Le Mans, Pays de la Loire · FR
Home of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's oldest active endurance race. The 8.47-mile circuit combines permanent sections with closed public roads, including the iconic Mulsanne Straight.
The Circuit de la Sarthe is only partly a permanent facility — much of the lap runs on public roads that carry ordinary traffic for most of the year. The Mulsanne straight, properly the Ligne Droite des Hunaudières, was historically around six kilometres of uninterrupted running before two chicanes were added; Tertre Rouge sets up the whole of it, and Arnage at the far end is the slowest corner on the lap and forgives nothing. The Porsche Curves are the modern highlight, a fast flowing sequence demanding real commitment.
Attending the 24 Hours is closer to a festival than a race. Camping is central to the experience, the circuit stays alive through the night, and the atmosphere at 3am — headlights through the trees, the sound carrying for miles — is what most people come back for. Plan for the full weekend rather than race day, and expect the town to be at capacity.
The first 24-hour race ran in 1923 on a circuit of roughly 13.6 kilometres, at a time when the cars were lapping at speeds around 100 km/h. It has been held every June since, interrupted only by a strike in 1936 and by the Second World War, and the layout remained broadly unchanged for decades even as speeds climbed far beyond anything the original road course was conceived for.
The race's darkest moment came on 11 June 1955, when a mid-race collision launched Pierre Levegh's Mercedes into a spectator enclosure. Between 82 and 84 people were killed, making it the deadliest accident in motorsport history. The consequences reached far beyond Le Mans: several European countries banned motor racing outright, and Switzerland did not fully lift its prohibition until 2022. Safety work at the circuit has been continuous ever since, including the chicanes that broke up the Mulsanne straight in 1990.
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