Le Mans is a funfair, almost as much as it is a race. While the great 24-hour contest of man and machine against the clock and the elements goes on on track, for the weary race fan, there are always some other distractions scattered about the circuit. Food, drink, Ferris wheels, slingshot rides and more. And this year, a rather special cinema…
Who wants to watch a movie when the race is on?
That was our initial thought, too, but then we saw the details. You see, Peugeot - which will of course be having another crack at winning the greatest of all races (in the humble opinion of this writer) with its amazing 9X8 'Hypercar' - has teamed up with French movie making and distributing experts Mk2 (no, nothing to do with old Ford Escorts…) to create the Drive-In Paradiso by Peugeot, which is being billed as a 'unique open air cinema experience.'
So… you drive in to the cinema?
No, you don't. In fact, you can't - imagine trying to drive your own car into a drive-in cinema amid the world's biggest 24hr race and 250,000 fans… - but this is the really clever part. Peugeot will have already parked a field full of cars to act as the cinema's seats, and they're going to be a mixture of new and classic Peugeot models. This has to go down as one of the coolest ideas ever.
Which Peugeots are going to be there?
We don't have a full list of the cars yet, but we do know that the plan is to have at least a few classic Peugeot 406 models, because one of the films being shown is the classic Luc Besson-directed action car chase thriller Taxi, which, of course, features a highly modified Peugeot 406. Which you'll be able to watch while sitting in a Peugeot 406. It's all quite meta-textual…
Other cars that will be there include a 204 Berline L'Aventure, a 504 leisure pickup by Heuliez, or a 604 Ti Limousine - think of the comfort of watching a film in a 604…
Valérie Candeiller, Global Communications Director at Peugeot, said: "With Drive-In Paradiso by Peugeot, we wanted to create a fully immersive cultural experience, worthy of the symbolic power of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. By bringing together cinema and the automobile in a place steeped in history, we are demonstrating Peugeot's ability to connect sport, culture and emotion, and to offer the public moments of shared experience that are as unexpected as they are unforgettable.”
What films are showing?
On the 12th of June, Taxi will be on at 7pm, in the original French with English subtitles. That'll be followed by Ron Howard's tale of James Hunt and Niki Lauda's fight for the 1976 F1 title, Rush, at 9.30pm, in English with French subtitles.
On Saturday, the 13th - race day - a 2006 remake of the classic French spy spoof OSS 117 will be on at 7pm, followed (entirely appropriately) by Ford v Ferrari, starring Matt Damon, Christian Bale, and, of course, Le Mans itself. There'll be a late show at 12.30 of Neill Blomkamp's 2023 film Gran Turismo, based on the PlayStation game and telling the story of couch-to-track star Jann Mardenborough, who went from a gamer to a real-life racer.
On Sunday the 14th, snail-racing-in-the-Indy-500 animation comedy (yes, really), Turbo, will be on at 9.30am, with the voice talents of Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, and Samuel L Jackson. The final screening will be 2001's The Fast And The Furious - yes, that one - which will close out the event, starting at 12pm.