In the days leading up to the 24 Hour race it is rewarding to look out for interesting cars round about Le Mans. Here are some that caught my eye and my delight:<\/p>\n This is \u201cZig\u201d, one of the Aston Martin Zagato prototypes, lurking in the Le Mans paddock still wearing its N\u00fcrburgring 24 Hours clothing, waiting to have a go in the Aston Martin Festival Challenge support race. It finished 11th.<\/p>\n I can never resist a visit to the Museum at Le Mans and they do vary the exhibits so it is usually worth a call. They have a superb example of that extraordinary French car, the Panhard Dynamic. Introduced in 1936, it featured a unit-construction body, a sleeve valve six-cylinder engine, torsion bar suspension and, unusually, a central driving position.<\/p>\n Notice the three windscreen wipers and three-piece windscreen.<\/p>\n The bodywork was designed by Louis Bionier and had semi-enclosed wheels. Some 40 six-light limousines were made on the eve of the Second World War for the military chiefs.<\/p>\n Toyota have returned to Le Mans for the first time since their huge effort to win this race with the GT-One cars in 1998-99. These yielded at best only a second place and they had come very close to winning in 1994 with this car, the 94CV.<\/p>\n Gearbox trouble robbed it of almost certain victory in the last hour of the race.<\/p>\n It is 40 years since Matra scored the first of three consecutive victories in the 24 Hour race in 1972. This was recognised at various events around the city. The winning car of Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill was to be seen in the Village at the circuit as was the 1974 winner of Pescarolo and G\u00e9rard \u00a0Larrousse.<\/p>\n At the traditional A.C.O. Press Conference G\u00e9rard Larrousse was awarded the Spirit of Le Mans Trophy \u2013 appropriately the 1973 winning Matra accompanied the occasion.<\/p>\n The popular Drivers\u2019 Parade also remembered Matra\u2019s achievements and no less than nine examples of their first proper production car, the 530, endured the incessant rain. The column of cars was led by a 530LX on board of which was Henri Pescarolo who had many successes in Matra cars.<\/p>\n Named after Matra\u2019s R530 air-to-air missile, the 530 had a mid-mounted German Ford V4 engine shared with the contemporary Taunus and for the first two years production was entrusted to the French coachbuilder Brissonneau et Lotz at Creil.<\/p>\n Invariably one comes across a gem in the Parade and for this writer the favourite was the Morris L\u00e9on Boll\u00e9e. This was one of William Morris\u2019s failures. He was anxious to break into the French market and purchased the L\u00e9on Boll\u00e9e factory at Le Mans. The cars \u00a0were produced as Morris L\u00e9on Boll\u00e9es but did not sell well, although he was able to put his factory at the disposal of the Bentley team when they came to compete in the 24 Hour race. Later models used Hotchkiss engines before production finally ceased.![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/mm01-db8333.jpg\" "\\"mm01-db8333\\"")
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