The only thing to ruffle the tranquil air at dawn is the superheated exhaust from the turbocharged V8. The silhouette of a NACA duct like a space shuttle. The Sauber C9 is on its way to victory at Le Mans.

When Michael Schumacher sits his 41-year-old self down in a Mercedes next year, it will not be for the first time. Twenty years before, he raced a 730 HP Mercedes prototype faster than any Formula One car ever made.