Video: Intense F3000 race at Le Mans

21st June 2021

Seán Ward

Since 2018 Formula 1 and its various feeder series have made three trips to France, most recently this weekend for the French GP at Paul Ricard. That circuit is nice enough, a great test facility, but when it comes to character, it’s more than a little lacking. Imagine if F1 cars could race somewhere else in France, at Le Mans perhaps?

Of course, F1 cars completing the full La Sarthe circuit would be silly, but Formula 1 has paid a visit to the shorter Bugatti circuit, in 1967. F3000, on the other hand, effectively the GP2 of its time from 1985 to 2005, ran at the very same Bugatti circuit on a number of occasions, and in this video, from 1989, you can see so many F1 stars of the 1990s desperate to impress at the wheel of more junior machinery. There’s Eddie Irvine, Jean Alesi, JJ Lehto, Mark Blundell, Érik Comas, Martin Donnelly, Eric van de Poele and more.

Welcome to Goodwood Elevenses, a mid-morning helping of motoring-related amusement to help break up your day. Watch the last video: Mad Mike’s wild RX‑8 ride