LE MANS: THE OFFICIAL HISTORY 2000

The history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a broad stripe painted right in the middle of the history of the sport in general.

Its relevance in technological terms, and for the teams, marques and drivers that have succeeded – and failed, likely only comes second to that of F1 for the sport in its totality.

And there have been a huge number of attempts at chronicling all of the above down through the years, with some stunning examples of both in-depth, and very much more focused analysis of the races, people and moments that have kept the greatest endurance race in the world as exciting and relevant today as it was from its inception.

One of the more recent efforts to add depth and access to the storylines was the launch, a decade ago, of the series of Quentin Spurring-penned histories of Le Mans through the decades of its existence.

That series covered, in seven volumes, the period 1923-1999.

The final year of the 20th century, and the first nine of the 21st then were next up, and that story has now been told, but this time with a ‘new’ author!

John Brooks attended his first Le Mans 24 Hours in 1978 and went on to work at the race as an accredited photographer from 1984 to 2019.

His professional output in pictorial and written form was prolific, and he was indeed one of the founding partners of this website!

The latest addition to this series: Le Mans: The Official History 2000-09, is the first book to see ‘Brooksie’ as he is universally known, as the sole author.

Remarkably, all of the 500+ photographs were taken by the author too!

So then – does the 2000-09 volume stand up to scrutiny?

Yes, very much so!

Firstly the book looks great, with excellent picture selection covering all of the success stories of an Audi-dominated decade, plus many of the also-rans, whose stories also feature.

At its heart though is the storytelling, and here’s where this volume excels.

The story, or rather the stories, of each of the races are told in detail, but with an easy style, the scene set with a look at the organisation of each year’s event, the changes and controversies that shaped the month of June, and the progressing storylines on the road to, and at, Le Mans.

This is a book that is easy to pick up, sink into for a while, and then move on with your day with an internal promise to do the same tomorrow! At its heart it adds detail to the headlines, and to the minnow’s stories too.

If you love this race, or if you are looking for a reason to love it, this is a great starting point, and if, like this writer, your enjoyment is fuelled by detail, there’s plenty of that too both in the written word and in the all-important data pages that support both each year’s content, and the review of the decade as a whole!