To be honest, most of the cars on this list are regarded as some of the best cars to grace Le Mans. But despite all of the changes that took place, problems arise and other factors ruined their shots at winning the classic endurance event. They definitely had what it takes, and Le Mans is a tough race, and these manufacturers deserved their rightful places in the history books of motorsport and beyond
Karin Asaka's 2010 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Team Peugeot Total was no different in 2010 either. Very dominant in qualifying yet, got awful reliability during the actual 24hrs race and eventually all 4 908s were retired from the race.
How about 10 Le Mans Turkeys. While some of the cars on this list may have had potential, these cars never had a chance in hell. Some of these include the Nissan GTR LM Nismo, and the Aston Martin AMR-One.
True. Even Garage 56 NASCAR car (driven by Asuna Yuuki, Button and Rockenfeller) also beating all LMGT3 cars in 2023 24hrs of LeMans race despite a severely broken gearbox.
@@purwantiallan5089 It was almost dead last among the cars that actually finished the race. Literally every LMGTE car finished ahead of the Garage 56 car.
@@SetsunaTheFandom The LM was developed for Le Mans, and that's where it made its debut, but that wasn't its only outing. The factory AMG team used the LM for the remainder of that year's FIA GT season. They had already won the first two rounds of the championship that took place before Le Mans with the GTR, and then the LM took over and completed the clean sweep.
The failure of the Toyota GT-One was a great example of cosmic justice. The GT-1 cars were supposed to be modified road legal cars, but all manufacturers (Porsche and Mercedes) cheated by designing and building prototypes with a few features shared with road cars: but Toyota took it to extremes. When FIA objected that the car did not have a luggage space (which all road legal cars must have) Toyota claimed the gas tank could be used to store luggage... any half decent inspector would have laughed at this, but somehow the GT-One was homologated.
It was borderline a comedy act that the 2005 Pescarolo managed to not win that year... The R8 was much heavier because of ballast, and the intake restrictions they got for Le Mans, put them 110HP down on the Pescarolo! The R8s struggled so much on the straights, that even the DBR9 GT cars could not only keep up, but even pass them on the straights, only being soundly beaten under braking and cornering...
Great video! Also I think the Jaguar XJR-8 (if you count it as a seperate car from the XJR-9) would've been a good contender to place near the top of the list, the XJR-8 won all but 2 rounds of the 1987 WSC and it probably could've won Le Mans that year too had the cars not been set back by mechanical failures and bad luck.
The Sauber C11s got pretty much screwed by the very dodgy rules of 1991. Bernie Ecclestone and then FIA president Balestre wanted to have standardized engine regulations for F1 and WSC, hence the whole 2.5 L naturally aspirated regulations. Sauber and other manufacturers tried to develop a car for these new rules, but they ultimately used their Group C regulation cars due to the new ones being unreliable. They had to start under C1 regulations and take 200 kg of extra ballast, which obviously took its toll on cars that were developed to be 10-15% lighter. Madza successfully convinced The FIA to start under C2 rules, so they only had to take in 30 kg of extra ballast and were ultimately more reliable. The Madza victory in 1991 is rightfully iconic, but it was definitely an at the right place at the right time moment. The C11s were pretty much the ultimate Group C cars, had the rules not changed, they likely would have won a couple of more races.
Sauber C11 and Maki Nishikino's Toyota GT ONE 1999 and Shizuku Osaka's 2005 Pescarolo Courage Hybride Judd C60 are some of the best LMP cars that, as of 2024, still never won a 24 hours of Le Mans race..... I ever used Shizuku-chan's 2005 Pescarolo on 24hrs of LeMans A Spec in GT5!
Toyota’s fate was always so heartbreaking 💔 I don’t care what anyone says Toyota deserved to win Le Mans when they did. They always lost it in dramatic fashion. Flat tire. Powertrain failure. Audi & Porsche would then capitalize on those travesties continuing their dominance when we were so close to the upset! I’m proud to see Toyota win these cars have been in my life forever. I probably would never own a car that isn’t a Toyota product.
