Le Mans 100 years

Louwman Museum, The Hague, Netherlands

All year

The centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a major event in motorsport and classic cars. Many museums around the world organize exhibitions and special events on this occasion. Actually, the Louwman Museum celebrates the 24 Hours of Le Mans every day, and this anniversary is a good opportunity to put a spotlight on several exceptional models from the collection. The Louwman Museum exhibits a dozen cars that participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and some even won the event.

These are obviously very rare, even unique models. During your visit, you will discover a Bentley 4.5L., the model on display being identical to the one that won the race in 1928 but built for the road. For the 1930s, 2 Lagonda, the M45R victorious in 1935 and the V12 which won its class in 1939 are along an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 driven at Le Mans in 1933 by Louis Chiron. Another winner, the Jaguar D-Type which won the race in 1957, for the 3rd consecutive victory of Jaguar at Le Mans. There is also a Ferrari 750 Monza that raced in 1955.

We then jump in time to the 1980s, with one of the 4 Aston Martin Nimrod, Lola chassis and V8 engine derived from the 5.3L Aston Martin, which raced at Le Mans between 1982 and 1984. 3 Japanese prototypes complete this panorama, a Mazda 737C with rotary engine that finished 3rd in 1985, prelude to the victory of the 787B in 1991, and 2 Toyota, a TS-010 driven by the Dutchman Jan Lammers in 1993 and a TS-050 Hybrid, WEC world champion in 2019/2020 still holding the current record of the Le Mans track.

The photos on this page belong to Louwman Museum, no right of reproduction without the express permission of the museum.