A lot of interesting things happened at Le Mans last weekend, and not just the 24-hour race, which the Ferrari factory team won for the second year in a row.
We have talked more than once about the MissionH24 project: the French car club ACO, organizer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, together with several technology partners, is developing a sports prototype with a power plant running on hydrogen.
Before the start of the marathon, hundreds of thousands of fans gathered at the Sarthe ring witnessed an important event: four cars of different classes with such engines completed a symbolic lap around the Le Mans circuit.
However, it all started even earlier, because in the morning the young French company Systematics conducted demonstration rides on a funny three-wheeled vehicle that runs on hydrogen. Most of all, it resembles a cargo scooter, but in the world such cars are usually called “knock-knock”. On June 9 and 10 in Le Mans, this unusual ‘motor scooter’ made laps around Alain Prost’s karting track for exactly 24 hours: using just 2 kg of hydrogen, it covered more than 700 km in 24 hours.
And in the afternoon, four hydrogen cars, which currently only exist in the form of prototypes, drove to the starting field of the circuit: the H24 sports prototype of the MissionH24 project, the Ligier Bosch JS2 RH2 sports car, another car from the French GT class – Foenix Solution F, as well as the Alpenglow Hy4 from Alpine.
After the circuit parade, all these cars were put on display in the ‘Hydrogen Village’ – a special corner of the fan zone where fans could get a closer look.
Jean-Michel Bourèche, co-director of the MissionH24 project, said: “Our goal is to create the first hydrogen racing car certified by the FIA, with performance comparable to the best GT3 sports cars.”
Le Mans was also the first time that the public saw the hydrogen-electric racing car H24EVO, whose futuristic appearance has always provoked the most enthusiastic reactions.
The presentation of the concept car took place with the participation of Pierre Fillon, president of ACO, as well as the famous French racers Stéphane Richelmy and Adrien Tambay. Track testing of this vehicle should begin in the first quarter of 2025.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