I'd throw in the Nissan R390 GT1 (Came 3rd in 1998 Le-mans) when other cars dropped out due to reliability issues all 4 of those Nissans finished in the top 10.
We will see what the result of this year's race will be. But what we can say is that Toyota still hasn't won Le Mans when serious competition was in the race. So the wins from 2018 to 2022 don't matter much
can I suggest you make a video on the le mans "car" winners category (GT2/GT3), I feel like top class only gets credit and its hard to keep track of all the cars that won their categories also best lmp2 cars that had the best pace compared to top class
The Ferrari 330 P4 and Porsche 908 r kinda bits from Ford’s dominance at Le Mans that r kinda looked over. I feel like people racing fans of not unless u know the history behind 100% just hear “Ford won Le Mans 4 years in a row with the GT40” and that’s it. Ya think “man they built the best car in world those years” when it’s not 100% the case. 1964 when I believe Ford first introduced the GT40 it was gawd awful and every car retired from reliability issues. 1965 the car was better after Shelby got a hold of it and Ken Miles played around with it, but all the cars had reliability issues. 1966 when the GT40 first won a lot of the cars were still dropping out from reliability after pushing the car too much. But then there’s 1967. This one Ford really had to work for it. Ford and Shelby and everyone working on and driving the GT40 felt invincible after winning Le Mans but then at Daytona all the GT40s were dropping out from reliability and Ferrari were able to get that 1-2-3 finish and copied Ford’s finish at Le Mans. And Ford and Shelby had the GT40 mk4 that won at Sebring, but then came Le Mans and really showed its flaws. The car was heavier than even the mk2s and while the mk2s were having issues, the mk4s were having brake issues and teams and drivers were having issues combating it and were falling down the order and the 330 P4 was actually gonna win if it wasn’t for Ford’s saving grace which was Dan Gurney who specialized in relying on using the engine braking to slow the car down instead of completely relying on the brakes. Even Andretti adapted to this trick to help get Ford the win. 1968 was pretty much the only year that it was a cakewalk for the GT40 with the JW Gulf team after the switch for sports prototypes having a maximum engine displacement of 5.0L and the GT40 dominated the race. 1969 while Porsche was fast that at Le Mans with both the 908s and early 917s, the 917s would show their early reliability before Porsche and JW would comeback the next year with basically a monster of a car. And the 908s were having reliability issues and one being in a crash. The same can be said with the old GT40 mk1s as they were showing their age. The only thing that stopped surviving 908 from winning Le Mans was brake issues. So while the Porsche 908LH of Herrmann and Larrousse would get the advantage in the straights, the GT40 of Ickx and Oliver would have the advantage in the corners which would get them the victory for the final time with Ford GT40 as John Wire and Porsche would team up in development of 917.
LMP was introduced at the end of Group C to replace the dying class. In the late 90's GT1 class cars were comparable to LMP class, and it culminated in 1999 when GT1 was killed off, and replaced by LMGTP for closed top, and LMP for open top. Starting in 2000, that was when LMP900 and LMP675 were introduced, evolving into LMP1 and LMP2
Surprisingly, Honda has never competed in the top class at Le Mans. Only has had entries in the GT class in the 90's with the NSX and in the LMP2 class in the 2010's.
Yeah, really poor choice in title if you don’t expect people coming to this video for something other than a factual list. Really need to add a “My Top 10” instead so people know this is just an opinion instead of fact. That was something that really annoyed me about your video about Similar vid to this you did on Daytona.
Don’t listen to this idiot man. Your top 10 is spot on. Keep it up. This guy doesn’t speak for the rest of us. Also for you OP if your opinion or “facts” are so much better make your own UA-cam channel and start putting some actual content
@@speedweenie7394 The Video clearly stated that people do care. right from the get go, he states this video is only the creators opinion. Yet the title, and even the script in the rest of the video does not convey that.
