (retired 21th hour).
An Aston Martin was decorated with geometrical items by artist Tobias Rehberger giving the car the impression of motion when standing still. The #97 retired due to mechanical failure in the 2015 race. And in 2017 a Corvette C7R from Labre competition was painted by Ramzi Adek. These paintings were fluorescent during the night. They ended the race in the last position with 309 laps covered. 

In 2018, the Manthey Porsche 911 RSR #92 had again the “pink pig” outfit (GTE winner). In 2019, Project One’s 911 RSR crossed the line to win the GTE-Am class; it became the first art car ever to win this 24h endurance race. New Yorker, Richard Phillips was a Porsche guy and enthusiastic amateur racer. He got inspired Jörg Bergmeister helmet design and that made him design a 2D livery for the Porsche. In collaboration with Porsche Digital and German livery specialists Signal Design, the 2D livery was printed at full size and then applied to the car using vinyl foiling and heat guns. Drivers were Jörg Bergmeister -Patrick Lindsey  and Egidio Perfetti. In that year, you could also admire the art car of the Rebellion Racing #3, which finished fifth in the hand of Nathanaël Berthon - Thomas Laurent -Gustavo Menezes.
Most cars in Le Mans look stunning, but the arts car: a bit of a gallery and the culture of comics.

24h Le Mans 2018

24h Le Mans 2019