The most prestigious 24 hours in motorsports is nearly upon us, as the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans has completed testing and will qualify this week before the 88th running of the race begins on Saturday.

The race is a marathon, not only for the drivers but the spectators as well. Whether you’re watching at home or from Tertre Rouge or the safety of your living room, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a grueling but ultimately rewarding experience. The initiated will be hooked from the start; newcomers will quickly be bored and slowly give in to the racecars’ euphonic, slow burn. You’ll be sleep-deprived with the cognition of a zombie, and you’ll never be happier.

To some, it barely matters what cars are on the track. But nevertheless there are some fascinating storylines in this year’s Le Mans 24 that deserve your attention.

Audi has won ten of the last twelve runnings since the year 2000, and one of those failures went to an Audi-powered Bentley, so it barely counts as a loss. Still, you’ll never find a sports team more determined to achieve victory, and this year they’ve brought a few game-changing cars into the fold. The Audi R18 ultra is an extremely lightweight prototype, while their R18 e-tron quattro is a hybrid version of the R18 ultra that sends additional power to the front wheels. In practice, Audi ran 1-2-3 with two e-trons leading an ultra. Audi is the hands-on favorite to win the race comfortably with the technology and experience to tackle the world’s most insane racing event. More...

The Swiss are known for neutrality, but that didn’t stop the Geneva Motor Show from becoming the scene of a brawl among carmakers to see whose new models would get the most attention. We here at Real Car Guys picked our top three, but we’re not betting against any of them to score a knockout.

BMW’s new M6 Coupe and Cabriolet use the same 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 that puts out 560 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque. With its seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, 0-62 mph takes just 4.2 seconds for the Coupe, with the Cab lagging a tenth of a second behind. BMW’s Active M differential, a limited-slip differential that’s coupled with Dynamic Damper Controls, adjusts the suspension on the fly for optimum handling. Braking comes courtesy of 16.1-inch carbon-ceramic rotors with six-piston calipers in front, and 15.6-inch rotors and single-piston calipers in back.

Ford’s popular Fiesta gets the ST treatment with a 1.6-liter, 177-horsepower EcoBoost engine that propels the car to a top speed of 125 mph. The suspension, which was developed by Ford's Team RS and tuned at the famous Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit, comes with three electronic stability control settings. With the Fiesta ST confirmed for introduction in Europe in 2013, ­­can a U.S. version be far behind? More...

The Jones ‘In Is Almost Over Save for a couple Sports Car Club of America national races at Sebring, the 2012 real racing season starts this week with the 50th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona. The prototype class car will sport new bodywork and the addition of a Corvette DP entry. Audi will debut its R8 Grand Am, and the entire field will have its share of celebrities and drivers from other racing series. Notables such as Patrick “Dr. McDreamy” Dempsey leads the list and will be joined by the likes of Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon, Jamie McMurray, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya, the feisty Alan McNish and Lucas Luhr from ALMS, the ageless Elliott Forbes Robinson, Jeffrey Earnhardt (in a Mustang!), Michael Waltrip, and Travis Pastrana in a Ferrari 458.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Kudos to the Class of 2012: Dale Inman, Cale Yarborough, Richie Evans, Glen Wood and Darrell Waltrip. I must say Master of Ceremonies Mike Joy turned in a fine performance. I also learned several things watching the ceremony: Some thought Richie Evans would never amount to much of an oval-track racer after he converted his drag racer to a stock car, the Wood brothers are perhaps the finest gentlemen in the sport, Dale Inman scared DW more than a poke from “The King’s” long finger in his chest, Cale Yarborough may never eat black eyed peas again, and DW thinks numerology was at work when he won the Daytona 500 on his 17th attempt—his car was Number 17 and there are 17 letters in his name. Mike Joy did not join Waltrip on stage, fearing DW would ask him, “Is this the NASCAR Hall of Fame?” as he did when he won at Daytona. Joy also quipped: “The only place you will find Cale Yarborough in the back is in the phone book.” All recipients were grateful, honored and humbled to be in the Hall of Fame. All gave credit to the legions of family and crew that helped them on their road to glory…and several thanked God for making it happen. Like the lyrics of an old hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.” More...

2012 Audi LMP Audi Sport will run a hybrid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. It will not be a battery-powered system, the standard in passenger cars or the KERS system in Formula 1. It will use a flywheel design similar to that used in the Hope Racing ORECA Le Mans entries. Developed by Flybrid System in England, the flywheel will be connected to the R18H’s single-turbo diesel. Audi chose this technology because Chief Engineer Ulrich Baretzky says battery-powered hybrids are strictly verboten.