Don't convey what? Should he reiterate after every entry that "it's just his opinion"? You're nitpicking man. The video is fine. Relax and read a book or something
To be honest, most of the cars on this list are regarded as some of the best cars to grace Le Mans. But despite all of the changes that took place, problems arise and other factors ruined their shots at winning the classic endurance event. They definitely had what it takes, and Le Mans is a tough race, and these manufacturers deserved their rightful places in the history books of motorsport and beyond
Karin Asaka's 2010 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Team Peugeot Total was no different in 2010 either. Very dominant in qualifying yet, got awful reliability during the actual 24hrs race and eventually all 4 908s were retired from the race.
LeMans, the race where it's
Driver vs Their Machine vs The inevitably of time
And also sometimes, the 24 hours of Le Mans winners are decided right in the final 30 seconds of the race. Look at the 2016 race for example.
@@purwantiallan5089 *Final 5 minutes, I was watching the full race, I was not fresh at that time
How about 10 Le Mans Turkeys. While some of the cars on this list may have had potential, these cars never had a chance in hell. Some of these include the Nissan GTR LM Nismo, and the Aston Martin AMR-One.
Or my personal favorite Le Mans turkey, the ByKolles LMP1
@@jimlatosfulDespite never finishing Le Mans, there were way worse cars in the History of Le Mans. Some not even able to start the race
Mercedes CLK LM should be on this list. It won every race it entered except Le Mans.
Definitely a car that should’ve won Le Mans! If there were more spaces in this list, I would for sure put it in there!
It's gonna sound bold but l think the CLR should won too
0:10 Ford GT40 jumpscare
Ford GT40: NICO NICO NIIIIIIII! 🤣
The 330 P4 didn't replace the 250 P. It replaced the 330 p3. The P3 was the car that lost to ford in 66.
I'm not a NASCAR fan, but I was impressed by the Garage 56 entry last year on several levels; and will miss it this year.
True. Even Garage 56 NASCAR car (driven by Asuna Yuuki, Button and Rockenfeller) also beating all LMGT3 cars in 2023 24hrs of LeMans race despite a severely broken gearbox.
@@purwantiallan5089 It was almost dead last among the cars that actually finished the race. Literally every LMGTE car finished ahead of the Garage 56 car.
Another Mercedes that won literally every race it entered except for Le Mans was the CLK LM.
I think that's the CLK GTR you're referring, as the CLK LM is a bespoke car designed for only Le Mans, although it's based on the CLK GTR platform.
@@SetsunaTheFandom The LM was developed for Le Mans, and that's where it made its debut, but that wasn't its only outing. The factory AMG team used the LM for the remainder of that year's FIA GT season. They had already won the first two rounds of the championship that took place before Le Mans with the GTR, and then the LM took over and completed the clean sweep.
@@nathanstroud2223 Ah, so the LM actually raced outside Le Mans, then? I didn't knew it, thank you for that.
Toyota GT-One did finally get a win last year at lemans so they break the 90s jinx.
The failure of the Toyota GT-One was a great example of cosmic justice. The GT-1 cars were supposed to be modified road legal cars, but all manufacturers (Porsche and Mercedes) cheated by designing and building prototypes with a few features shared with road cars: but Toyota took it to extremes. When FIA objected that the car did not have a luggage space (which all road legal cars must have) Toyota claimed the gas tank could be used to store luggage... any half decent inspector would have laughed at this, but somehow the GT-One was homologated.
It was borderline a comedy act that the 2005 Pescarolo managed to not win that year... The R8 was much heavier because of ballast, and the intake restrictions they got for Le Mans, put them 110HP down on the Pescarolo!
The R8s struggled so much on the straights, that even the DBR9 GT cars could not only keep up, but even pass them on the straights, only being soundly beaten under braking and cornering...
Mazda: *laughs in rotary*
Very nice video. Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
Great video!
Also I think the Jaguar XJR-8 (if you count it as a seperate car from the XJR-9) would've been a good contender to place near the top of the list, the XJR-8 won all but 2 rounds of the 1987 WSC and it probably could've won Le Mans that year too had the cars not been set back by mechanical failures and bad luck.
Another great video! Keep at it Jonah
Thanks Reece!!
