1950 24 Hours of Le Mans Race Control Time Sheet
This remarkable document offers a rare snapshot of the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans as the race unfolded. Produced on official headed paper for the XVIII Grand Prix d’Endurance de 24 Heures and dated 24–25 June 1950, it is an original race control time sheet recording the relative positions of all surviving competitors at the six-hour mark.
At the top of the standings sits the No. 5 Talbot-Lago of Louis and Jean-Louis Rosier, who would go on to claim overall victory after 24 gruelling hours. Close behind in second place was the No. 7 Talbot-Lago of Pierre Meyrat and Guy Mairesse, who ultimately secured second place, making this document an intriguing record of a race whose final outcome was already beginning to take shape.
Perhaps the most fascinating entry, however, is found further down the order. Running in sixth position after six hours was car No. 14, driven by Tony Rolt. Beyond his achievements in motorsport, Rolt is remembered as one of the most extraordinary figures of the Second World War. Imprisoned in the notorious Colditz Castle, he played a key role in one of the camp's most ambitious escape plans—the construction of a secret glider intended to launch from the castle roof and carry prisoners to freedom.
Hand-typed and produced for race officials during the event itself, documents such as these were never intended for public distribution and few have survived. More than seventy years later, this time sheet remains a fascinating piece of Le Mans history, capturing a single moment in one of endurance racing's most celebrated events while linking together the worlds of motorsport, engineering and wartime heroism.
Louis Rosier's Extraordinary Le Mans Victory
Among the many remarkable stories from Le Mans history, few are as extraordinary as the victory of Louis Rosier in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans. Entering the race alongside his son, Jean-Louis Rosier, the pair piloted their Talbot-Lago to one of the most unusual victories the event has ever witnessed.
While officially entered as a two-driver team, Louis completed almost the entire race himself, driving for approximately 23 hours and 15 minutes of the 24-hour contest. His only significant break came to refuel himself rather than the car—during which he reportedly changed a rocker shaft, cleaned up after the repair, ate a meal and briefly handed the car to his son. Jean-Louis drove just a handful of laps before Louis returned to the cockpit for the remainder of the race.
Despite this extraordinary workload, Rosier not only finished but won outright, defeating a field that included some of the greatest drivers of the era, including Juan Manuel Fangio. More than seventy years later, his achievement remains one of the most astonishing displays of endurance, determination and mechanical sympathy in Le Mans history.
Today, it stands as a reminder of a very different era of motor racing, when drivers were expected not only to race at the limit but often to repair, maintain and nurse their machines to the finish themselves.