26 minutes of gritty onboard, pitlane, and behind the scenes action from NISMO's tilt at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, filmed in glorious 4K.

Brilliant.

via @sportautolive

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing cook up a breakfast for 171 friends using a mystery chef and barista: their TS040 Hybrid LMP1 car.

Not the highest of production values (those reactions and that electricity); nonetheless interesting and entertaining.

via SportscarOne

During the lead up to the 2012 V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000, Porsche ran a number of demonstration laps around the iconic 6.2 km Mount Panorama circuit with Dutch sportscar ace Jeroen Bleekemolen at the tiller of their dominant RS Spyder LMP2 car.

Although not officially timed, the lap record didn't stand a chance.

Official press release.

Motor Sport Magazine's Andrew Frankel opines on the state of play between F1 and WEC:

What did you think of the race on Sunday? If you found it anything other than utterly spellbinding from flag to flag, it is possible you and I were tuned into different channels.

Actually I watched both the Chinese Grand Prix and the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone and whether you tune in because you like to see close racing or variety in the sound, shape and technology of the competitors, the sports cars beat the open wheelers hollow.

Agreed. Multiple class endurance racing is where it's at.

Designer Peter Stevens reflects on turning the McLaren F1 into the GTR and taking it to Le Mans back in 1995:

It has often been repeated that the car was not designed to be a racecar, but I always thought that, with the GT regulations of that time, it was clearly well suited to become a competitive racer. The road version had gone from early sketch ideas to a finished design that was expensive, but with a wonderful engine from BMW it was well received by the press, public and customers. Two of those customers, Thomas Bscher and Ray Bellm suggested to McLaren that the F1 would make a good racecar for the BPR. McLaren quickly developed a race version, which, by the company’s own admission, was little changed from the road car

Don't miss this article for early design sketches of what would become the iconic supercar.

After qualifying in 7th place, the Silk Cut Jaguar team's quartet of XJR-12s were looking strong at the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans---especially once the fast qualifying Nissan R90CKs faltered. Ultimately only two of the distinctive purple and white sportscars made it across the finish line, though finish they did---taking a historic 1-2 for the marque.

Taylor and Crawley have listed chassis 12-C-190 for sale, the #4 car as raced at the 1990 classic:

Chassis 190 was shaken down at Silverstone by Andy Wallace and the first race was Le Mans in June. Crewed by Davy Jones, Michel Ferte and Elisio Salazar, #190 lined up 7th on the grid, the fastest of the four car Jaguar team. The 7.4 litre 750bhp V12 topped 220mph on the Mulsanne in spite of the new chicanes and lapped at nearly 140mph. Running well up for the first half of the race but on Sunday morning a long pitstop for repairs to the nose and brakes cost it time and subsequent stops for the same problems dropped it down the order to 12th and at midday it was retired.

Price on application.

via 24hr Le Mans

NISMO takes a look back at a 'character building' 2015 Le Mans efforts with their radical and oh so new GT-R LM NISMO car.

Marc VDS Racing Team gives the BMW Z4 GT3 the ultimate retirement present by winning the grueling 24 Hours of Spa.

BMW are set to replace the Z4 with an all new 6er based GT3 contender for the 2016 season.

Photographer Camden Thrasher provides a unique perspective of Audi's 2015 Le Mans campaign by stop animating over eleven-hundred photos with great effect.

Porsche does a data dump from their Le Mans weekend.

• The Porsche Team made 90 pit stops, 30 per car.
• At 26 of the 90 stops, tires and drivers were also changed.
• The longest distance covered with one set of tires was 54 laps for all three cars. In car number 17 Mark Webber did this ultra-long run, in car number 18 it was Neel Jani and in the number 19 prototype it was Nico Hülkenberg.

One for the true anoraks.

Porsche took its first overall victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours since 1998, with Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber leading a one-two.

The #19 919 Hybrid moved to prominence through the night, with stints from Hulkenberg and Tandy hauling it back into contention after it lost some ground during an early safety car period.

Bamber then picked up the mantle in the early hours of the morning, and as Sunday progressed any threat from Audi behind crumbled as all three of its cars required unscheduled pitstops.

All that was left after that was for Porsche to nurse its #19 and #17 home to a one-two finish, including taking care during a light rainshower in the final 10 minutes.

Porsche's 17th outright victory at Le Mans, and a class act.

It can't get much better for Porsche at Le Mans, taking the first three grid positions for today's race. The trio of turbo/hybrid V4 919's have shown incredible pace during each qualifying session, hopefully this pace is also reliable enough to be sustained over the full race distance.

To put their relative speed into perspective:

It is the fastest pole lap set at Le Mans since the introduction of the chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight, and the sixth fastest in history in terms of laptime regardless of configuration.