The Sauber C11s got pretty much screwed by the very dodgy rules of 1991. Bernie Ecclestone and then FIA president Balestre wanted to have standardized engine regulations for F1 and WSC, hence the whole 2.5 L naturally aspirated regulations. Sauber and other manufacturers tried to develop a car for these new rules, but they ultimately used their Group C regulation cars due to the new ones being unreliable. They had to start under C1 regulations and take 200 kg of extra ballast, which obviously took its toll on cars that were developed to be 10-15% lighter. Madza successfully convinced The FIA to start under C2 rules, so they only had to take in 30 kg of extra ballast and were ultimately more reliable.
The Madza victory in 1991 is rightfully iconic, but it was definitely an at the right place at the right time moment. The C11s were pretty much the ultimate Group C cars, had the rules not changed, they likely would have won a couple of more races.
1970-71 Ferrari 512s and m. Kept the 917’s honest
Sauber C11 and Maki Nishikino's Toyota GT ONE 1999 and Shizuku Osaka's 2005 Pescarolo Courage Hybride Judd C60 are some of the best LMP cars that, as of 2024, still never won a 24 hours of Le Mans race..... I ever used Shizuku-chan's 2005 Pescarolo on 24hrs of LeMans A Spec in GT5!
Toyota’s fate was always so heartbreaking 💔 I don’t care what anyone says Toyota deserved to win Le Mans when they did. They always lost it in dramatic fashion. Flat tire. Powertrain failure. Audi & Porsche would then capitalize on those travesties continuing their dominance when we were so close to the upset! I’m proud to see Toyota win these cars have been in my life forever. I probably would never own a car that isn’t a Toyota product.
COPE ABOUT IT
the top speed and récord lap from Nissan R90 C and Martín Brundel is about a wastgate vale problem. ☺
Mark Blundell is the name :) Martin Brundle drove for Jaguar and actually won in 1990.
You can't call the 993 and 911 GT1 different but call the 98 and 99 GT-ONE the same lol.
I'd throw in the Nissan R390 GT1 (Came 3rd in 1998 Le-mans) when other cars dropped out due to reliability issues all 4 of those Nissans finished in the top 10.
6 seconds off race pace isn't okay.
For me Ferrari 333 SP maybe in this top ten list
Good little list.
Thanks!
13:12 Imagine, if toyota ts020 had no such problem, and dominate le mans
Miss the Nissan r390gt1
Regardless of success or lack of it. That Toyota TS020 is one of the prettiest cars ever to compete at LM.
We will see what the result of this year's race will be. But what we can say is that Toyota still hasn't won Le Mans when serious competition was in the race. So the wins from 2018 to 2022 don't matter much
Facts
They were 2nd tho last year
@@matiasrower3748 In 2016, 5 minutes before the end, they led the race before the car broke down and Porsche took the W. Still no win
@@pppphillip True! But what I wanna say is that you won't finish second with a bad performance.
2023 was true competition & ferrari beated them & again in 2024.
Great list, i'd swap position 1 and 2 though.
The GT1 was really ahead of it's time.
They changed the rules last minute to screw over the non 3.5s and the c11 still dominated while the clr was the same speed as the gt one.
can I suggest you make a video on the le mans "car" winners category (GT2/GT3), I feel like top class only gets credit and its hard to keep track of all the cars that won their categories also best lmp2 cars that had the best pace compared to top class
Yeah its hard to believe Toyota gt one ,minolta and sauber mercedes to not win....
Nah, the Minolta was never destined to win Le Mans. They never won a single race in any endurance category.
Aston Martin, Jaguar and Bentley; few countries have three manufacturer winners still in business.
The Ferrari 330 P4 and Porsche 908 r kinda bits from Ford’s dominance at Le Mans that r kinda looked over. I feel like people racing fans of not unless u know the history behind 100% just hear “Ford won Le Mans 4 years in a row with the GT40” and that’s it. Ya think “man they built the best car in world those years” when it’s not 100% the case.
1964 when I believe Ford first introduced the GT40 it was gawd awful and every car retired from reliability issues.
1965 the car was better after Shelby got a hold of it and Ken Miles played around with it, but all the cars had reliability issues.
1966 when the GT40 first won a lot of the cars were still dropping out from reliability after pushing the car too much.
