Le Mans, France

wings sleep was created in Le Mans, France during the Le Mans Classic, a modern 24-hour race for classic race cars on the famous circuit in the Sarthe department of western France. Unlike the "real" 24 Hours of Le Mans, the historic cars do not race for 24 hours straight, but rather – divided into 6 starting groups, called Plateaux – 4 times 45 minutes, spread over 24 hours. Even this is a considerable challenge for the old vehicles and, of course, for their drivers, some of whom are no less old, as the race is run at full speed.

wings sleep shows two Mercedes 300SL Gullwings, also known as Gullwing, in racing version, during a nightly race break. In 1952, Mercedes achieved a double victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with this model: Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess ahead of Theo Helfrich and Helmut Niedermayr. In 1955, one of the most tragic accidents in motorsport history occurred there with the further developed 300SLR model: Mercedes factory driver Pierre Levegh touched the significantly slower Austin Healey of Lance Macklin who in turn had swerved to avoid Mike Hawthorn's Jaguar when the latter unexpectedly braked sharply for a pit stop. Levegh lost control of his vehicle, which took of into the spectators alongside the track, killing 83 people. Mercedes immediately withdrew its two leading cars and refrained from any further motorsport involvement for decades.