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Race Recap: 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans defines 'endurance'

Commenting on the rush of events that rocked beginning and end of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Paul Truswell of Radio Le Mans said "the race is about the ability to endure, not just the ability of drivers to do what they do for a long time." The entire race machine, all the way down to the pit boards and radios, has to survive the stress and abuse of the entire day. This was the race to prove those words.
There were two Toyotas, two Porsches and three Audis, five of the seven led the race at some point, six of the seven ran in the top three. Toyota will be hugely disappointed that it didn't win when its car and drivers were so, so strong, but they gave Audi the kind of scare we haven't seen since the best of Peugeot's days, and Toyota did a better job of it even in the loss. Porsche blew away everyone's expectations, falling 3.5 hours short of a fairy tale ending that would have made Disney cry.
But Le Mans doesn't really do fairy tales. Well, not that fairy tale. Audi's Twitter handle during the event was #welcomechallenges. As usual, Le Mans answered for the entire field.

What's the deal with comedians and their cars?

'Round about the time in his life when it should happen for all of us, Jerry Seinfeld's ship came in with a force that almost split the dock. He'd been doing pretty well with his observational style ("There's a cereal now that's just cookies. Have you seen this? Cookies for breakfast. It's called Cookie Crisp. Cookies for breakfast! They oughta just call it 'To Hell With Everything!'"). But he showed no signs of setting the world on fire until he got cast in a show that was either about – depending on the level of comedy geek you ask – the average New Yorker, the very worst people in the world, or nothing. Suddenly Jerry Seinfeld was pretty much the center of the comedy universe. And while his comedy was at once both brilliantly innovative and rooted in the mundane, his next move was a predictable grab at something exotic – he went out and bought his dream car. A rather nice 911, actually. As almost everyone knows, it didn't stop there, and the man put together one of the most enviable collections of iconic Porsches we're likely to see. So what's the connection, if there is one, between cars and comedy? As far as Jerry Seinfeld (the man) is concerned, he's probably not the same guy as the Jerry on Seinfeld (the show) although it's hard to say for sure; his public persona is almost unnervingly well managed. But cars and comedy were the constants in his life then, and, well, just look at what the guy does now; Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is a cultural constant, and we're certainly seeing Seinfeld the man in that one, and cars are obviously still central to his life. And it's been that way with a lot of very, very good comedy guys. Cars seem to round out their lives, to become the yin to their comedy yang. Ernie Kovacs might not have invented visual gags or surreal humor, but he got them both to kill on television in the 1950s, so he's a comedy hero. He died behind the wheel of his beloved Corvair wagon, so he's absolutely some kind of car-guy hero as well. Bill Cosby, the hottest name in comedy for a good long while, had Ferraris, one of two fire-breathing supercharged big-block Cobras (pictured below), and a BMW 2002tii – none of which either contributed to or in any way make up for the profoundly sociopathic creature he turned out to be, but it's still a data point. The Smothers Brothers, who defied the networks and the norms by getting blatantly political before that sort of thing was cool, went sports car racing.

1974 Porsche 914 EV conversion still looks good

Looking through the pages of the EV Album is a great way to learn about the breadth and depth of the electric vehicle community. Branching well beyond the three dozen or so electric vehicles that are currently sold by major automakers in the US, EV Album showcases lots of DIY conversions of all types. A 1995 Fiat Cinquecento? Check. A 1992 Kewet Eljet 2? No problem. The site's old-fashioned looks (it was started in 1997) show just how long people have been passionate about their EVs. Many of the cars are throwbacks to a previous time and we found a prime example of that, a converted 1974 Porsche 914 (EV Album page here) this week. Now powered by a Prestolite MTC4001 Series Wound DC motor and some flooded nickel-cadmium batteries, the 914 has a top speed of 80 miles per hour and a range of 35 miles. But only "if you are taking it easy," of course. The motor has a peak output of 60 horsepower and 25 hp continuous. Converted over 600 hours (!) to electric power at a cost of $10,000, it is now owned by Charlie Garlow of Maryland. The car is on display at the Washington Auto Show this week and serves as a great reminder of what most EV drivers used to have to do to drive emissions free. Featured Gallery 1974 Porsche 914 Converted EV View 11 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2014 Sebastian Blanco / AOL Green Misc. Auto Shows Porsche AutoblogGreen Exclusive Green Culture Electric dc auto show washington auto show