Le Mans-bound cars treat LeShuttle passengers to a supercar show
The supercar show on the shuttle: Petrolheads heading to Le Mans treat passengers to a car show in line
Drivers waiting to cross the Channel were treated to a supercar and vintage car show over the weekend as petrolheads made their way to Le Mans and back.
With the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans taking place on Saturdays and Sundays, thousands of British motorsport fans have made the pilgrimage from the UK to France’s Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe.
That meant passengers taking the LeShuttle service, the recently rebranded former Eurotunnel, between Folkestone in England and Calais in France could see a parade of exotic bikes as they waited to board.
An amazing collection of moving cars was on display last week as they left and returned Sunday night and yesterday.
A spokesman said: ‘This will be one of the most expensive cargoes to travel under the Channel with many of these cars worth hundreds of thousands of pounds each, and some well in excess.’
Passengers taking LeShuttle to France were treated to a car show as petrolheads made their way to Le Mans, with a Ferrari owners’ club among those making the trip
LeShuttle – the recently renamed Eurotunnel – said its trains carried some of the most expensive freight under the Channel this weekend
LeShuttle said more than 1,000 supercar and elite sports car trips were booked around the weekend of the race.
Among them was a series of vehicles from a Ferrari owners’ club that traveled on Thursday. And those prancing horse fans will have been delighted with the weekend’s events, as Ferrari AF Corse won the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary Trophy.
The legendary Italian manufacturer returned to the premier league of endurance racing after a fifty-year absence.
And in a rise for the storybooks, Ferrari marked that return – and Le Mans’ 100th overnight race – with its tenth outright victory in the classic race.
This was the first since 1965, with Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi taking credit in the #51 Ferrari 499P Hypercar.
Many of the supercars must be loaded into the special, wider single-decker carriages
A road-going Porsche painted in the famous Gulf racing colors waits to board the shuttle
The centenary of Le Mans gave British petrolheads even more incentive to travel there for motorsport’s weekend festival.
LeShuttle said that among those going to France and back, more than 120 Ferraris would cross last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, along with more than 80 Aston Martins and more than 50 Lamborghinis.
Most of the exotic cars will have returned by Sunday and Money, offering another chance to play Top Trumps in the passport control queue.
Manifest listings revealed that supercar spotters would also be treated to a range of other marques, including McLaren, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Maserati, Porsche, Morgan and Noble.
The wide track of many of the specialty cars requires the wider single-decker coaches, which can accommodate 48 cars per shuttle.
Ford famously challenged Ferrari at Le Mans and this is the modern take on the Blue Oval’s famed GT
But it was Ferrari fans like the owner of this 328 who celebrated Italian legend winning Le Mans with his first return to the 24-hour race in 50 years