Notes on an Addling Weekend Down at Le Mans

“For me, Le Mans almost feels like Burning Man for car culture, just with no drugs and debauchery, I guess. It is really a pilgrimage. People camp in tents next to their BMWs or Ferraris or Ford Fiestas next to the race track. I love sitting on the deserted grandstands at 3 AM and watching the race; the sounds get through your body like at a drone concert. It is the ultimate kinetic sound sculpture. Yet it can break at any time; the cars are pushed to the max in those 24 hours.

-Joerg Koch, 032c Editor-in-Chief

Whether your daze derives from the scorching heat, the adrenaline rush, or the unending serpentine soundscape ceases to matter at the nonstop race in Le Mans. Established in 1923, back when Grand Prix racing reigned supreme in Europe, Le Mans has always drawn spectators to the race as much as the constellation of traditions and rituals its dominion evinced. For a brief weekend every year, the forlorn lands of the French Northwest open into a paradise city of almost half a million inhabitants, where there’s no time to dwell on the constant frenzy nor its root causes.

Admittedly, the 24-hour at Le Mans race is one of the hottest motorsport events worldwide (and that’s an educated take, since we are no strangers to a hot car festival). The mere high from your surroundings accounts for an artificially prompted dopaminergic hit, potent enough to sustain you through a festival that bids on your endurance. As such, beyond the machinery and spectacle lies a conduit of belonging that reverberates far beyond the circuit, compelling people to return year after year to the French city of the same name. BMW M has long recognized this incentive - its GEN M, which combines the verve of the racetrack with a genuine spark for camaraderie, irrespective of the team or car brand association of its partakers, embodies this marriage of tradition and spectacle. For people that understand the ethos of the generation that waives age categorization in exchange for a mindset-centered approach, the conflux between communion and passion it stands for comes as a given.

This year, people abided to Le Mans’ tried-and-true tradition despite an early arrival of sweltering summer heat. Once the dazzle wore off, Luna Sferdianu spoke with artist Sofia Ginevra Gianni, jeweler Greg Yuna, and professional skater Sean Malto about what it means for racing to expand beyond motorsports and into the cultural world.

Sofia Ginevra Gianni, a.k.a. SAGG_NAPOLI

Luna Sferdianu: Hi Sofia! Can you briefly tell me about what it is that you do?

Sofia Ginevra Gianni: I'm an artist and I used to be a competitive archer. My research project name is SAGG_NAPOLI.

LS: What is Le Mans to you?

SGG: It’s my week of Christmas, or what I wish my Christmas looked like.

LS: Can you tell me what is happening at the festival?

SGG: 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most important races in the world. You call it a festival, so it's not just a race, and the fact that it lasts 24 hours really makes it an experience in its own right. The most important thing for me is the sound; it’s a whole new life in those 24 hours across the sound of racing cars! I would say it’s such a privilege, because normally you go to a race that lasts maybe a few hours, you're in and out, but Le Mans is a full on lifting physical experience; you walk a lot, you see the tracks from different vantage points, you see people that are camping there, sleeping in the stand, in the grass, or in the chairs. People are obviously supporting different teams, but everyone is there that one night, and that’s beautiful.

This year was very hot, normally it's very rainy, or the weather conditions change dramatically, and there's moments in which parts of the tracks are soaked while others are dry, so it makes it very dramatic, because you have to make a lot of strategy-related decisions. On the night of the race, I normally try and stay up as long as I can. This year I ended up sleeping at five, and woke up to our car looking so good. That was pretty emotional, we were very close to winning, and we got second place, which is very fucking good, especially with BMW M having been back for three years. Within these three years I wanted to achieve that, so it was a spectacular moment, I nearly cried.

LS: If you could use only three words to describe the atmosphere, what would they be?

SGG: Emotional, spectacular, intimate.

LS: Any favorite thing in particular about the festival?

SGG: Everyone has a very personal experience with it, and for example, I like when I go there and understand that there are so many people, and everyone's taking their own space with it. It's very meditative with the image of the cars passing. The sound becomes really introspective. You have to sleep to it, and I have the best sleep, which sounds crazy, but it's true.

LS: Where do you see the intersection of your everyday life and practice as an artist, with your passion for racing and the festival itself?

SGG: I think patience and endurance are two things that I always really talk about within my work and I'm deeply nested in. I think endurance is one of the key aspects of this race as well. The funny thing is that the one time I competed and beat a national record with my team, it was on an endurance competition. It's very interesting to see who can perform over time and has the necessary passion and patience to see the long-term thing come to fruition.