It is also the first Porsche to take pole at Le Mans since Michele Alboreto in the Joest WSC 95 in 1997.

Strong rumours suggest that Ford will shortly announce thir return to factory sportscar racing in 2016 with a GTE-spec version of their 2015 Ford GT concept car.

According to Autosport:

Ford's return to Le Mans has been timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first of its four consecutive victories in the 24 Hours from 1966.

Jay Leno spends some time in his studio with Zack Eakin, Chief Engineer for Nissan's LMP program, pouring over the details of their 2015 Le Mans challenger, the radical Nissan GT-R LM Nismo.

Don't miss the behind the scenes clip by NISMO TV.

Published in the lead-up to Porsche's return to the top flight LMP1 category at Le Mans in 2014, XCAR takes a detailed look at the history of Porsche at Le Mans.

Goodwood Road & Racing share a fantastic lap of the classic -- and chicane free -- Le Mans circuit, onboard Jurgen Barth's 1977 race-winning Martini Porsche 936.

Team principal and technical director for Nissan/NISMO's 2015 Le Mans tilt, Ben Bowlby, tells us why their GT-R LM NISMO is front-wheel drive and why this makes them a hot contender for outright victory at La Sarthe this weekend.

A ten minute review of the 1971 Nürburgring 1000km, where the mighty Porsche 908/3 finished 1-2-3 beating the fancied Ferrari 312s and Alfa-Romeo T33s.

The town of Romorantin south of Paris is home of Matra, Formula 1 World Champions back in 1969 and three time Le Mans winners with their iconic blue machines.

Jonathan Moore for Speedhunters takes us to the Musée Automobiles Matra for an inside look at the cars the forged Matra's motorsport legacy.

Nissan wants to join the big boys:

Nissan will unleash the GT-R and go head-to-head with Audi, Porsche and Toyota at Le Mans in 2015. The Japanese manufacturer will also contest the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship with a full factory effort of two LM P1 cars.

We just hope they're not spreading their marketing budget too thin: Formula 1, LM P2, GT3, Garage 56, GT Academy, the Olympics, Champions League football, and now WEC with an LM P1.

Something's got to give.

After a lengthy restoration, the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hour winning Mazda 787B returns to La Sarthe, twenty years after its historic victory.

Driven in anger once again by the man who took the one and only Le Mans victory by a rotary-powered car, Johnny Herbert.

And starts looking forward to 2015.

Motorsport Magazine reports:

Audi scored its 13th victory in 15 attempts at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler their third in four years, but only after one of the most dramatic races in the grand euduro’s long history.

What a race! The last few hours had us on the edge of our seats. Porsche #20 was looking like an outside chance with just two hours to go, until engine issues put paid to a fairy tale return to La Sarthe.

Speaking of the 919, don't miss Racecar Engineering's peerless technical analysis of the development history and recent testing updates to Porsche's clean-sheet WEC and Le Mans challenger.

First time we've seen these photos of Porsche's stillborn LMP car from 2000, the engine from which went on to form the basis for the Carrera GT supercar.

(More), (Even more)

Chris Harris remembers Sean Edwards:

Sean always did things with racing cars I couldn't quite comprehend, and now he is gone and I'll never have the chance to watch his talent grow and vicariously enjoy the many successes that he was surely going to achieve. That makes me sad and angry.

Luke Huxham, Maiham Media:

The Group C Porsche 962 is an iconic race car to say the least. In the 80's it won countless Le Mans races and to this day holds a very special place in car enthusiasts hearts. One particular Japanese car enthusiast loves this car so much that he can't keep this race car restricted to circuit duties only. He feels the overwhelming need to spend much more time with it, on the streets!

With plates and a full-fat Rothmans livery? Badass.

Answering some direct questions on why he’s leaving F1 for Le Mans:

"Le Mans is one of the most famous circuits in the world and to be honest, I still see it as unfinished business and I want to do well there. Le Mans can be cruel as we’ve just seen, but it’s incredibly rewarding and that’s part of the allure."

Autosport:

Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Loic Duval took a commanding victory in a Le Mans 24 Hours that was overshadowed by the death of Danish driver Allan Simonsen early in the race.

An epic race, sadly to be remembered for the wrong reasons. RIP Allan Simonsen.

Reilly Brennan provides all you need to follow the action at Le Mans from the comfort of your own keyboard.

22-23 Jun 2013.

Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche AG:

"The engineers were able to start with a blank sheet of paper in the design of the new LMP1 car that was out here today on the Weissach race track for the first time. Hence, they were able to apply many new technologies within the framework of the regulations that will also benefit the customers of our road legal automobiles in the future. After all, there's a race car in every Porsche."

Unlike Formula 1, Porsche can now undertake almost unlimited testing and development before joining the WEC and Le Mans next year.