Courage LC70

Information

Professor Yoshimasa Hayashi of Tokai University, who was an engine engineer for Nismo motorsport department, wanted to build a Le Mans prototype with his students. To start with, they bought a Jaguar XJR-15, which was pretty cheap back in early 2000s, to test the hybrid system they designed.
Later, they bought this ex Team Mugen LC70 LMP1, and formed a team of students to enter in 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans. All the team members except the drivers were students, this was the first and only time in history of Le Mans of a student team. During the qualifying, the drivers were told to drive stably to avoid accidents. They even didn't reached 107% of the pole lap time, so they meant to be not qualified. But the stewards approved them to start the race. During the race, the students overcame a lot of technical issues, but the car still retired after 18 hours due to gearbox problems.
Professor Yoshimasa Hayashi claimed to will return to Le Mans, but it never came true because of lack of funds. But they didn't stop racing, instead of Le Mans, the student team kept on racing with this car in several races in Japan or China in following years.