But then there’s 1967. This one Ford really had to work for it. Ford and Shelby and everyone working on and driving the GT40 felt invincible after winning Le Mans but then at Daytona all the GT40s were dropping out from reliability and Ferrari were able to get that 1-2-3 finish and copied Ford’s finish at Le Mans. And Ford and Shelby had the GT40 mk4 that won at Sebring, but then came Le Mans and really showed its flaws. The car was heavier than even the mk2s and while the mk2s were having issues, the mk4s were having brake issues and teams and drivers were having issues combating it and were falling down the order and the 330 P4 was actually gonna win if it wasn’t for Ford’s saving grace which was Dan Gurney who specialized in relying on using the engine braking to slow the car down instead of completely relying on the brakes. Even Andretti adapted to this trick to help get Ford the win.
1968 was pretty much the only year that it was a cakewalk for the GT40 with the JW Gulf team after the switch for sports prototypes having a maximum engine displacement of 5.0L and the GT40 dominated the race.
1969 while Porsche was fast that at Le Mans with both the 908s and early 917s, the 917s would show their early reliability before Porsche and JW would comeback the next year with basically a monster of a car. And the 908s were having reliability issues and one being in a crash. The same can be said with the old GT40 mk1s as they were showing their age. The only thing that stopped surviving 908 from winning Le Mans was brake issues. So while the Porsche 908LH of Herrmann and Larrousse would get the advantage in the straights, the GT40 of Ickx and Oliver would have the advantage in the corners which would get them the victory for the final time with Ford GT40 as John Wire and Porsche would team up in development of 917.
Toyota Gt One 1999, o 2° carro mais bonito de Le Mans, 1° Mazda 787B 1991.
Were LMP1 and GT1 both the highest class in Endurance racing in the late 1990s?
LMP was introduced at the end of Group C to replace the dying class. In the late 90's GT1 class cars were comparable to LMP class, and it culminated in 1999 when GT1 was killed off, and replaced by LMGTP for closed top, and LMP for open top. Starting in 2000, that was when LMP900 and LMP675 were introduced, evolving into LMP1 and LMP2
5:55-5:56
Number 7 what Le Mans Prototype? How do you pronounce that?
That was the TWR Porsche LMP called the WSC 95, also upgraded later to the Porsche LMP1-98
@@FormulaJonah
I think that was the Joest one.
It was. Team Joest raced both the #7 and #8 cars during Le Mans.
Wheres bykolles?
Unfortunately their cars didn’t make my top 10. But definitely a team that deserves more attention for their participation
I don't know where they are, but their car is probably on fire... 🤣
@@MeijndertMotorsport true
ByKolles was more of a bad car never to have a chance, rather than a top car that never won.
Sandbagging the other Teams in the Le Mans Testdays?
Pescarolo!!
Sauber Mercedes?
Hi
Hello!
What no Honda,damn I’m upset Toyota,Honda faster lighter,aero
Surprisingly, Honda has never competed in the top class at Le Mans. Only has had entries in the GT class in the 90's with the NSX and in the LMP2 class in the 2010's.
First
where is mercedes clr?🐦
Flying over Le Mans 😂😂😂
Yeah, really poor choice in title if you don’t expect people coming to this video for something other than a factual list. Really need to add a “My Top 10” instead so people know this is just an opinion instead of fact. That was something that really annoyed me about your video about Similar vid to this you did on Daytona.
Noted 👍
Dear lord. Sorry you were offended brother. I thought it was pretty good and don't really care how you titled it because... who cares.
Don’t listen to this idiot man. Your top 10 is spot on. Keep it up. This guy doesn’t speak for the rest of us. Also for you OP if your opinion or “facts” are so much better make your own UA-cam channel and start putting some actual content
@@speedweenie7394 The Video clearly stated that people do care. right from the get go, he states this video is only the creators opinion. Yet the title, and even the script in the rest of the video does not convey that.
Don't convey what? Should he reiterate after every entry that "it's just his opinion"? You're nitpicking man. The video is fine. Relax and read a book or something
They clearly didn't deserve a win, because, yes you guessed it, they didn't win.
Very good list
Thanks! Glad you think so!