Like Lionel Richie, the French do it all night long—on public roads, at more than 200 mph, every June. Why is the 24 Hours of Le Mans one of the greatest things on earth? We’ll tell you. We’ve raced in it! (Well, Ross and Jeff have.)

This show’s format rotates each episode, because squirrel. Last week was INTC’s once-a-month centerpiece, where we take a deep dive into an epic moment from racing's past. This episode uses a format we call Sam Rambles About a Thing. (That he loves.)

Jeff had to work at tape time—he’s busy getting the Corvettes of AWA Racing ready for the 24 Hours of Daytona—so this one is just Sam and Ross.

Related Trivia: Ross has been to Le Mans as a coach more than he can remember. Sam went once, stayed up all night, and ate too many espresso-soaked gummy bears while watching Toyota lose the overall win with just three minutes to go.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

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About the show: It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, choices, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.