Plenty of remarkable innovations were on the horizon as the new decade dawned, particularly in the realm of racing cars: chassis were further developed and carbon fiber relegated the old aluminum and honeycomb car bodies to museums exhibits.

1988: the first time, since the first edition of the race, that no car on the starting grid originated from a road model; the aerodynamics science was developed using the same software, so there was a certain noticeable uniformity in the overall silhouettes

1992: nonetheless, the lackluster field allowed room for the small Peugeot Spyders with their central steering positions and the results were miraculous; the previous year had been dominated by "house" V10 engines which resurrected French success dormant since the Matra V12s

1993: the appearance of the ABS braking system on the Porsches; the return of "catalog" cars (model 961)

1995: Bugatti returned with a 4X4 but the car was less powerful than the series model, therefore the McLaren claimed the top step on the podium with the F1 GTR, an odd first three places secured by cars with central driving positions

1996: or "back to the future" for the Riley Scott with the old tubular chassis hidden by carbon fiber panels

1999: Batman came to mind via the strange Panoz racing cars (including a Q9 Hybrid) with a front engine and rear-fashioned driving position, a first since 1963

2000: at the dawn of a new century, new technology emerged as evidenced by the Cadillacs equipped with night vision devices

2003: a Reynard competed, equipped by a V8 turbo fueled with vegetable bio-ethanol

2004: even better than the previous year, the car returned with a V10, still bio-ethanol, and a Lola was equipped with a Caterpillar turbo-diesel engine, a fuel gone from the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 1950; Peugeot announced an upcoming diesel prototype

2006: the arrival of turbo-diesel Audis which dominated the race, admittedly without much competition

2009: the Peugeot lion could not be contained

2010: the rebirth of the Ford GT40 in the form of a "remastered" version called the Ford GT

2012: was a big year with the appearance of the Deltawing as it was beginning to look doubtful engineers and aerodynamics specialists could still surprise; in terms of the aesthetics, it was a done deal, but performance levels still needed some work, and then there was the arrival of the cars of the future...the hybrids that revolutionized the 24 Hours of Le Mans

2014: an intriguing Nissan called the ZEOD RC participated, borrowing on a variation of a closed body, the same design as the DeltaWing that had inaugurated Garage 56 two years earlier; the ZEOD RC clocked the 26th time

2015: a new revolution with the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo equipped with a "wind tunnel" that ran along the axis, a front engine and tires in inverted dimensions, along with a massive marketing campaign prior to the 24 Horus of Le Mans

2016: the 24 Hours of Le Mans benefitted from a tremendous story of hope thanks to Frédéric Sausset, a quad-amputee driver in Garage 56; he performed perfectly during his third of the race at the wheel of a specially equipped Morgan LMP2, demonstrating that on-board technology can compensate for significant disabilities

More stories, innovations and surprises punctuated the following years and decades...to be continued, perhaps!

PHOTO (Copyright - Archives/ACO): The DeltaWing, the first "car of the future" to take the start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 2012.