Now Playing

An Audi R18 TDI racing at the Petit Le Mans

The Little Race That Could

by Kelly Basinger | Men's Book Atlanta magazine | September 28, 2011

Georgians love their car races. If you feel the need for speed, but want something with a little more variety than your typical Nascar or Indy, throw off your restrictor plate and head to Petit Le Mans, held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton. Founded in 1996 by Don Panoz, Petit Le Mans is a unique sports car endurance race forged in the spirit of 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Grand Poobah of endurance races held in Le Mans, France, each year. But instead of consisting of one continuous day of racing, the Petit Le Mans bestows victory to the first car to reach 1,000 miles (or the one that leads after 10 hours)—hence the name “Little” Le Mans.

While a 10-hour race might seem like a major time commitment, don’t be too quick to dismiss it. Just because you’ve watched Days of Thunder and Talladega Nights a hundred times doesn’t mean you’ve seen anything like this competition. It’s by no means your typical racing style. In fact, it’s one of the only motorsports not strictly standardized, allowing a wide mix of cars, technologies and drivers from different backgrounds and skill levels to compete. This creates many more variables on the track and unconventional strategies in the pits.

Each car’s system reliability is just as important as speed, considering the wear and tear it endures over such a long period. Unlike most other motorsports, there’s more than one driver per car vying for the checkered flag in Le Mans racing. Typically, three or four drivers take turns racing the same car for a maximum of two and a half hours at a time. There’s a smörgåsbord of automobiles defined as either Prototypes (LMPs) or Grand Tourer (GTs) sports cars that compete in six different classes for separate titles. But what really adds to the mêlée is the fact that they all race simultaneously on a 12-turn, 2.54-mile road course. With some cars traveling up to 50 mph faster than other competitors on the straightaways, the speed differential can create quite a perilous obstacle course when maneuvering around a 45-car field at 210 mph. The president of Road Atlanta, Geoff Lee, says, “It’s like driving down the highway and passing stranded cars on the side of the road, except they have the ability to move laterally at anytime.”

Petit Le Mans is considered the largest annual sporting event in Georgia each year, with Road Atlanta expecting to host around 125,000 spectators from all around the world during the four-day event, held Sept. 28-Oct. 1. When you add that kind of hoard to the millions of households worldwide that will be watching it on delay, Petit Le Mans is the premier opportunity for manufacturers like BMW, Audi, Peugeot, Ferrari and others to test brand-new technologies under stressful conditions and showcase their newest creations to the buying public. A win at Petit Le Mans translates into big revenues for these companies, so it’s not uncommon for manufacturers to spend upwards of $100 million developing prototypes and racers to win.

It’s also a great opportunity for fans to get up close and personal with the drivers, teams and cars on the paddocks, which are open to the public at Road Atlanta. Be sure to look out for Audi’s highly anticipated R18 prototype, which will be making its North American debut at this year’s race. roadatlanta.com