The 1928 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 6th Grand Prix of Endurance that took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 16 and 17 June 1928. Bentley director Woolf Barnato and Australian-born Bernard Rubin in a Bentley 4½ Litre gave the company back-to-back victories after a race-long duel with the Stutz of Édouard Brisson and Robert Bloch. In the process they won the inaugural prize for overall distance. The big publicity from the previous year's race and the White House crash raised manufacturer interest and several British and American companies brought teams to the race. In fact foreign cars outnumbered French ones for the first time. The race started at a record pace, but after two of the Bentleys and the Ariès retired early, it became a one-on-one duel between the Bentley and the Stutz. They traded positions through the night and into the next morning. Going into the final hours the British car was suffering from water leaks and overheating, while the American car was losing its gears. Both teams drove as hard as they dared, and in the end the distance between the two was barely a lap, and both cars exceeded the previous record overall distance. Salmson achieved consecutive victories in the Biennial Cup, while the new car from Bollack Netter and Co won the Index of Performance. Regulations The CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale - the AIACR’s regulatory body) had issued new racing regulations. The Appendix C linked minimum dry-weights (i.e. without liquids, tyres and tools) to engine capacity. These included the following ranges: In lieu of getting the entrants to drain their cars at scrutineering, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) decreed that 15kg would cover the weight of fluids on cars over 3-litres and 10kg for those under. The required ‘passenger-ballast’ rule of 60kg per extra seat, after the driver's, was maintained and additional to those minimum weights. But the main innovation from the ACO this year was the introduction of the Coupe à la Distance for the car that travelled the furthest over the twenty-four hours. Supercharged engines were now allowed (but not into the final round of the 1927-28 Biennial Cup), with their effective capacity regarded as 1.3 times their swept volume. The driving hood test, when cars had to run the first twenty laps with their hoods up, was discarded. However, all convertibles were still required to have a