Solid State Race Car

The small town of Rugles is approximately 130km north of Le Mans, venue of the world’s greatest 24hr motor race. If you were born in Rugles and you had even the slightest interest in anything mechanical, chances are that you’d pay attention for one week of every year when race teams from around the planet pass the front door of your family home on their way to what enthusiasts regard a hallowed and magical place.

Jean Michel Vallet did. In fact, like many of his contemporaries, Vallet was smitten by the sights and sounds of Le Mans and decided at an early age that one day he’d own and race his own sports car.

In the intervening 40 years or so, Monsieur Vallet has built his eponymous engineering workshop by making precision components for mostly local companies, but always with one eye on his long-held dream of building a race car and one day, perhaps, driving it at Le Mans.