Hydrogen series shows Le Mans is looking to future in centenary year

Sitting beside me here is a small squared-section bottle. It contains clear liquid and is securely capped by one of those over-centre, thick-wire latch systems used for 1950s ‘fizzy pop’ of happy memory. It bears a white and blue label reading ‘H24 – Eau de Voiture’. It was presented to me – with some ceremony – by Pierre Fillon, enthusiastic President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (organisers of course of the annual Le Mans 24 Hours race) at this summer’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

My friend Louis Monnier – head of ACO Heritage – explained, “This is a memento of our H24 ’ydrogen-electric prototype car running this weekend. It is pure water – asche-two-oh – which is the only emission from the car’s exhaust. It is so pure you can drink it, you can wash wiz it – if you like you can dab it be’ind each ear – voilà, l’eau de voiture!”.

I was, and still am, completely thrilled with it. But why so? Because the two H24 LMP2HG hydrogen-electric prototypes are the ACO/TotalEnergies/Richard Mille-backed precursor of an entirely new and promisingly green(ish) class of major-league sports car endurance racing scheduled to take effect in 2025. The cars are based upon what is essentially an Oreca chassis and they and their hydrogen-fuelled powertrain have been developed extensively by Franco-Swiss constructor GreenGT, predominantly using drivers Norman Nato and Stéphane Richelmi.

Meanwhile the other big Le Mans news has been the ACO’s lengthy build-up to next year’s centenary celebration 24 Hours, for which the most enormous semi-matte gold-finished ‘100 Ans du Mans’ winner’s trophy has been produced, a massive spiral weighing some 70kg – 154lb – which these days will surely outweigh almost every professional racing driver. It was displayed at September’s Goodwood Revival meeting, where my furtive attempt to lift it proved… well… unimpressive.

But 100 years of Le Mans, eh? Who would have thought it. My earliest memory of the race is as a kid, smuggling a bulky portable radio into bed, and waking two or three times during the night to tune in (under the bedclothes of course) hoping to intercept one of the BBC’s brief interim reports from Raymond Baxter, Robin Richards or Eric Tobitt – ‘over there’ at that charismatic course. There’d been a terrible crash, but glory be, our local ace Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb would win for Jaguar. And now the organising ACO are not only celebrating the past but also – with the H24 project – building for the future. Respect!

Closer to home, 2023 also sees two hugely significant British circuit anniversaries – the 75th for both the aerodrome-based Goodwood and Silverstone venues, commemorating events first run on them in 1948 – the Duke of Richmond & Gordon’s inaugural Goodwood motor race meeting on September 18 having been followed by Silverstone’s initial RAC International Grand Prix on October 2.

“Bill Boddy was invited to try the Duke’s proposed perimeter-track circuit ”

Where Goodwood is concerned, as early as June 1948, Motor Sport played a role with editor Bill Boddy invited to try the Duke (Freddie March)’s proposed perimeter-track circuit while road testing one of the latest 3½-litre Jaguar saloons. He was advised that no fire-fighting, first aid or refreshment facilities would be available but otherwise ‘The Bod’ reported: “Absolutely no restrictions were placed upon us. The previous day a Cooper 500 had been down, and there were plenty of black marks to be seen on the surface… The (prospective) course consists of a very reasonably wide perimeter track, measuring approximately 2½-miles to a lap… somewhat rough and loose in places but by no means badly surfaced. We were told most people who have used it prefer to lap anti-clockwise…. We tried, as a preliminary, standing laps in both directions, clocking 2 minutes 31.8 seconds clockwise, 2 minutes 31 seconds anti-clockwise”.

‘The Bod’ went on to explain that the latter direction had been the one used by Tony Gaze and Dickie Stoop in their wartime lappery (as serving RAF officers). Overall he considered “It is a good sporting circuit and the Jaguar… was a delight to drive round it. The course suffers to some extent from lack of definement of its corners, but as grass grows beside the road, and cornfields come to the edge of it for much of the distance, this is not too serious and could doubtless be improved if some white lines were laid.”

He cautioned: “One eminent authority has recently expressed the view that at the moment there are too many turns in the comparatively short lap. He is probably concerned with the difficulty of racing cars passing one another as, from the sports-car aspect, the course could hardly be more pleasant.”

He ended: “News of the RAC track near Northampton somewhat overshadows the Duke of Richmond’s venture, and we sincerely hope it will be developed; for this course is delightful to drive over; especially at the better-defined corners and over the undulating section, and it should be a fine venue for the smaller races and for all aspects of car testing save those requiring a long straight.”

Not for the first time – or as his long-time friend and ever-mischievous occasional critic Denis Jenkinson might put it, “just for once” – ‘The Bod’s’ prediction proved spot on. Aerodrome circuits were with us to stay.

Doug Nye is the UK’s leading motor racing historian and has been writing authoritatively about the sport since the 1960s