NEW YORK — Automobile racing enthusiasts are spoiled for choice nowadays, able to cheer their favorite drivers on in person or from the comforts of home. One of the greatest automotive contests has to be the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and posters for the annual event never fail to capture its romance and its drama.
First named the Grand Prix de Vitesse et d’Endurance or Grand Prix of Speed and Endurance, Le Mans is the oldest ongoing automotive endurance race in the world. This year’s edition is the 91st running of the race conducted by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, but the contest celebrates its 100th anniversary this weekend (June 10-11). The first race took place in May 1923 and it has been staged nearly every year since then, with a few exceptions: Le Mans was not held in 1936 due to a labor strike and was on hiatus from 1940 to 1948 because of World War II.
The race takes place on the Circuit de la Sarthe, measuring about 8.5 miles, outside the town of Le Mans, France. Truly a test of endurance, the race is not a fixed-length contest but is won by the car that covers the most distance in 24 hours.
Le Mans is not only a challenge for the world’s best drivers; it was designed to test advancements in automotive technology and materials. It is also very much a group effort: because no one driver can do all 24 hours, the race team comprises several drivers who take turns, as do the mechanics and the pit crews who keep the cars running. Big-name car manufacturers such as Ferrari, BMW, Ford, Bugatti and Porsche have made their reputations on races like this.
Posters advertising Le Mans have been a fixture since the race’s inaugural edition, which was featured in an H.A. Volodimer poster showing one car speeding along an empty road under a moonlit sky. Across the decades, Le Mans poster designs have changed, just as fashions, tastes and art styles have. These posters are works of art that convey the history of the race as well as the excitement and atmosphere of it. Distinctive elements in the best examples include stylized speeding cars coming around a bend in the track, bright colors, dramatic skies, or crowds of spectators checking out the cars before the race.
Le Mans posters were issued to preview upcoming races as well as promote a specific automaker’s wins. Other examples overlap with the petroliana market. Motor oil manufacturer Castrol commissioned several posters touting its motor oil’s role in winning races, as in a 1951 poster for the German market that achieved €4,000 (about $4,274) plus the buyer’s premium in November 2019 at Automobilia Ladenburg Auction. Though it does not depict exciting racing scenes or bold colors, this poster is coveted nonetheless. Titled Welterfofl (World Successes), it is thought to be the only poster of its kind featuring a Porsche type 356 SL, hence its strong price. That car was clearly chosen to commemorate its victory in its class not only at Le Mans but also the Liege-Rome-Liege and the Tour de France races that same year. Notable for that Porsche Type 356 SL, tagged number 46, it marked Porsche’s debut at Le Mans.
The 1950s were a good decade for Porsche at Le Mans and a 1956 poster again showed off its successes; Porsche has notched more than 100 class wins at Le Mans, more than any other automaker. A highly stylized and colorful poster brought €2,000, or about $2,137, plus the buyer’s premium in May 2023 at Ni-Cola Classics – Automobilia Auction & Classic Car Sales. Porsche’s race team #25, which won its class, is the yellow car pictured on the poster.
In the earlier days of racing posters, artists had to rely on their sketching skills to capture the action. By the 1960s, camera technology was good enough to make recording high-speed images far easier. Photography was also useful in transmitting the nuances of the off-track atmospheric scenes of Le Mans, as in a pair of 1967 and 1969 posters for the endurance event that sold for $400 plus the buyer’s premium in June 2020 at Nest Egg Auctions. These posters capture the crowded stands and the appeal the cars held for fans who were able to check out these powerful feats of engineering up close.
Michel Beligond’s Le Mans poster from 1962, picturing a Ferrari 250 TR/61, realized €500, or $536, plus the buyer’s premium in May 2019 at Ni-Cola Classics – Automobilia Auction & Classic Car Sales. Winning its class, that Ferrari was expertly driven by Pierre Noblet and Jean Guichet, coming in second overall in that year.
A 1980 poster by French poster artist Charles Pascarel (b. 1936-) is among that decade’s most well-known racing posters. Instead of a photography-based design, Pascarel used his signature Pop Art style to depict the vibrant crowd as well as a Porsche 935 and a BMW M1 going around a corner at dusk. An example in fine condition sold for $850 plus the buyer’s premium in January 2022 at Potter & Potter Auctions.
Depending on the artist and subject matter, price and demand for original vintage Le Mans posters can range from a few hundred dollars to six-figure sums. As a niche category, automotive racing posters tend to be reasonably priced, and collectors interested in Le Mans posters, specifically, will find appealing choices that will fit most budgets.