The King’s Monster Mustang Petty’s Garage announced it will be building a Signature Series Mustang for anyone with a big tire budget. The supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 will be built by Ford Racing (no doubt with help from Roush Yates Engines) and packs 624 tire-shredding ponies. The driveline will be beefed up and includes a six-speed transmission, Stop Tech brakes and Pedders Suspension. The King himself picked out the interior treatment as well as the Petty Graphics exterior package. You should stomp the gas on this because only 50 will be built. Petty charges $33,500, plus the cost of your 2011-12 Mustang GT. All cars will be built at Petty’s legendary Level Cross, N.C. shops. It’s too bad it couldn’t be called a “King” Cobra Mustang. It would be a hoot to see two “older gentlemen” (Petty and Shelby) wrasslin’ over that. More...

Tears and laughs Services in St. Petersburg Florida for Dan Wheldon were both heartrending and comical, somber, yet uplifting. Recording star Wynonna Judd, sister of Ashley Judd (Dario Franchitti’s wife), sang a special rendition of “Amazing Grace,” and “I Can Only Imagine” during the ceremony at the First Presbyterian Church. Wheldon’s wife Susie penned a soulful letter to her beloved husband, read by a family friend. She wrote: “My sweet Dan, my whole body is aching, down to the deepest part of my soul.” And later, this: “My heart is scattered in a million pieces,” she wrote. “I just want to wake up and hear your reassuring voice.” Three IndyCar drivers, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon, served as pallbearers, while many other IndyCar drivers and luminaries were in attendance. A huge crowd jammed the security fences outside the church to pay their respects. Although wet hankies were in abundance at the Conseco Field House in Indianapolis on Sunday, there were laughs and testimonies to Wheldon’s commitment to the sport, his character, and the quirks that made Wheldon who he was—his shoe collection, phone pranks and playful nature. Franchitti, Kanaan and Bryan Herta brought the house down with several stories about the time they were Wheldon’s teammates. Kanaan quipped Wheldon is the only two-time Indy 500 winner on the Borg Warner trophy with two different sets of teeth. Franchitti capped the commentary with this: Dan was the little brother we never wanted. Now I’d give anything to get him back.”

More bad news There’s an old adage that bad things happen in threes. Moto GP rider Marco Simoncelli was fatally injured on the second lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix. It’s the second death in a racing marquee series in a week. The 24 year-old rider was heir-apparent to Valentino Rossi, his mentor and close friend. The seven-time champion Rossi wrote this on Twitter: 'Sic for me was like a youngest brother. So strong on track and so sweet in the normal life. I will miss him a lot.”

Talladega thins the pack The Talladega chase race was, well, boring—although it was nice to see Childress teammates Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton bring Richard Childress his 100^th win. The biggest news may well be the Earnhardt/Johnson pair waiting too long to make it to the front in a late race charge. Even though Jimmie Johnson moved up a spot in the chase, his 26^th- place finish put him 50 points behind chase leader Carl Edwards. Most rail birds now say only the top five drivers have a shot at the Sprint Cup crown. Keep your eye on Keselowski; he is now lurking in third place, ready to pounce.

Radio chatter Several team owners clamped down on the number of cars their drivers could call up during the Talladega race. Some had as many as 14 channels to ring up. Richard Childress was the first. He said other drivers could only communicate with the RCR cars if they had written permission. Later, Jack Roush laid down the law for his boys: Only Ford drivers could be on their radios. So, does this mean some drivers could skirt these rules by Twittering? And, a new term has been coined from the spotter stand. The two-car pairs are now called “pods.” Does that mean they’re podcasting for partners?

Stick’em up Anyone on DirectTV has seen notices that Speed, History Channel and others may go dark on November 1. I called DirectTV in a huff over this. The customer service rep says the problem is not coming from them. It’s the result of Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp extortion ploy every time a carriage contract comes up for renewal. The DirectTV rep says Newscorp has done the same thing with Time Warner, Comcast, Dish and Charter. So, send those threatening missives to Newscorp, not DirectTV.

Audi R8 to Grand Am Audi Sport has announced its R8 GT3 racecar will compete in the 2012 Grand American Racing Series. The European model has been extremely successful winning more than 100 races on the continent. It will have to be modified to Grand Am specs. Audi says the car will be ready for the 50^th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona next year.