The Le Mans 24 Hour Classic - 2008

The Le Mans Classic is held every two years with the last event was held on 11-12-13 July 2008 at the world famous 24-hours circuit of Le Mans, where 5,000 classics and 50,000 people came together. There were numerous stands with automobile memorabilia, a classic car auction and a large number of famous cars that had previously participated in the gruelling 24-hours race. It was a must for anyone who appreciates endurance cars and racing.

Eleven Austin Healeys took part in the 2008 Le Mans Classic, with five cars classified by age in Grid 2 (1949-1956) and six in Grid 3 (1957-1961). Each grid had three races over the 24 hour period with one being overnight. The results shown below list the Healey entrants, their overall position after the three races and their adjusted or compensated position once a handicapping coefficient has been applied to the expected performance of the car. As you will see, in some cases the driver benefits by the compensation and others do not.

The top Healey in Grid 2 was the 100S (RWD132) of the British trio Peter Thornton, Jeremy Welch and David Garrett who finished an excellent 8th overall which unfortunately became 30th once adjusted. They just beat the 100M driven by Mike Thorne and John Todd by 40 seconds after racing for nearly two and a half hours. However, once the times had been adjusted the Thorne/Todd car moved up to an excellent sixth place overall, out of a total grid of 69 cars.

In Grid 3, the Dutch trio of Rinus Sinke, Jaap Sinke and Hans Van de Kerkhof yet again brought their yellow 3000 home first amongst the Healeys in a very creditable 7th place on scratch (up from 13th place in 2006) and 21st once compensated. The Perou/Duval/de Stoppani 3000 was 9th overall which was a great improvement on their 2006 placing.

The following table highlights the Healeys that ran in the event, the drivers and their final scratch and compensated positions: