If you’re not the kind to necessarily tune in to auto racing, let me start by explaining that Le Mans is nothing like the cookie-cutter sameness of NASCAR, the Indy 500, or F1. I totally get that to an outsider, all those cars look the same, drive the same, and the races tend to be uneventful multi-hour speeches from the announcers about how epic it would be if X would happen, yet X never happens. Not to fear, because endurance racing and Le Mans in particular are nothing like that.

The FIA World Endurance Championship series, of which the Le Mans race is the crown jewel, is a fantastic race series made of up several different classes of cars. Long story short, this means you’ll see a Corvette battling a Ferrari battling a space-age “prototype” car bred for racing. What these mixed classes mean is that not all the cars are moving at the same pace, yet they are all on the same track at the same time. This pace discrepancy inevitably leads to the ultra-fast prototypes having to work their way through the slower field, and the everyday cars having to race in their class while also dodging faster cars. This traffic-factor makes for some incredible moves and racing in general.

Even when zoomed into a single class, the racing the last few years has been incredibly close and exciting. Check out this crazy finish from a very similar 24 hour race from last month at the Nurburgring. Those last 20 minutes were epic racing and full of drama. Or how about one of the all-time great battles a few year ago at Sebring. These clips are classic endurance car racing, and Le Mans is the big daddy of them all.

Now that I’ve got you amped up, I have to bring you back down with the realization that watching an European 24hr auto race is no easy feat in every country. If you’re in an racing junky country like the UK or Germany, it should be a breeze to catch the action. If, like us, you are in the United States of Freedom, watching Le Mans is an exercise in internet sleuthing and patching together different streams of online feeds.FOX Sports Go will be streaming the race if you qualify to view it in your area, and there’s always a smattering of online streams you can find the day of. One of the best ways is also the most old school. Radio Le Mans consistently has the best commentary on endurance racing, and streaming them on your phone allows you to continue with your normal Saturday and Sunday while staying up to date on the race.

However you do it, make sure you tune in to this race. Ford is back after 50 years to eat Ferrari’s lunch. Porsche is defending last year’s title against an always-hungry Audi. And you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen night racing on a 200mph track…

The post You Should Definitely Be Watching Le Mans This Weekend appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

The World of Speed is located in Wilsonville, Oregon.  It is massive and looks more like a private jet hanger, than a museum.  The high ceilings, polished concrete floor, and row after row of machines will suck in any gear-head.  The first row offers a lot of history directly tied to the state of Oregon.  Here I found one-off cars found nowhere else in the world.  Cars built by farmers from the ground up.  Men anxious to embrace the new found ability for the speed and rumble that only the accelerator pedal can offer.  Some of these creations topping out at over 100 mph.

The subsequent rows quickly moved from Franken-cars to corporate sponsorship.  Pace cars, land-speed hopefuls, and even super charged go-carts are sticker covered and their stories on display.  Some of the stories boast of greatness while others show defeat from less than .2 seconds.  Scars, wrecked bodies, and perfectly polished headlight stickers are posed and waiting for their next driver.

You aren’t allowed to sit in or drive these museum pieces.  That doesn’t mean that the World of Speed wants you to miss out on the experience.  The next corner provides you with the exact experience you might be seeking.  Three simulators are waiting to introduce you to a tangible experience of driving at Formula, Indy, or NASCAR speeds.  The cockpits dimensions are exact and three screens surround you with the high-speed simulation.  There aren’t fans in the stands, but don’t allow that to stop you from this white knuckle experience.

My visit can be summed up as this.  A walk through fuel powered history.  Roadsters with a top speed of 39 MPH, pristine classics, re-purposed war machines, side-winding motorcycles, and everything in-between are lined up and waiting.  This impressive collection will keep you entertained and make you want to get back to and under your own project.

The post The World of Speed: A Museum of Fuel Powered History appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.