Circuit de la Sarthe

Lore & Background

The track comprises a combination of private, race-specific sections of track in addition to public roads used only during the 24 Hours of Le Mans which remain accessible most of the year. Its present 24 hour configuration is 13.626 km long, making it one of the longest circuits in the world. The capacity of the permanent race track the short Bugatti Circuit is 100,000. The Musée des 24 Heures du Mans is a motorsport museum for the 24 hours of Le Mans located at the main entrance of the venue. Up to 85% of the 24 hour circuit lap time is spent on full throttle, putting immense stress on engine and drivetrain components. Additionally, the times spent reaching maximum speed also mean tremendous wear on the brakes and suspension as cars must slow from over 322 km/h to around 100 km/h for the sharp corner at the village of Mulsanne.

Reader's Guide

The road racing track, which was a triangle from Le Mans down south to Mulsanne, northwest to Arnage, and back north to Le Mans, has undergone many modifications over the years, with CIRCUIT N°15 being in use since 2018. Even with the modifications over the years, the Sarthe circuit remains very fast, with prototype cars achieving average lap speeds in excess of 240 km/h. In the 1920s, the cars drove from the present pits on Rue de Laigné straight into the city, then took a sharp right-hand corner near the river Huisne Pontlieue bridge (a hairpin removed from the circuit in 1929). They left the city on the rather straight section now named Avenue Georges Durand after the race's founder. Then 17.261 km long and unpaved, a bypass within the city shortened the track in 1929. The city was bypassed completely in 1932 with the addition of the section from the pits via the Dunlop Bridge and the Esses to Tertre Rouge. This classic configuration was 13.492 km long and remained almost unaltered even after the 1955 tragedy. Its frighteningly narrow pit straight was further narrowed to make room for the pits and was part of the road itself, without the road becoming wider around the pits, and no separation. The pit straight then was about 12 ft wide, further widened in 1956 after the tragedy, but the race track and pits were not separated for another 15 years. Car speeds increased dramatically in the 1960s, pushing the limits of the 'classic circuit' and sparking criticism of the track as being unsafe after drivers died during trials. In 1965, a smaller Bugatti Circuit was added which shares the pit lane facilities and the first corner (including the famous Dunlop bridge) with the full 'Le Mans' circuit. For the 1968 race, the Ford chicane was added before the pits to slow down the cars. The circuit was fitted with Armco barriers for the 1969 race. The 'Maison Blanche' kink was particularly harrowing, claiming many cars over the years (including three Ferrari 512 variants) and several lives, including the legendary John Woolfe in 1969 behind the wheel of a Porsche 917. The circuit has been modified ten more times — 1971, a year when prototypes were averaging over 240 km/h, was the last year the classic circuit was used. That year, an Armco barrier was added to the pit straight to separate the track from the pits.

Did You Know?

• The original pre-chicane Mulsanne Straight was 6 km long, not 5.5 km.
• The modern Mulsanne Straight with chicanes is 3.7 miles (about 6 km) from Tertre Rouge to Mulsanne corner, not 1.8 miles.
• Roger Dorchy achieved a speed of 407 km/h on the Mulsanne Straight in 1988.