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Here Are 3 of the Wildest Cars That Raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Victories, tragedies, triumph and absurdity. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a great example of racing encyclopedia whose pages are filled with drama and innovation.
Nardi-Danese 750 Bisiluro Damolnar 13 photos
Photo: Nardi Danese
Cadillac Type: Series 61 - “Le Monstre”Cadillac Type: Series 61 - “Le Monstre”Cadillac Type: Series 61 - “Le Monstre”Cadillac Type: Series 61 - “Le Monstre”Cadillac Type: Series 61 - “Le Monstre”Ardex S80Ardex S80Ardex S80Nardi-Danese 750 Bisiluro DamolnarNardi-Danese 750 Bisiluro DamolnarNardi-Danese 750 Bisiluro DamolnarNardi-Danese 750 Bisiluro Damolnar
By default, race cars are deliberately-built competition machines, designed to extract every bit of performance and speed possible while respecting some sort of regulations. It’s safe to say that almost all championship series have at least one “black sheep” or a car that looks especially wild in their history, and Le Mans is no exception.

One of the reasons for these different looking cars often comes from the quest design engineers have, in order to produce the most aerodynamically efficient shapes. Another one would be the incorporation of the latest bits of technology or engineering trickery available. Whatever the real reason might be, what is certain is that over the years we’ve had some dubious looking cars.

Here are five racing cars from Le Mans that peaked our interest from a look’s perspective:

Cadillac Type\: Series 61 \- “Le Monstre”
Photo: Cadillac

Cadillac Type: Series 61 - “Le Monstre”

The French were always flamboyant when it came to their taste in car design, that’s why when Cadillac came to Le Mans in the 1950s, they referred to the car as Le-Monster. There’s no other way to put it, the car was utterly ugly, especially considering the fact that the same year the Talbot Lago T26 GS took victory, a gorgeous looking piece of engineering.

Having an aluminum structure with a tubular frame, and a light streamlined body with a V8 engine that was assembled in a hurry in 1950, the Cadillac was quickly noticed on track by everybody. The car was driven by an athlete, pilot and designer, Briggs Cunningham, who decided to squad two Caddies for the race.

The American team entry had been a successful one at Le Mans, both Cadillacs managed to finish the race assuring the team an entry for the following season. The drivers were remarked in the European press for their “skill, sportsmanship and dauntless good humor.” A lot had been learned, still there were better things to come.

Cadillac Type\: Series 61 \- “Le Monstre”
Photo: Cadillac

Ardex S80 – Fluke Skywalker

With a fiberglass body, the S80 became a wedge-shaped and completely insensitive looking car for the sake of aerodynamics. It had a BMW straight six engine that actually sat in the middle of the car, next to the driver. Thanks to the class it entered in, the Ardex failed to qualify for the race, though it was far from the slowest car in the field.

The 9m000 rpm, 470 horsepower beast was conditioned to exhale through a strangely long, curved single exhaust pipe that was draped along the passenger side of the car. Having the exhaust this high up and to the side, even more room was created for the ground effect package the car had.

Rocking two enormous Venturi tunnels, the car came with an otherworldly alien-ish angular shape. The body was in essence one big fiberglass spaceship, which abruptly dropped down right behind the driver. If the corners gave the car an advantage, it meant that the famous Mulsanne straight was the place where the car would suffer, something you don’t really want in a race on the Circuit de la Sarthre.

Ardex S80
Photo: 24h Le Mans

Nardi-Danese 750 Bisiluro Damolnar

In the early 1950s, racing rules were much looser than today. Many car manufacturers introduced some innovative concepts and designs that looked stunning. But the Nardi was something different.
From one angle, the car looks like a typical post war luxury coupe with artsy influence running throughout its curves. The name Bisiluro comes from the double-torpedo design, which saw the driver on one side of the car while de engine was on the other.

While the car might have done well against most teams, it was literally swept off the road by the vortex of air coming off any Jaguar D-Type, creating an “at sea” type of movement after it was passed.

It was a fortunate misfortune when the Nardi retired early in the race, as the curious little car was well away from the carnage that claimed the lives of 77 people, when the hood from Levengh’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was sent into the packed spectator area as a result of a collision with Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn.

Nardi\-Danese 750 Bisiluro Damolnar
Photo: 24h Le Mans
There have been a lot Le Mans race cars, but from time to time, some rather ambitious and eccentric, purely fantastical sessions of engineering and bizarre innovation came to existence.
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