Free Republic

The 1970 Porsche 917K driven by Steve McQueen in the classic film 'Le Mans' will be put up for auction next month - and could fetch more than $18million. Expected to become the most expensive Porsche ever, the car is one of racing's most illustrious vehicles having competed in the race and starred with McQueen in the movie. McQueen even drove it while crossing the finishing line in the winning shot. The sports car represents the culmination of Porsche's engineering at the time as the company sought to take its first victory at the 1970 race, according to the auction's...

The news that the legendary Dan Gurney died on Sunday night after a long battle with pneumonia was something racing legends Mario Andretti and Bobby Unser had difficulty accepting. Although they knew Gurney was in failing health, the fact that he was a “Mount Rushmore of Auto Racing” figure made him bigger-than-life to drivers who have been described in the same vein. “It’s one freaking sad day,” an emotional Unser told Autoweek in a phone interview Sunday night. Andretti echoed those sentiments from his home in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, on Sunday evening.

Dan Gurney, an accomplished and versatile racer whose pioneering innovations in race car manufacturing played an integral role in motorsports, died Sunday at age 86 of complications from pneumonia. Gurney won seven IndyCar races, five NASCAR Cup races and four Formula 1 races from 1962 to 1970, and he teamed with A.J. Foyt to win the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans. Only Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya have wins in the top levels Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and sports cars. "With one last smile on his handsome face, Dan drove off into the unknown just before noon today,"...

Fresh from Le Mans the Ford GT arrives at Goodwood for the world famous Festival of Speed.

#68 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Sébastien Bourdais, Joey Hand and Dirk Müller takes victory in LM GTE Pro category Le Mans, France, June 19, 2016 – The #68 Ford GT of Sébastien Bourdais (FRA), Joey Hand (US) and Dirk Müller (GER) crossed the finish line at Le Mans at three o’clock on Sunday, as the overall GT winner of the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours. The #69 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe (AUS), Scott Dixon (NZ) and Richard Westbrook (GB) joined the winners on the podium after scoring third place. The #66 and #67 Ford GTs finished...

LE MANS, France – Danish driver Allan Simonsen has died following a crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, race organizers said. The 34-year-old Simonsen was taken to the hospital Saturday after his Aston Martin No. 95 crashed out about 10 minutes after the start of the race. He died at the hospital soon after arrival "due to his injuries," organizers said.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans has always been a laboratory for wild automotive technology—part sporting event, part science fiction. On Sunday, at the 80th running of the world's most famous endurance race, a hybrid racing car won for the first time. Audi's 200-mph R18 e-tron quattro took the checkered flag in front of 240,000 fans, in the hands of German driver André Lotterer. The winning hybrid, nicknamed "Electra" by the Audi team, traveled 3,201.18 miles over the 24 hours—the rough equivalent of Miami to Seattle.

Mohammed Merah belonged to extreme Salafi group that works to topple French democracy • Group’s website shut down with homepage reading: “Due to great pressures brought upon us, we have dismantled the Forsane al-Izza movement.” Mohammed Merah, the confessed murderer of three children and a rabbi at a Toulouse Jewish school this week, was not a lone wolf, and on Wednesday the testimonies poured in about his involvement with a Salafi (extreme strand of Sunni Islam) group named Forsane al-Izza (FA). The “Knights of Pride”- as the group’s name means in English - was founded in France about a year...

I always liked that guy's films, own a couple of 'em. What an interesting read. Go to Wiki sometime and put his name in, wow. That guy was cool. I guess I didn't realize he died so young (ha, 50, I'm older than that). I can identify with him so much, what a trip. I love that film "Le Mans" because I am a racing film. It is basically stupid, except for the tasty automobiles, but I watch it every few months and always get a tear. I'm weird like that about films.

Nicolas Sarkozy has staked the credibility of his entire presidency on making the French work an extra two years before they can legally retire. To back down now would be political suicide. His detractors are calling him a Gallic Thatcher for taking on the unions, a nickname that could win him support among his disillusioned core conservative electorate, with whom he desperately needs to reconnect before the next presidential elections in 2012. But there are other issues at play. "Val d'Huisne college in Le Mans, western France. The college was completely destroyed by the fire that broke out shortly after...

YouTubes of McQueen, Music, LeMans, darkness then triumph-redemption http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ORa-y0TkFA&feature=related