Are you not missing the days there was some competition and not only the monopole of 1 or 2 manufacturers?
I was there as gearbox technician in 1994 supporting the Bugatti EB110 du MANOIR DE L' AUTOMOBILE.
The car???? a standard Bugatti with 400 Kgs less, some better brakes and shock, slick tyres and that s it....well Eric Hélary was one of the drivers.
At 5 in morning the strange car was 2nd in GT1 and 6th overall.
One Dauer Porsche 962 behind.......after that 1st turbo gone ( 2 hours stopped ) start again....3 laps 2nd turbo gone....we change all 4....3 hours stopped....restart. WOW still in race. Well now let us race for the arrival.
At 23H42min of race, our Jean Cristophe Bouillon ( 18 years old ) try to overtake a VIPER driven by the old FOX René Arnoux....result...direct in the wall....end of race with the CHAMPAGNE bottles with the taps already untited in the hands.
WINNER...Jochen Dauer a small crazy boy against the official Nissan or Toyota ( i do not remember )
Now,,,the story is written on the records before the end of the race. Sad.
But it is still a great race.
Ciao
Wanni