I've brought you blogs on Formula One, blogs on The Rolex 24 Hours, blogs on the Paris Dakar, hell I even camped out in Speedtv.com over the winter commenting on the Champ Car/IRL merger and relaying everything here.

So here is the latest installment of 'Blogs on non-NASCAR, possibly obsure and occasionally niche motorsport events' - The Le Mans 24 Hours.

After the Month of May swept through (or should that be the weather swept through) Indianapolis, the Month of erm....June has landed somewhere in France. For two to three weeks, the road normally known as Route National 24 becomes the Mulsanne Straight and there won't be a lane hogging hatchback in site.

Le Mans remains the historic 24 Hours, above the various incarnations for other series that have sprung up around the globe. When it was Daytona Rolex time I ran through the names of a few drivers from around the world who had arrived for one race. That is also something Le Mans can boast, albeit in smaller numbers. The Rolex 24 finishes before most racing series have even turned a  wheel. This allows drivers from several series to take up drives, NASCAR, open-wheel, European Series. Le Mans sits right in the middle of most seasons, and although for obvious reasons the ALMS series reaches a haitus for Le Mans, most other series carry on meaning only a fluke of luck, or a really nice team boss allow many non-sports car regulars to compete.

Still the entry list isn't lacking any wow! factor if you know where to look.

The obvious big-hitters drive for the favourites in P1 - either Peugeot or Audi. Between the three Peugeot cars the drivers can boast nearly 800 Formula One starts, with Jacques Villeneuve, Pedro Lamy and Alex Wurz being the cheif contributers to the total. The Audis have the sports car pedigree. Frank Beila, Dindo Capello, Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen. No official word on how many wins between them in Le Mans history, but it's a lot. Kristensen alone has 7.

And while the Penske Porshes from the ALMS may have stayed stateside, many other teams and drivers have made the switch. GT2 - the Ferrari and Porsche class, shows the biggest ALMS influence with the giants of Risi Competitione and Flying Lizard making the jump, along with the fellow Porsche of the Farnbacher Loles team. GT1 will doubtless see the renewal of proper hostilities between the American Corvette teams and the European Aston Martins, after the phony-war with the privateer Aston in the ALMS, with the perenial French entry of a Saleen looking to make it a three way battle.

As far as drivers from the ALMS go, where teams have stayed at home, drivers have travelled. Saasha Maasen from the Penske ALMS team has showed up for another of the (ACO friendly) Porsche Spyders in a P2 class where one of the two examples is a shoe-in for victory, as European P2's tend to fall apart very easily. Ben Devlin from the Lola-Mazda ALMS squad has found himself a seat in the Bruichladdich Distillery sponsored Radical car (who despite their annual non-finishes remain my favourite Le Mans team - and it's nothing to do with Whisky). Former Champ Car driver Simeon Paganaud will drive for an all French P1 team, including F1 legend Olivier Panis, who, well, there are worse team-mates. Another name worth mentioning is Peter Dumbreck's return to the track which sent him flying in a Mercedes Prototype in 1999. Only this time he's in a GT2 Spyker - a lot slower and less air-worthy - ironic for a car maker who's badge is a airplane propeller.

Practice took place over the last weekend, which included a huge accident for Marc Gene in one of the Peugeots - shown in the link below from one of the tracks own cameras.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3KfdRTQEiyw>

Qualify takes place a week from now on the Wednesday and Thursday, before the race over the 14th and 15th June.

As for my picks.

P1 - Yawn, probably Audi. The Peugeot has been fast all season, Sebring was probably the best comparison, and they've had a lot of success in the European endurance season, but they are a little unreliable, again evidenced by Sebring. I'd love to see a Peugoet win it, or better yet, something not powered by a diesel engine, but hell will become the venue for the 2014 winter Olympics before that happens. As a side story if Jacques wins he will become one of the few driver to win one of the Big Three's of Motorsport - Indy 500, F1 title and Le Mans.

P2 - If one of the Porsche Spyders doesn't win, something's wrong. They've been fast in the practice and the American P2s seem indistructable compared to their European counterparts. It got to the point last season where the eventual P2 winner, had such a big lead that they brought him into the pits for an hour because the reliability was so shocking they were scared to keep going.

GT1 - Aston, Corvette, Aston, Corvette, Aston, Corvette. I'm a Brit - Aston. It'll be close, but the colonial power will reign again.

GT2 - Either a Ferrari or a Porsche, the Spykers who make up the number don't stand a chance. Chances are it'll be one of the ALMS travellers, so I'm going for the Flying Lizard car. These guys know endurance racing. Plus I don't like Risi driver Mika Salo after his ALMS temper tantrum a few years ago.

It's the summer. And so it's time for what, in my mind is the essential trio of summer races. The Indy 500, the Monaco GP and the Le Mans 24 hours. 3 of the most famous races of the year, taking place in the space of about a month. However, they are also three of the more dangerous races on a racing calendar, with both Le Mans and Indianapolis being among the five tracks to have claimed the most lives.

Motor Racing is dangerous. We know it. The drivers know it. Everytime they step into a car somewhere they must know that they could be injured or worse (no doubt the try to put this out of their mind as much as possible). Everytime we watch on TV and see a bad accident there is a split econd where we may feel the worst. The moment we saw the blue tarpaulin over Hiekki Kovalienen's car after his crash in Barcalona, the split second on radio silence before a window net comes down.

Motor Racing is dangerous, but not as dangerous as it used to be. There have been many advances in various safety equipment over the last decade or so. The SAFER barrier, and their extended use from just the outside of the corner to inside walls. The increased safety in NASCAR's new COT, shown to a massive extent during Michael McDowell's horror accident in Texas, the stronger shell, the fire-proofing, the bigger windows for an easier escape, moving the driver towards the middle of the car, a move which, if universal would have had Dario Franchitti racing this weekend. The HANS device, probably the biggest peice of technology to increase safety, making deaths like Dale Sr's and Roland Ratzenburger's basically a thing of the past, and probably saving Robert Kubica and Kovalienen, among many, many others in the process.

Track owners, more often the target of fan anger for one reason or another have also helped, installing barriers, increasing medical facilities, and rules makers, accused of faviouritism, inconsistency. I can hardly imagine a NASCAR race with racing back to the line after yellow.

But all of these things pale into insignificance compared to the biggest thing that makes motorsport safer - the safety crews. To be honest you probably take them for granted. You only notice them when they're not there. Often before cars have stopped spinning, flipping and crashing the safety crews are on the track. They are better trained than ever before, better equiped. Gone are the days when fellow racing drivers were better prepared to deal with fires than marshals wearing jeans. And now consider not only the teams who work for the big sanctioning bodies, at the big tracks. But also think of the, probably voluntary, guys who work at your local track, attend race tracks for public track days.

What they do is also dangerous. Even the marshals that work at well-maintained international circuits work in the face of danger. They put themselves in the way when motorsport is at it's most dangerous. When a car's on fire everyone moves away from it, yet track workers move towards it. These marshals love racing as much as any of us, they make it possible. And personally I thank them. The summer wouldn't be the same without them.