LS: What's GEN M to you?

SGG: BMW’s GENERATION M is showcasing the many people involved that truly love what they do, beyond it being just a job. It is also about being connected by performance and pushing the limits of whatever discipline one comes from and that being that the very thing that connect us together with the passion for M.

LS: What makes you go back every year?

SGG: Next year, it will definitely be about winning 1st place.

Greg Yuna

Greg Yuna is a New York-based jewelry designer and artist. Admittedly, a guy who’s been driving BMWs since he can remember. In his own words, despite not being a guy that can draw anything, he feels like “some sort of Picasso,” as he has a pretty good imagination and a really good team that can articulate his designs.

LS: What even is Le Mans, Greg?

Greg Yuna: Le Mans is one of the most historically relevant races of all time. Who else in the world is doing 24 hour races? It's one of the most exciting things you could possibly go to, especially when you're going with BMW M. The hospitality group there is just incredible. They’re just dialed in at any given moment, from the plane to the car, from the moment you get there to hanging out at the tents, to the excitement of the race starting. Hearing all that noise for 24 hours, and your body running on pure adrenaline is incredible.

LS: Can you give me a little rundown of what happens at the festival from your perspective?

GY: I don't know what other people do, I'm talking about how BMW does it. They run a tight ship and it's beautiful. You feel like a child when you get to the campsite, it's like you're planted right in this cool, beautiful tent in the middle of nowhere. There’s really not much going on in Le Mans, I don't know how the town looks, but I know where we are. It's in the middle of nowhere. There's nowhere to go, and you feel very connected to nature, along with being at a racetrack, and from the food coming in, all the beverages and the people that you meet, the networking, and just the style, it's just cool. It's just very exciting, cool stuff.

LS: What are three words you could describe the atmosphere with?

GY: Exciting, electric, also hot. It's hot as shit.

LS: Are there any common motives between your everyday life and your passion for racing and Le Mans?

GY: I’ve integrated my life in that world from the age of 12, even younger, I always had a love for cars, but the moment I started understanding BMW's and exotic cars. It's just been a passion of mine. Hearing engines, the smell of the gasoline, the tires. It's always been a familiar thing for me, like home. The noise, the exhaust pipes, all that. I hate to say this, and I don't want to sound weird saying it, but it’s such a boy thing!

LS: What is GEN M to you?

GY: Evolution.

LS: What makes it that BMW M and the festival manage to pull people back every year?

GY: I think they understand the cool and the culture, and they understand people who really are into this kind of stuff. I think they like the authenticity. They're not gonna just get someone because they're popular, they want to know that they actually love this aspect.

For me, it’s been in my pedigree — if you go back to before I was with BMW M, before I had any kind of relation with the actual inner team of BMW, I had BMW’s my whole life.

LS: Is there a thing that you were surprised to find at Le Mans, or something you would never expect to come across?

GY: There is just a certain energy there, it's like a concert. You can go there and someone does music, and, oh my God, all of a sudden, we're singing together. I don't know how else to articulate this: it brings love, it brings people together, and everybody's in a good mood. Everyone's happy to be there.

Sean Malto

For the past 18 years and ongoing, Sean Malto has been a professional skateboarder. Lately, he’s been moving into the direction of broadcasting for the competitions he’s been partaking in for the longest.

LS: Sean — I myself have only interacted with Le Mans in its myth form. Can you give me a small rundown of the real thing?

SM: Le Mans is different compared to a couple weeks ago. I've always known it was a very historic race, but I came to realize it is a party marathon. To preface it, I'm not the biggest race car person, but after I went, I became such a fan. It's incredible. It was a lot tougher endurance for us as fans than I thought it would be. Obviously, the race car drivers have a lot of different things they have to take care of, but man, that 24-hour race felt like two weeks.

LS: What's the vibe, what’s unfolding?

SM: Everybody's very excited at the start of the race, obviously. There's a lot of opportunity and a lot of expectations. BMW M had such an amazing setup, we were basically glamping. They had a big hospitality area right on the side of the track, and once the race started, it was so much energy. I thought it would taper off a little bit, but that energy just kept going. Like I said, it was an endurance race for us all, and it was so much fun. I found myself in the stands at four in the morning, just glued to the track, just couldn't get up! I had to sleep for a little bit during the middle of the race, but then again, towards the end, it turned to complete chaos. BMW M had a car that was in the hunt to win the race, so we were all focused. We were super well taken care of, so much fun, a lot of champagne, and, obviously, a lot of race cars.

