Find some old on-board footage from the Le Mans 24 Hours on YouTube, and just marvel as the cars speed through the Porsche Curves. Not just at the start of this famous sequence, but also the end. It's almost as if the drivers are racing through a tunnel.

There's no room for error. A small strip of grass is all that stands between the asphalt track surface and the concrete walls through the final right of the Porsche Curves and the following left-hander, formerly known as Karting, now named Corvette.

That was the case all the way into the present decade. But no more. The walls are now almost out of sight beyond a wide expanse of mostly asphalt run-off.

About Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 29th as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 70 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Autoweek, Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.