RACING COLOURS

1958

Jaguar’s D-Types had won Le Mans three times on the trot, yet the 1958 poster artist appears to have correctly predicted a win for Ferrari’s 250 Testa Rossa, as driven by Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill. Unless it’s meant to be a D-Type, painted Italian red (rather than British Racing Green) for graphic effect? Colour theory dictates that red cars are always the fastest.

Every Le Mans poster from 1923 to 1959 featured an illustration, better than any photograph in conveying complex information, not least the romance of night racing. It also permits visual tricks such as this trompe l’oeil depiction of a car bursting through a circuit map. The race itself was won by a French team, Robert Bloch and André Rossignol in a Lorraine-Dietrich.

1959

Until 1970, the 24 Hours of Le Mans race started with a sprint, the drivers running across the track, jumping into their cars and roaring away, but speed is nothing without endurance. After years of effort, Aston Martin finally secured outright victory in 1959, despite winning drivers Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby between them suffering flu, burns, dysentery and heart trouble.

1960

It’s easy to forget that colour photography was still something of a novelty in 1960 and the first such Le Mans poster captures the race start as cars roar away from their pit boxes. The pit lane had at least been widened after the catastrophic accident of 1955 (in which 83 spectators were killed and hundreds more injured) allowing cars to arrive and depart without obstructing 120mph race traffic.

1963

Illustrated Le Mans posters often featured a clock face, here superimposed on a remarkably abstract background. The car pictured is a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa of the type that won in 1961. To the delight of poster designers, scarlet Ferraris dominated the race in the early 1960s, taking six consecutive victories until Ford stole the show in 1966.

1967

Heralding a four-year winning streak for the GT40, Ford’s three-car photo finish of 1966 had been photographed in black and white. However, as colour photography became ever more reliable and affordable, it came to dominate Le Mans posters, with a consequent focus on daytime scenes. Red cars still drew the eye, however, as in this pre-start shot of brightly coloured Ferraris.

1978

Another return to graphic simplicity, albeit using a modified photograph, and another nod to the colours of the French flag, which proved appropriate as the Renault-Alpine A442B of Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi secured a popular victory. It wasn’t an easy win: having driven a double stint to the finish, Pironi was so exhausted he had to be lifted out of the car.

1988

This was the third Le Mans poster to feature one of Jaguar’s XJR sports prototypes. Having won five times in the 1950s, the marque returned to Le Mans in 1984, turbocharging British interest in the race. The team’s efforts paid off in 1988 with victory for the 7-litre XJR-9, breaking an eight-year winning streak for Porsche.

2023

As photography edged aside illustration and focused on daylight scenes, so digitally modified images may reclaim the night. This year’s centenary poster echoes the first edition of 1923 with a purple sky, headlights, fireworks and even an owl perched on a tree branch (an owl appeared in the first-ever poster for the race, in 1923). The cars are very different, but the allure of the Le Mans 24 Hours remains the same.