LS: Can you give me a super brief description of this setting?

SM: I would say chaotic is definitely up there. Fun. Exhausting, in the best way possible.

LS: I wonder where you see the intersection of your everyday life and this newfound excitement for racing and Le Mans.

SM: I would say, on a competition standpoint of skating and racing, there is a lot of strategy that goes into both. For those 24 hours, you got to have an extensive strategy of what plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D may be. I'm sure they have a lot of different things for every little moment. I always thought skating was super dangerous, but definitely not as dangerous as racing. This was the one thing that really stood out to me. You think these guys just ramp up the cars and go as fast as they can, but there’s so much at stake, from doing all the pit stops and doing the tours and the tire changes, the driver swaps, plus the specific timing for doing all these things. I was very impressed with their strategy, and the way they were able to get through pushing a car as hard as it can go for 24 hours.

LS: What is GEN M to you?

SM: The way BMW M did it was so cool. They brought in a bunch of people from different walks of life. I'm a skateboarder. They had BMXers, they had a jeweler, DJs, musicians. When we all got together, we felt like we were all part of one group, and we had that similar interest. Trips aren't always like that. Sometimes you go into certain situations with different random people, and things can be stand-off-ish, but I didn't feel that at all with this trip. Everyone felt cohesive, we all rolled together as groups. It was a short trip, but I genuinely feel like I made some great friends after this. The way BMW M positioned and aligned the events and put us in certain situations gave us the opportunity to be able to talk and bond over the common motif of the trip, and that was really special.

LS: Why do you think bringing people together in this formula works so well?

SM: I think it's one of those things of finding people that are all interested in one thing. It’s no matter where you're at in your life or what you're doing, we're all interested in watching this race and watching them together, and then BMW M putting us in these positions like the campsite. When I first heard camping, I was like, oh man, but then when I got there, it was the nicest campsite I've ever been to in my life.

Also influencing is such a weird thing, and I felt like BMW M didn't really want us to influence anything, they just wanted us to come and have fun and just share our experiences of how we viewed it, which I think was a nice touch. Fabian, the delegated person, was like “I want you guys to not sleep, I want you to watch as much of the race as possible, and I want you to have as much fun as possible,” which I thought was such a cool way to lay out the whole weekend. It wasn't about making sure to get posts up and tapping certain things. That is a really cool way for BMW M to present it from the very beginning.

LS: Anything particularly shocking you came across?

SM: First, I didn't know that many people would go. I think it was like half a million people that went to this thing, and second, it's a whole, big festival! I thought it was grandstands and a race track, but there were Ferris wheels and a whole village. There were clubs inside the grounds. I guess I didn't expect it to be quite like that, and I also thought there'd be a little dip in the time of when the race was happening. I thought people would go home and come back, but there are people there all night, even if they had to sleep in the corner for a couple of hours. That was honestly another shock too, seeing people sleeping around the grounds, and then stacked grandstands at four in the morning, but all of that was such a trip. I think it was mostly throughout the night that I didn't expect it to be as active as it was.

LS: Did you have any interaction that changed something in you or inspired you?

SM: A lot of it was a very lighthearted, let's have fun kind of weekend. But I had a lot of meaningful conversations with people that I realized are awesome. Billy, for example, is now a friend of mine. Greg is super awesome, and we have a lot of mutual friends. I was very inspired by what everybody else was doing in their lives too, because it was also different than mine, like Paramida was flying to Spain from Le Mans to go DJ, and I was like, that's sick, that's amazing. Greg's making jewelry for all these big artists, and Billy was going to Switzerland to go on this bike trip, right after. I just felt like everybody was so on top of their game. Learning about their lives and what they're doing was inspiring for me to keep pushing in my own life, so I wouldn't say there’s one specific conversation, but I think just as a whole being around a bunch of people that are obviously the best in their worlds was really it.

Ultimately, the race was won by Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries, followed by a matter of seconds by the BMW M team and the other contesters on the lead lap. Notably, it was BMW M's first overall podium at Le Mans since BMW M's last victory in 1999, with Robin Frijns, René Rast, and Sheldon van der Linde disrupting the hiatus.

But these are all just ancillary details to the central motifs of the event — the fun, the delirium, and as GEN M heralds it, the ultimate lack of affiliation other than mindset of those the race brings, for a brief moment in time, together.