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From left, drivers Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard take a selfie with their No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Mans, France, on June 18, 2017.

'Petrol heads' descend on the French town for the annual 24-hour race, bringing their enthusiasm and endurance along to celebrate the art of tradition and technology

The world's oldest endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, celebrates the art of tradition and technology as only the French can.

Its cars are cutting-edge technology top to bottom, while everything on the other side of the Armco crash barrier feels unchanged from the 1960s.

And long before the French Tricolour is waved over the cars heading out on the first of more than 300 laps, the town starts its annual transformation. On test day, stretches of public road close to form the Circuit de la Sarthe and reopen to traffic just hours later.

A day of scrutineering, checking that the cars conform to the rules – a forlorn process – turns into a major event in the town square, fans watching from scaffold grandstands, teams posing for a formal portrait.

On the Friday before the race last weekend, hundreds of thousands fans line up to watch the drivers toss candies and trinkets to children as they parade in open-top cars. Everything is celebrated, everything is a tradition and every bit of it is wonderful.

On the track, "It can be the cruellest race or it can be the best race ever. You never know," race winner Timo Bernhard tells Reuters afterward.

During this year's race, many cars flirt with a chance to win. In the end though, the No. 2 Porsche – with drivers Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber, which most had counted out – comes through.

On race day, the city's tram system impersonates the Tokyo subway at rush hour. You'll hear German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and, of course, French, as "petrol heads" congregate from around the world, ready for an endurance test of their own. After all, this is a race that runs for 24 hours, a challenge as unique to fans as it is to the teams.

Before the start, the cars are parked carefully on the course in a traditional manner, reminiscent of drivers standing on one side of the track ready to sprint to their cars on the other. The running start has long been given up as unsafe; now, the cars are surrounded by lucky attendees wearing a pit-walk wristband.

Only the few lucky attendees wearing a pit-walk wristband get the pleasure of having an up-close look at the race cars before the start.

The entertainment is a local marching band, a mix of school kids and retirees united in how ill-fitting their uniforms are. An aerial display team flies overhead and the winner's trophy is toured around the track in the back of a classic Porsche 911 convertible, as though it is the honorary mayor of Le Mans.

As 60 cars roar away on the first lap, the soundtrack for the next 24 hours begins, the French public-address announcer's voice weaving in and out of the sound of cars at speed swirling all around.

After a few hours, the crowd begins entertaining itself to fill time between race "moments." When alarm is heard in the voice over the PA, everyone stops to look at the nearest screen. Moment acknowledged, people turn back to the task at hand.

The circuit runs out of Le Mans to a small nearby town, across to a second, then back to complete the loop. Pretty farmhouses adorn the public roads that are transformed into a racetrack for the weekend, and there are long runs of forest where fans camp and hike between viewing points. Smoke from barbecues drifts through the woods and across the track. The camping sites and parking lots offer no shortage of classic, and odd, cars.

LMP2 cars swing around Indianapolis Corner in the late afternoon.

Race weekend draws many of Europe's car lovers. They spot two Jaguar E-Types within a block, or the one millionth 911 on display. Conversations on the shuttle are interrupted by shouts of, "Sunbeam Tiger!" "Saab Sonett!" "Did you see the paint job on that?"

In the paddock, hospitality tents are full. Outside Porsche's tent, two women squint through the window to see actor Patrick Dempsey inside. Famed drivers, past and present, seem to be around every corner, discussing what they've seen, making hand gestures only drivers make and that only race engineers truly understand.

Summer evenings are long in the heart of France and the heat is intense. When the light finally fades around 11 p.m, fair rides and attractions around the track remain in full swing. Boys try a soccer-ball machine, while those old enough to know better test their strength on a punching-bag machine. The iconic Ferris wheel slowly turns against the night sky.

Only late into the night do the crowds thin, spectators finding their way to their tents, RVs and beds as engines continue roaring.

Throughout the weekend, fans have the option to alternate between watching a big screen and looking at the cars live a few metres away.

On race-day Sunday, Catholic mass is held at the Chapel in the Woods, a few metres from the track. Pastor Timothée Lambert leads the service, as the hillside fills with members of the Scouts and Guides of France, crisp red uniforms looking sharp in the morning sun. When mass ends, the priest removes his alb to reveal his own Scout uniform.

Overnight, the two leading Toyotas drop out within 30 minutes of each other with technical issues. And, as daylight dawns, the PA crackles to life again. The No. 1 Porsche 919, which had taken over the lead, is slowing. Does this mean an outright win for the LMP2 cars – the non-hybrid class below the relative spaceships in LMP1 from Toyota and Porsche?

LMP – Le Mans Prototype – Classes 1 and 2 are distinctive as the top tier attracts manufacturers with vast resources and budgets, while LMP2 is reserved for private teams who purchase a chassis and engines from third-party suppliers under a strict cost cap. The results of this year's race may raise some eyebrows in boardrooms.

Only two of six LMP1 cars are running at the end, the winning Porsche and a Toyota. After a prolonged period in the garage early in the race for maintenance, the No. 2 Porsche had almost been forgotten. However, its crew spends a large part of the race resolutely putting in lap after lap. The dream of an LMP2 win goes away and the Cinderella story of the No. 2 Porsche is born as it takes the lead, the result of lapping more than a minute quicker than the leading LMP2.

At the end of the race, the winning No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid makes its way down pitlane towards the podium, June 18, 2017.

From the robust LMP2 field, second and third place go to the cars from Jackie Chan DC Racing running Oreca 07 chassis and Gibson engines.

"Le Mans has been the most important and most famous long-distance race since racing existed in Europe," says Michael Steiner, a member of Porsche's executive board. "And Porsche racing, especially long-distance racing, is passion. We do this by tradition."

The writer was a guest of Porsche. Content was not subject to approval.

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