France has become a little bit obsessed with l’avenir (the future), it is a nation that with a youthful new leader in Mr. Macron and his brand new ‘En Marche’ party, is excited about the time to come.

In sports there is the ‘Tour de l’avenir’ a pro cycling event for those aged under 23. Publications like Science et Vie have for years looked forward not back.
At Le Mans the mood is the same, in the ‘Village’ at the track everywhere you look there are futuristic or alternative cars from the likes of Roborace and Tesla, even Porsche’s hoardings all mention the German marque’s mission ‘Future Sportscar’.
All of this brings into focus the recent failure of the ‘Garage 56′ concept. Garage 56 was introduced in 2012 to showcase alternative and future technologies. ?The idea is to leave as much room for creativity as possible,?Vincent Beaumesnil, Manager of the ACO Sports Division explained some time ago ?Garage 56 explores the automobile technology of tomorrow and beyond. Environmental considerations such as fuel savings and carbon emission reduction are obviously very important.? The idea was inspired by some of the unusual cars which have raced at Le Mans over the years such as the Rover BRM gas turbine cars in 1963 and 1965, as well as the Panoz Q9 hybrid in 1998.
However since the first year of Garage 56 in 2012 only three cars have run under the ‘new technologies’ slot at Le Man...